The schedule we should have made this year

[Orangello]

Took a look at UVA's schedule this year. A very cavalier approach to scheduling versus our death march.

Manhattan, Stony Brook, Drexel, Dartmouth, Vermont and VMI equals six easy wins. Give me a double helping of that please.

 

[OrangeXtreme]

Took a look at UVA's schedule this year. A very cavalier approach to scheduling versus our death march.

Manhattan, Stony Brook, Drexel, Dartmouth, Vermont and VMI equals six easy wins. Give me a double helping of that please.

We should have kept Siena and St Johns instead of Navy and Rutgers.

 

[Hoo's That]

Took a look at UVA's schedule this year. A very cavalier approach to scheduling versus our death march.

Manhattan, Stony Brook, Drexel, Dartmouth, Vermont and VMI equals six easy wins. Give me a double helping of that please.

Stony Brook is back on the schedule, replacing Cornell. For a while we played both of them. Nobody predicted the adding of Manhattan. This time it works out as part of the Spring Break trip. We play them on Wednesday night and Stony Brook Saturday afternoon in NY. I guess next year it will be in C'ville. We've played Drexel for the past 18 years in a row now. Dartmouth is back on the schedule after being off for a bunch of years. We played Vermont when alum Ryan Curtis was their coach. We're playing them in Connecticut and I've hear rumors it some sort of benefit game. We dropped them in 2013 and now they're back. VMI is an hour away and we've played them since they've had a varsity. At least one of Manhattan or Dartmouth is on the schedule because we didn't play against other teams in the Fall, so we didn't have an "encounter" that reduced the Spring schedule.

Last year's schedule was similar and it still didn't get us into the NCAAs. You could say that this year we've traded a regular season loss to Penn for a regular season win over Princeton.

 

[JeremyCuse]

We should have kept Siena and St Johns instead of Navy and Rutgers.

Dropping one would have been fine, dropping both made absolutely zero sense especially knowing how good Albany was going to be this year. At this point SU really only has 2 cupcake type games and they already played 1 of them. I REALLY hope Dekso and staff gets the message and tries to modify the schedule up a little bit. Even if we have to play Navy and RU next year add Canisius and or Siena as a mid week game for a full 14 game schedule. Staff is going to take a bunch of heat if we finish with the #1 SOS but go 6-7 keeping us out of the tournament.

 

[JeremyCuse]

Stony Brook is back on the schedule, replacing Cornell. For a while we played both of them. Nobody predicted the adding of Manhattan. This time it works out as part of the Spring Break trip. We play them on Wednesday night and Stony Brook Saturday afternoon in NY. I guess next year it will be in C'ville. We've played Drexel for the past 18 years in a row now. Dartmouth is back on the schedule after being off for a bunch of years. We played Vermont when alum Ryan Curtis was their coach. We're playing them in Connecticut and I've hear rumors it some sort of benefit game. We dropped them in 2013 and now they're back. VMI is an hour away and we've played them since they've had a varsity. At least one of Manhattan or Dartmouth is on the schedule because we didn't play against other teams in the Fall, so we didn't have an "encounter" that reduced the Spring schedule.

Last year's schedule was similar and it still didn't get us into the NCAAs. You could say that this year we've traded a regular season loss to Penn for a regular season win over Princeton.

I think Tiffany did a good job scheduling the max amount of games he could have (15) with so many young guys and a fast paced system its unlikely UVA will get burned being tired from a mid week game. I do think UVA could have swapped out Dartmouth for say a Ohio State or a Yale to get another top team on there but with the ACC schedule and Loyola Tiffany probably thought why bother. Also that game at Vermont looks a lot tougher then it probably did a month ago though I think Vermont maybe benefiting from its schedule as SU handled them pretty well in both teams opening scrimmage. All in an all I think your current schedule is a good one, bakes in six wins and has some meat in Loyola, Hopkins (maybe not this year) Princeton, Richmond and Vermont. The only critic is having High Point VMI and Dartmouth will probably skew UVA's numbers a bit as those are some of the worse teams in Div 1. Probably could have dropped one of them and just went with a 14 game schedule or picked up a mid level team like a Cornell which as you noted UVA dropped.

 

[Hoo's That]

{ snip} ... picked up a mid level team like a Cornell which as you noted UVA dropped.

I wish I knew what the story was behind dropping them. (I wish I knew the story behind how we got a bunch of the non-obvious teams on our schedule.) I guess at one time we played both SU and Cornell each year to be sure we always had a game in CNY for the players who were from there since we played one of you in C'ville and the other in CNY.

 

[Orangello]

Dropping one would have been fine, dropping both made absolutely zero sense especially knowing how good Albany was going to be this year. At this point SU really only has 2 cupcake type games and they already played 1 of them. I REALLY hope Dekso and staff gets the message and tries to modify the schedule up a little bit. Even if we have to play Navy and RU next year add Canisius and or Siena as a mid week game for a full 14 game schedule. Staff is going to take a bunch of heat if we finish with the #1 SOS but go 6-7 keeping us out of the tournament.

