Pope Scheduling Philosophy

https://www.sltrib.com/sports/byu-cougars/2019/05/20/byus-new-basketball-coach/



He said that he wants to play as many top-tier programs as possible even if they are all away games or 2-1 deals. Cody Fueger will handle the scheduling. BYU and UVU are working on a longterm contract (sounds like the Boise St. deal in football).

Rose got beat up for a scheduling philosophy much much more conservative than this. We'll see how this works out with the fans (As for me - I love it - so there)

Until he starts losing a bunch. Maybe he can pull off what GU has done and turn it into a top 25 program.

ABYUFAN wrote:

Rose got beat up for a scheduling philosophy much much more conservative than this. We'll see how this works out with the fans (As for me - I love it - so there)

It really only matters what the selection committee thinks, and they have been very consistent over the years in rewarding teams who go out of their way (meaning, outside the conference) to schedule tough opponents. Yes, you do still have to win some of them, but not all or even most. Most of our fans have forgotten that BYU scheduled pretty aggressively in 2014 and 2015 and therefore got at large bids those years even with some bad conference losses thrown in.

Pope needs to worry about beating the teams in the WCC and then worry about out of conference scheduling. That was Roses downfall, not winning, or even taking second in the WCC because of losing to the dregs of the conference.....out of the blue. If BYU takes care of business in the WCC, they will get in the tourney. Gonzaga doesn't go out of its way to schedule top tier competition out of conference even though they do play some good teams OOC, but they dominate the WCC and that gets them in the tourney every year. All BYU would need to do to get in the tourney every year is beat everyone in the WCC and then split with Gonzaga and they would get invited to the tourney regardless of what happened OOC.

frdbtr wrote:

Pope needs to worry about beating the teams in the WCC and then worry about out of conference scheduling. That was Roses downfall, not winning, or even taking second in the WCC because of losing to the dregs of the conference.....out of the blue. If BYU takes care of business in the WCC, they will get in the tourney. Gonzaga doesn't go out of its way to schedule top tier competition out of conference even though they do play some good teams OOC, but they dominate the WCC and that gets them in the tourney every year. All BYU would need to do to get in the tourney every year is beat everyone in the WCC and then split with Gonzaga and they would get invited to the tourney regardless of what happened OOC.

Hmmm. Interesting.

"That was Roses downfall, not winning, or even taking second in the WCC because of losing to the dregs of the conference..."



Actually BYU has taken 2nd twice (2012-13, 2013-14).



"Gonzaga doesn't go out of its way to schedule top tier competition out of conference even though they do play some good teams OOC..."



Last year they played during the non-conference portion of their schedule: Texas A&M, Illinois, Arizona, Duke, Creighton, Washington, Tennessee & North Carolina. Your comment is a head scratcher.

Tough to decide if I like or not. Generally I want to play all the best teams, but getting beat week after week makes it hard to be successful if your OOC schedule is super difficult. I believe though that I'll trust his decision.

We can play 50-100 ranked teams and win a good portion of them. Avoid the 300+ teams.

EM_Puma wrote:

Pope needs to worry about beating the teams in the WCC and then worry about out of conference scheduling. That was Roses downfall, not winning, or even taking second in the WCC because of losing to the dregs of the conference.....out of the blue. If BYU takes care of business in the WCC, they will get in the tourney. Gonzaga doesn't go out of its way to schedule top tier competition out of conference even though they do play some good teams OOC, but they dominate the WCC and that gets them in the tourney every year. All BYU would need to do to get in the tourney every year is beat everyone in the WCC and then split with Gonzaga and they would get invited to the tourney regardless of what happened OOC.

Hmmm. Interesting.

"That was Roses downfall, not winning, or even taking second in the WCC because of losing to the dregs of the conference..."



Actually BYU has taken 2nd twice (2012-13, 2013-14).



"Gonzaga doesn't go out of its way to schedule top tier competition out of conference even though they do play some good teams OOC..."



