Seth Emerson has our OOC hoops schedule up and ready for us to look at. The big news is that Boston College is on tap as another quality OOC opponent. With the Charleston Classic, Western Kentucky, Clemson, BC, and Baylor as opponents, we will be in good position for the NCAAs once SEC play begins if we navigate the OOC schedule well.
Of course, the danger of this schedule is that we could end up only slightly above .500 entering conference play. With a senior-laden, talented team, though, it's best to head into OOC play taking on all comers. We have the horses to win all of these games, and even if we lose a few of them, which is more likely, we'll still be much better off as far as RPI and Selection Sunday go than we would be if we went undefeated in OOC play but didn't beat anyone. The RPI and NCAA selection committee is literally obsessed with quality wins, so it's really postseason suicide to schedule a weak OOC slate. Ergo, witness our exclusion from last year's NCAA tournament despite winning 10 games in the SEC.
This isn't to say that I didn't think the easy OOC schedule was good thing for us last year; it bolstered a young team's confidence while we were breaking in a new coach and system. If we had lost lots of games OOC, it could have been bad for us. This year, though, we know we have the team to win these games, and we also have experience, so a few losses shouldn't crush the team's confidence. They've been there and know they can bounce back. Bring on the Golden Eagles and the rest of them.
So sound off: which of these games are you looking foward to? Can we run the table OOC?