Post by commissioner on Aug 18, 2013 18:48:10 GMT -6
You guys are mighty sensitive about Oakland. I don't think I've taken any digs at them. I'm just talkin' reality here. I like Oakland. They'll do well in the Horizon this year and could win it.
"but adding oakland does help the HL's RPI."
Actually, no, that's just wrong. You apparently don't understand how RPI works. The biggest component of RPI is opposing teams' W-L record. So when a mid-major schedules like Oakland has, its own RPI can go up even as its W-L record drops. Playing the games on the road adds to the effect, but road games are weighted. Thus Oakland's RPI is almost certainly better going 1-5 in those 6 big road games, than going 5-1 at home against a slate of 150+ RPI teams. However, every other team in the league will do worse. Because the biggest factor in RPI is opponent's W-L record. Since each Horizon team plays Oakland twice, they absorb a 2-10 record into their opponent's RPI instead of a 10-2 record. Moreover, the extra credit that Oakland got for playing those games on the road does not carry over into figuring their other opponents' RPIs. So each Horizon team will have a lower RPI than if Oakland had beaten up on some Summit teams, or even played more D-III opponents. That will partially offset by the fact that opponents' opponents' record figures in to RPI, but only half as much as direct opponent's W-L. League RPI is then calculated by simply averaging the RPI score (not rank) of each team in the league. So whether the league's RPI goes up or down depends on how many of the games Oakland wins; how many they would have won playing, say, YSU or WSU's schedule; how well those opponents do over the season; and the extent to which Oakland's higher RPI and the opponents' opponents' portion of RPI pushes the Horizon upward, vs. the drag on every Horizon teams Opponents' W-L record. Something isn't so just because you assert it is so.
It's true that scheduling like that puts you in a good at-large position - if you win the games, or at least some of them. But if you don't, it doesn't do much for you at all. Meanwhile, there is a equally large or larger set of mid-major bubble teams that get on the bubble simply by winning tons of games - Belmont, Middle Tennessee, Utah State. In other words, there is more than one way to skin a cat, and more than 1 way to get bubble consideration.
Look, Oakland's philosophy is fine. Scheduling like that probably does help them. It does not necessarily help the league's other teams. Nor is it so unique - as you note, Long Beach and others have used that route as well. Not all that try it, by the way, have great success. In fact, I'll bet the vast majority fail - they just rack up lots of losses. As for funding the program, Oakland, despite being a state school and having a sizeable enrollment, has one of the lowest athletic budgets in the Horizon. If the reason they schedule like that is just to fund the program, that's a sign of weakness, not strength. Like I say, that's what SWAC and MEAC schools do. Almost all mid-majors play a couple guarantee games to help their budget, but if that's mainly how you fund things, you've got problems. I prefer to think that Kampe likes the exposure, and that he doesn't really have to schedule so many guarantee games. But maybe you're right, which, if so, is probably a bad sign.
Your last paragraph cracks me up. Ummm, Detroit played easily a tougher schedule than Oakland as recently as, umm.... 2013. They've had far more games national TV. And they provide a larger athletic budget without playing it all on the road.
Lotta sensitivity here about Oakland. But Oakland is a fine and rising program. It can withstand some realistic appraisal.
"but adding oakland does help the HL's RPI."
Actually, no, that's just wrong. You apparently don't understand how RPI works. The biggest component of RPI is opposing teams' W-L record. So when a mid-major schedules like Oakland has, its own RPI can go up even as its W-L record drops. Playing the games on the road adds to the effect, but road games are weighted. Thus Oakland's RPI is almost certainly better going 1-5 in those 6 big road games, than going 5-1 at home against a slate of 150+ RPI teams. However, every other team in the league will do worse. Because the biggest factor in RPI is opponent's W-L record. Since each Horizon team plays Oakland twice, they absorb a 2-10 record into their opponent's RPI instead of a 10-2 record. Moreover, the extra credit that Oakland got for playing those games on the road does not carry over into figuring their other opponents' RPIs. So each Horizon team will have a lower RPI than if Oakland had beaten up on some Summit teams, or even played more D-III opponents. That will partially offset by the fact that opponents' opponents' record figures in to RPI, but only half as much as direct opponent's W-L. League RPI is then calculated by simply averaging the RPI score (not rank) of each team in the league. So whether the league's RPI goes up or down depends on how many of the games Oakland wins; how many they would have won playing, say, YSU or WSU's schedule; how well those opponents do over the season; and the extent to which Oakland's higher RPI and the opponents' opponents' portion of RPI pushes the Horizon upward, vs. the drag on every Horizon teams Opponents' W-L record. Something isn't so just because you assert it is so.
It's true that scheduling like that puts you in a good at-large position - if you win the games, or at least some of them. But if you don't, it doesn't do much for you at all. Meanwhile, there is a equally large or larger set of mid-major bubble teams that get on the bubble simply by winning tons of games - Belmont, Middle Tennessee, Utah State. In other words, there is more than one way to skin a cat, and more than 1 way to get bubble consideration.
Look, Oakland's philosophy is fine. Scheduling like that probably does help them. It does not necessarily help the league's other teams. Nor is it so unique - as you note, Long Beach and others have used that route as well. Not all that try it, by the way, have great success. In fact, I'll bet the vast majority fail - they just rack up lots of losses. As for funding the program, Oakland, despite being a state school and having a sizeable enrollment, has one of the lowest athletic budgets in the Horizon. If the reason they schedule like that is just to fund the program, that's a sign of weakness, not strength. Like I say, that's what SWAC and MEAC schools do. Almost all mid-majors play a couple guarantee games to help their budget, but if that's mainly how you fund things, you've got problems. I prefer to think that Kampe likes the exposure, and that he doesn't really have to schedule so many guarantee games. But maybe you're right, which, if so, is probably a bad sign.
Your last paragraph cracks me up. Ummm, Detroit played easily a tougher schedule than Oakland as recently as, umm.... 2013. They've had far more games national TV. And they provide a larger athletic budget without playing it all on the road.
Lotta sensitivity here about Oakland. But Oakland is a fine and rising program. It can withstand some realistic appraisal.