^^^^^^This X 10. This was not the year to have a killer schedule like this. Two years from now, maybe but you have to have 3-4 baked in wins every year especially when you're breaking in as many new bodies as we are. UVA was smart this year.

 

[Orangello]

Dropping one would have been fine, dropping both made absolutely zero sense especially knowing how good Albany was going to be this year. At this point SU really only has 2 cupcake type games and they already played 1 of them. I REALLY hope Dekso and staff gets the message and tries to modify the schedule up a little bit. Even if we have to play Navy and RU next year add Canisius and or Siena as a mid week game for a full 14 game schedule. Staff is going to take a bunch of heat if we finish with the #1 SOS but go 6-7 keeping us out of the tournament.

We should have 2 of Canisius, Siena, Marist, Fairfield, St. John's, Sacred Heart, Manhattan or Hartford every single year. Agree on mid-week games especially if its a team from that group.

 

[SkyTopBus44]

We should have 2 of Canisius, Siena, Marist, Fairfield, St. John's, Sacred Heart, Manhattan or Hartford every single year. Agree on mid-week games especially if its a team from that group.

I know this is not 1990s or 2000s. Man it is depressing if just making the tournament based on our schedule is the priority now. I would rather earn our way into the field than sneak in based on playing weaker opponents.

 

[orange79]

I know this is not 1990s or 2000s. Man it is depressing if just making the tournament based on our schedule is the priority now. I would rather earn our way into the field than sneak in based on playing weaker opponents.

I don't think Jeremy is advocating putting together a weak schedule, he's just saying with the 4 ACC teams, Hop, Hobart, Cornell, etc., it makes no sense to play the killer schedule we have this year. If we had both Siena and Canisius instead of Navy and the Girls, there would be no one saying we snuck our way into the field.

The problem is, with the schedule the way it is, and the team being as young as it is, there may be no sneaking in this year.

 

[JeremyCuse]

I don't think Jeremy is advocating putting together a weak schedule, he's just saying with the 4 ACC teams, Hop, Hobart, Cornell, etc., it makes no sense to play the killer schedule we have this year. If we had both Siena and Canisius instead of Navy and the Girls, there would be no one saying we snuck our way into the field.

The problem is, with the schedule the way it is, and the team being as young as it is, there may be no sneaking in this year.

Yes this 100%. I even noted that if we had added just one of Navy and Rutgers and kept Siena or St. Johns that would have been OK to. This years schedule is simply to difficult for this young team to navigate, its fine to upgrade the schedule but you have to keep some sure wins in there as well. If nothing else we should have at least kept Siena or St. Johns and played them during the week at some point. SU is only playing a 13 game schedule and could have played two more games. I know Desko is not a big fan of mid-week games but would playing Siena say this Wed really made that much of an impact?

 

[Orangello]

SU is only playing a 13 game schedule and could have played two more games. I know Desko is not a big fan of mid-week games but would playing Siena say this Wed really made that much of an impact?

I think you could even argue that an extra game or two this year against weaker opponents would have been a better way to get some of the young guys game experience.

 

[outoftownie]

Below is my post from five years ago yesterday. I pretty much stand by everything in the post. Maybe you throw in a Binghamton, Canisius or Siena. I would put ND in the UMd spot and pick stony brook for the Long Island game...

Below is my ideal schedule when the acc starts up. I really cannot imagine any way that st johns or providence stay on the schedule. Based on the trajectory of their program, it may make sense to keep Georgetown on the schedule for an easy win. As I stated last year, SU needs to maximize exposure in the big recruiting areas (Maryland and Long Island). Joining the acc will help in Maryland, SU needs to play on Long Island in an attempt to stop some of the top players from going to our new league rivals.

UVA
Maryland
Unc
Duke
Hopkins
Princeton
Hobart
Cornell
ND or Michigan
Villanova
Army
Albany
Rutgers
Hofstra or stony brook

 

[SkyTopBus44]

In my head know you are right and your reasoning is sound. My emotional response is that Syracuse that I grew up following is not afraid to play anyone. Sure the game has changed and we need to think about recruiting match ups, chemistry, regions etc. I just miss the old days dominance even with our teams which transitioned from experience to youth from the past. Loved during the broadcast how the announcers said Syracuse has never lost back to back games in the Dome. The stuff means a lot to me. I am holding on tight to the past...I know!

 

[outoftownie]

Trust me, I lived those days. My four years at Syracuse the team lost a total of four games in the dome and only one was to a team outside the top five.

 

[SkyTopBus44]

Trust me, I lived those days. My four years at Syracuse the team lost a total of four games in the dome and only one was to a team outside the top five.

When did you graduate? I am from the Class of 2000.

 

[outoftownie]

When did you graduate? I am from the Class of 2000.

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