diehardexplorer

a very solid OOC schedule (including a number of teams that made the postseason) for the explorers, who should end up in the a10 middle tier considering their sixth place finish, the return of 9 of their top 11 players (8 of whom averaged double figure minutes) along with the addition of a10 poy front-runner (it's a joke) vernon goodridge. seriously, goodridge is a very good player who will play a big role for la salle this year.

home
villanova
florida state
penn
bucknell
manhattan
mount st mary's
morgan state
howard

away
cornell

neutral
paradise jam
first round: uconn
second round: miami (fl) or southern mississippi
third round: one out of wisconsin, san diego, valparaiso or iona

two games remain to be scheduled

Snipe

I am impressed at the home/away ratio more than anything else. That is fantastic.

__________________
Undefeated in February since 2006
Smell the Glove of the 2008 Regular Season Champions

diehardexplorer

i believe at least one of the two open dates on the schedule will also be a home game.

dr g's scheduling plan is to get matchups against bcs-level teams on a neutral court which he did last year with mississippi and depaul in puerto rico and this year will get uconn and possibly miami (fl)and wisconsin in the virgin islands.

if la salle can take care of business at home, win a couple at the paradise jam, and finish in the top 3-6 in the a10, they have a fighting chance to have a high enough rpi to make it to the postseason. the best part of the schedule for me is the removal of njit and st francis (pa), both 300+ rpi teams last season.

RF1

Is LaSalle playing Florida State at Gola? If so, how did they get this game? Is is a straight home and home?

Blue Dog

Nice sked I hope. The proof will be in the results next year. The Explorers were a good team by the end of the season and need to play like that right out of the gate. Their OOC performance has really hurt the A10 the last few years.

Also need to cure the home blues. I think the Explos played better on the road than they did at home last year. Take advantage of that home cooking. A strong LaSalle helps all of us, and their long-suffering fans surely deserve it.

diehardexplorer

every home game except st joe's (which is always at the palestra except for the one year the palestra was double-booked by mistake) will be at gola arena, including the florida state and villanova games. it is a one for one deal with florida state. we played there last season and they're returning the game this year. dr g is not big on signing 2 for 1 deals.

Ross885

The home sked looks nice, but some road games would be good prep for the A10 season. They also look to be one of the sacrificial lambs of the Paradise Jam, along with Iona and Valpo. WOuld love to see them get some wins there though. It will be interesting to see how they adjust to the loss of Harris and his deadeye shooting.

Ninerballin

EDIT- I posted this when I was in a pissy mood. Great sched., congrats on those games!

survivor

That is a seriously awesome sked. Any northeastern BCS head coach would drool over all those home games. Opponents are quality.

Whether or not you can get results is yet to be seen ... but you certainly set yourselves up quite nicely. Well done.

clark1

How much different is this really, other than turning around games to the home court. Cornell, Manhattan, big whoops, I don't see that much different then last year. Better win at the Gola. Avoided those a10 OOC champs, UMBC. Schedule any way you want, just bring home the W's.

survivor

Cornell won over 20 games last year and made it to the NCAA tournament for the 2nd year in a row. Schools typically jump at the opportunity to get a series like that for the rpi boost.

Last season, the A10 went 25-42 on the road and went 94-24 at home/neutral sites. So, yeah, it helps a tad. What do you think Syracuse and pals have been doing all these years?

La Salle 2007-08 OOC home sked:
#146 UMBC
#307 St. Francis PA
#205 Central Connecticut
#341 NJIT

I dunno ... I see a difference.

Mik

Clark do you really understand how the RPI works? Sounds like you don't. La Salle's schedule is just about perfect. Just to give you a hint, you need to find lower division one schools that will win a lot of games at the end of the season. It is in fact better for your RPI to beat UMBC last year or another school with 24 or 25 wins than to lose to South Carolina or a lower level ACC school. So Cornell fits that mold perfectly. As did Central Ct. last year, as UMBC did. You have to win those games which we did not against UMBC. The sweet spot for scheduling teams and having the certainty of winning that game is against the team rated #189 in the RPI. That number was conceived by St. Joe's own Joe Lunardi. Go ask him if you don't believe it. I think Cornell will be right there or somewhere near there when all is said and done.

The schedule is done correctly and thought through. Too many people bicker and complain about how to schedule games and they don't even understand how the formula works. This particular schedule will get La Salle into post season play if they win games. It is all about winning games against teams that will get you into the post season. If La Salle gets there or not it will ultimately fall on the team winning. Not the schedule. That is what this is all about.

__________________
LaSalle University - The only A-10 team with a National Championship

clark1