Iowa Baseball scheduling...

[IowaHawkeyeFBnBB4Life]

I liked how we scheduled this year. With that being said I would love to go play a three game series on the road at an SEC school or Pac-12 school. I would also like to see Heller bring a school like Missouri or Arkansas in for a midweek game or two.

 

[StormHawk42]

Heller said recently that we open next year with Dallas Baptist. Not the SEC you're talking about, but very well-respected program.

 

[icu81222]

Heller said in a podcast earlier this year (and other times) that he doesn't believe it helps northern schools to go south or west and get their brains beat in by southern schools early in the season just to say they played "the big boys". I agree with him. It isn't smart.

There are no "good losses" when it comes to playing them. A 1 run loss to a top 10 team doesn't help any more than a 15 run loss. Better off scheduling a decent mid-major that you can beat. It helps a great deal to beat that team and a loss doesn't necessarily kill you.

Makes sense.

the other issue is proximity. There just aren't many D1 programs within driving distance to play mid-week games with during the season. Have to kind of take what you can get. Hence the Grand Views on the schedule.

 

[DodgerHawki]

Heller said in a podcast earlier this year (and other times) that he doesn't believe it helps northern schools to go south or west and get their brains beat in by southern schools early in the season just to say they played "the big boys". I agree with him. It isn't smart.

There are no "good losses" when it comes to playing them. A 1 run loss to a top 10 team doesn't help any more than a 15 run loss. Better off scheduling a decent mid-major that you can beat. It helps a great deal to beat that team and a loss doesn't necessarily kill you.

Makes sense.

the other issue is proximity. There just aren't many D1 programs within driving distance to play mid-week games with during the season. Have to kind of take what you can get. Hence the Grand Views on the schedule.

This is generally on point. Scheduling for Iowa is going to be crucial to getting at-large bids. Have to hit the sweet spot of scheduling good enough teams to boost the RPI but also not getting run over early in the season. This year, Iowa had non-con games with Missouri State (quite good), K-State, Kansas, Houston Baptist, Bradley, Cincinnati, Middle Tennessee State, just to name a few. Good mix of quality teams from Big 12, Valley, Big East, etc. I'm sure they will look for the right opportunities to play quality non-con opponents where applicable.

 

[StormHawk42]

I agree with the two posts above, however, I would like to rid ourselves of D3/NAIA schools for midweek games. One is plenty. This year we had 3.

 

[port3]

U of I has some of the strictest rules in the B1G when it comes to student athletes missing classes. Because of that and the fact that UNI and ISU do not have baseball anymore, Iowa is forced to schedule those types teams just from a logistical standpoint. Would the coaching staff rather play a D1 program midweek? Yes... but just not possible in most cases. Its a matter of needing to play those D3 and NAIA school to stay sharp for the weekend series.

 

[2bagger22]

U of I has some of the strictest rules in the B1G when it comes to student athletes missing classes. Because of that and the fact that UNI and ISU do not have baseball anymore, Iowa is forced to schedule those types teams just from a logistical standpoint. Would the coaching staff rather play a D1 program midweek? Yes... but just not possible in most cases. Its a matter of needing to play those D3 and NAIA school to stay sharp for the weekend series.

You're completely correct. If I'm not mistaken they can only miss eight days a year. Don't remember how a "day" is defined.

 

[IowaHawkeyeFBnBB4Life]

I agree that loses do not help us out. However, if we can go on the road to an SEC or PAC-12 school and take 2 or 3 W's, that goes A LONG way for RPI/SOS and typically Top 50 wins.

With that being said, playing Dallas Baptist will be great. I also see no reason why we shouldn't be playing a home-home midweek with Missouri during the year.

If you get victories in games like that, your margin of error during the year is A LOT bigger. Look at Nebraska for example, granted they imploded. They played a tough non-conference (Texas, Fullerton, California schools) and had they taken the Purdue series and just beat MSU. They are probably in the tournament.