Warm up game - Incarnate Word non-conf. opponent

[thebigsmoove]

Agreed. It's likely that we will see 3 quality opponents in Portland + 2 true road games @ SDSU and UW and a neutral-away game in NYC against Villanova.

We also have California on the schedule next year too.

[CDC84]

"Cupcake," "warmup," not "top notch," etc. -- no need to stoop to sub-300. Plenty available in the 100-200 range. Self-inflicted injury for some reason not apparent reason.

Those 100-200 teams require a bigger pay out. The intention of these games, other than to give GU a breather after a string of really tough games, is to make as much money as humanly possible for the program. If it hurts the RPI, the program is willing to take the hit.

Nobody wants to talk about money. It is about money.

Personally, I like the idea of playing Montana St.-Billings because the pay out is cheap and it doesn't count against your RPI. I would schedule a D-2 or NAIA team every season.

[willandi]

Zag Nation Retweeted
Jon RothsteinVerified account @JonRothstein 2h2 hours ago
Gonzaga will host Incarnate Word as part of its 2017-18 non-conference schedule, per a source.


http://www.espn.com/mens-college-bas...word-cardinals

Why? Unless an exhibition, will be a drag of BPI/RPI all year; finished 7-11 in a nothing conference last year. Understand they recently upgraded to D-1, but even so, what do they bring to the table for schedule?

Isn't there a blessing from God included?

[thebigsmoove]

I believe our Non conference Schedule looks like this so far:

[realtydog]

To those wanting to play an in state school like EWU -- why? We almost lost to them last time we played and it's rare that their metrics are good. A loss to EWU/CWU/Seattle would be devastating. If we want to distance ourselves further from the Seattle talent market, a loss to an in state cupcake would sure be a good way to do it.

funny how things change sometimes....substitute EWU for GU and the words sounds exactly like the argument the Pac 10 had against us (my friends at UW said the same damn thing to me)-------I remember making this argument in the early 90's as a student at GU...why can't we play Oregon,,,,UW,,,,Oregon State???? I guess we've come full circle...kinda sad

[509er]

I remember Ralph Miller bringing his very good Oregon State team from the late 70s with Steve Johnson and gang into the old Kennel. They were likely doing GU a favor back then. Now I'd be shocked if OSU could get a home and home with GU.

Times have certainly changed.

[LongIslandZagFan]

funny how things change sometimes....substitute EWU for GU and the words sounds exactly like the argument the Pac 10 had against us (my friends at UW said the same damn thing to me)-------I remember making this argument in the early 90's as a student at GU...why can't we play Oregon,,,,UW,,,,Oregon State???? I guess we've come full circle...kinda sad

Actually, it's not the same argument. Huskies, Ducks, etc all have the luxury of the P12 schedules to raise their RPIs... with the WCC expansion the Zags have far less wiggle room. They are going to take a couple low RPI warm-up/breather games, but don't have the flexibility to pick up many more middling to lower half RPI games. They need to maximize their OOC. This is more a direct reflection of the loss of 2 OOC games to the WCC expansion.

[seacatfan]

I can't believe CWU (my alma mater) got a mention! Only possible scenario I could see for GU playing them would be as an exhibition game.

I agree w/ a previous poster. If GU is now scared to play the likes of EWU or Seattle U., it's not a good look for the Zags, and hypocritical. It has come full circle.

[seacatfan]

Actually, it's not the same argument. Huskies, Ducks, etc all have the luxury of the P12 schedules to raise their RPIs... with the WCC expansion the Zags have far less wiggle room. They are going to take a couple low RPI warm-up/breather games, but don't have the flexibility to pick up many more middling to lower half RPI games. They need to maximize their OOC. This is more a direct reflection of the loss of 2 OOC games to the WCC expansion.

Right, but again why use up one of those few games they can schedule against a nobody like Incarnate Word w/ zero regional interest?

[LongIslandZagFan]

I can't believe CWU (my alma mater) got a mention! Only possible scenario I could see for GU playing them would be as an exhibition game.

I agree w/ a previous poster. If GU is now scared to play the likes of EWU or Seattle U., it's not a good look for the Zags, and hypocritical. It has come full circle.

Don't think it has a single thing to do with fear. There is just very little room for lower tier RPIs. Ask yourself... would you like to add two more lower tier WCC games to the schedule? Because that is what it would be equivalent to. It is an issue of maximization of their RPI potential... allowing for some money to be made as CDC alluded to.

[LongIslandZagFan]

Right, but again why use up one of those few games they can schedule against a nobody like Incarnate Word w/ zero regional interest?

They are always going to have 1-2 games like that. They make money and pose little risk. These kind of games, early in the season, have ALWAYS been on the schedule. Even when they played EWU... there were always a couple of very low RPI games on the schedule. TBH... in the past there was 4 games or so of weaker opponents (EWU and some other Big Sky type team), now it tends to be 2... with the expansion 2 of the four disappeared.

[thebigsmoove]

Actually, it's not the same argument. Huskies, Ducks, etc all have the luxury of the P12 schedules to raise their RPIs... with the WCC expansion the Zags have far less wiggle room. They are going to take a couple low RPI warm-up/breather games, but don't have the flexibility to pick up many more middling to lower half RPI games. They need to maximize their OOC. This is more a direct reflection of the loss of 2 OOC games to the WCC expansion.

I always feel like that excuse is somewhat of a cop out, We play 18 Conference regular season games a year, same as pretty much everybody. One thing i cant explain, why were we 1 short on our OOC games last year? We ended up with 33 pre tourney games, most majors get 34...weird.

[realtydog]

Actually, it's not the same argument. Huskies, Ducks, etc all have the luxury of the P12 schedules to raise their RPIs... with the WCC expansion the Zags have far less wiggle room. They are going to take a couple low RPI warm-up/breather games, but don't have the flexibility to pick up many more middling to lower half RPI games. They need to maximize their OOC. This is more a direct reflection of the loss of 2 OOC games to the WCC expansion.

I suppose you missed my earlier point -----------all I was trying to convey was that there was a time when we would have liked to schedule up but some teams were shy to play GU for fear of the disappointing "bad look" loss ---and now (as mentioned in the post I commented on)---fans here state the inverse of those times ----had nothing to do with Pac 10/12 --- had to do with -----now we are the "big boy" feeling we can't risk a loss to a NW school that could have a great night and beat us------simply fans perspective

[Markburn1]

There are a lot of reasons for games like this. One that is rarely mentioned is the opportunity to go deeper into the bench in order to see what might be useful in the remainder of the season. Gives some of those guys a look that very well could result in some meaningful minutes for them. It's happened before.

[sittingon50]

I wonder if EWU might get back in the discussion? I believe (one) reason they stopped playing was because of Few's friendship with Hayford. Hayford has moved on. His Asst. was promoted (Liggins?), whom I believe was once recruited by GU coming out of HS from Calif. Perhaps someone with a little more background can straighten me out on that.