Last year they played during the non-conference portion of their schedule: Texas A&M, Illinois, Arizona, Duke, Creighton, Washington, Tennessee & North Carolina. Your comment is a head scratcher.

So 2 out of how many years did Rose take 2nd in the WCC? How many years did he win the MWC? Last year Gonzaga played a tough OOC schedule, what have they done most years? My comments aren't a head scratcher unless you are looking for a reason to criticize my comments.

Did they finish 2nd, or "tied" for 2nd while losing the tiebreaker? It seemed to me that a practical 3rd in WCC tourney was the best they had done.

Scheduling philosophy ranks very low on my current worries about the basketball program, especially since that's the extent of Pope's influence on who we actually play -- he can express a philosophy or desire, but it's Holmoe who ultimately decides who to reach out to and negotiates the games.

I think the bball coaches do most of the schedule.

My point still stands. I think the coaches need to keep their mouths shut about wanting to play anyone/anywhere until they start competing for the WCC which to date hasn't been done, even by the most winning coach in BYU basketball history per his winning percentage.

What is he supposed to say?



I like the gumption. I'd rather hear, "anyone, anywhere," from a coach, especially a new one, than, "oh, I think we should schedule a bunch of gimmies to boost our confidence because we have a bunch of players with fragile egos."



Seriously, we need some fight this team and loading the OOC with feather weights doesn't do much in that area.

Gunk wrote:

What is he supposed to say?



I like the gumption. I'd rather hear, "anyone, anywhere," from a coach, especially a new one, than, "oh, I think we should schedule a bunch of gimmies to boost our confidence because we have a bunch of players with fragile egos."



Seriously, we need some fight this team and loading the OOC with feather weights doesn't do much in that area.

I would have preferred he say, "our first priority is to win the WCC and compete with Gonzaga year in and year out. We need to defend our home court, we want to get back to not losing at home" Then once those goals are accomplished, he can say that he wants to play anyone, anywhere.

But the question was about scheduling not priorities. Scheduling is the OOC portion of the season since the WCC portion is locked up.



So if asked about scheduling and Pope gave the answer you hoped for, he wouldn't have been answering the question, which also would have been frustrating.



IDK, I see those as two separate questions with two separate answers.

Say whatever you want, just win.

Dumb thing to whine about.

frdbtr wrote:

frdbtr wrote:

Pope needs to worry about beating the teams in the WCC and then worry about out of conference scheduling. That was Roses downfall, not winning, or even taking second in the WCC because of losing to the dregs of the conference.....out of the blue. If BYU takes care of business in the WCC, they will get in the tourney. Gonzaga doesn't go out of its way to schedule top tier competition out of conference even though they do play some good teams OOC, but they dominate the WCC and that gets them in the tourney every year. All BYU would need to do to get in the tourney every year is beat everyone in the WCC and then split with Gonzaga and they would get invited to the tourney regardless of what happened OOC.

Hmmm. Interesting.

"That was Roses downfall, not winning, or even taking second in the WCC because of losing to the dregs of the conference..."



Actually BYU has taken 2nd twice (2012-13, 2013-14).



"Gonzaga doesn't go out of its way to schedule top tier competition out of conference even though they do play some good teams OOC..."



Last year they played during the non-conference portion of their schedule: Texas A&M, Illinois, Arizona, Duke, Creighton, Washington, Tennessee & North Carolina. Your comment is a head scratcher.

So 2 out of how many years did Rose take 2nd in the WCC? How many years did he win the MWC? Last year Gonzaga played a tough OOC schedule, what have they done most years? My comments aren't a head scratcher unless you are looking for a reason to criticize my comments.

Gonzaga almost always plays a tough non-conference schedule with most of those at tournaments or straight up on the road. They don't get the high seeds from the committee for beating up on the WCC. Since the NCAA tournament is what they care about most, they schedule accordingly to get good seedings. This has been their strategy for years.