Baseball - Iowa at Bradley - pre-game

[EvilMonkeyInTheCloset]

Who are we going to play midweek?

Iowa State

 

[AuroraHawk]

Hawks LIVE RPI is 66 right now, +5 from yesterday IIRC, opponents must've won last night.

Iowa entered yesterday at #68 so, even with Texas Tech and Michigan losing, Iowa was able to move up the RPI ladder a bit after salvaging an nail-biting ugly win last night.

Must take 2 of 3 this weekend.

 

[AuroraHawk]

And, FWIW, Iowa is a single RPI point ahead of Southern Cal and Penn and 4 RPI points ahead of Jacksonville and Alabama. Its current position in the mid 60s is tenuous at best. Wouldn't be surprised at all to see Iowa in low to mid 70s by the time the first pitch is thrown at Banks Field on Saturday.

 

[whatsup13579er]

Also stop playing Bradley and the like on Wednesdays...........we never play these teams well in these midweek games.

We need to stop playing Western Illinois during midweek games. They are always a drain on Iowa's RPI. Its a no-win situation. We need to play more of the Missouri Valley schools for the midweek games rather than W Ill, Milwaukee, UIC, etc. If we could schedule more teams like Mizzu, Creighton, ND, KU, or KSU that would be better too. The problem is regionally Iowa is handcuffed on the number of quality teams in the area. I love what they did early this year when they went and played a series at UC Irvine then stayed and played SDSU on Tuesday.

 

[ssckelley]

Here is the team sheet:

We need to stop playing Western Illinois during midweek games. They are always a drain on Iowa's RPI. Its a no-win situation. We need to play more of the Missouri Valley schools for the midweek games rather than W Ill, Milwaukee, UIC, etc. If we could schedule more teams like Mizzu, Creighton, ND, KU, or KSU that would be better too. The problem is regionally Iowa is handcuffed on the number of quality teams in the area. I love what they did early this year when they went and played a series at UC Irvine then stayed and played SDSU on Tuesday.

Thats a long bus ride for 1 game. They play these area MAC teams midweek because it’s a reasonable bus ride. Last night Bradley was only about 2.5 hours.

 

[DodgerHawki]

Here is the team sheet:


Thats a long bus ride for 1 game. They play these area MAC teams midweek because it’s a reasonable bus ride. Last night Bradley was only about 2.5 hours.

Yes, they have to balance good scheduling vs costs. They can't fly to a single non-conference game mid-week and neither does it make sense to bus 7 hours to Manhattan, KS for a single game on a Wednesday.

Central Michigan was the winner of the MAC and a returning regional team from 2021. Texas Tech is obviously very good. UC-Irvine is usually good, maybe not this year and Iowa lost 2 of 3.

Hawks will have to make hay in the league that's for sure. They might have the team to do it.

 

[whatsup13579er]

Here is the team sheet:


Thats a long bus ride for 1 game. They play these area MAC teams midweek because it’s a reasonable bus ride. Last night Bradley was only about 2.5 hours.

Bradley is MVC and usually a solid RPI team. They should play them twice each year which they typically do. I’m looking more at the Summit League and Horizon League teams. Both are bad RPI conferences.

Milwaukee is 4 hours. So is Creighton, Mizzou, and S Illinois.

St Thomas is 5 Hours. So is Notre Dame and Kansas.

Play KSU or Wichita in Kansas City or Missouri State or Evansville in St Louis.

Once you’re on the bus, a 3 hour bus ride isn’t much different than a 5 hour one. Just schedule games that aren’t RPI killers on your resume, especially if you lose like Michigan did the other night and one game drops you 17 spots.

 

[HawkeyeGenius]

Bradley is MVC and usually a solid RPI team. They should play them twice each year which they typically do. I’m looking more at the Summit League and Horizon League teams. Both are bad RPI conferences.

Milwaukee is 4 hours. So is Creighton, Mizzou, and S Illinois.

St Thomas is 5 Hours. So is Notre Dame and Kansas.

Play KSU or Wichita in Kansas City or Missouri State or Evansville in St Louis.

Once you’re on the bus, a 3 hour bus ride isn’t much different than a 5 hour one. Just schedule games that aren’t RPI killers on your resume, especially if you lose like Michigan did the other night and one game drops you 17 spots.

Eastern Illinois is a little over four hours away. They are in the OVC, and they are not a bad team. I'm surprised we don't see them on the schedule.

 

[ssckelley]

Once you’re on the bus, a 3 hour bus ride isn’t much different than a 5 hour one. Just schedule games that aren’t RPI killers on your resume, especially if you lose like Michigan did the other night and one game drops you 17 spots.

An extra 2 hours on a bus can be huge. My guess is most of these players have classes on Thursday.

 

[AuroraHawk]

Bradley is MVC and usually a solid RPI team. They should play them twice each year which they typically do. I’m looking more at the Summit League and Horizon League teams. Both are bad RPI conferences.

Milwaukee is 4 hours. So is Creighton, Mizzou, and S Illinois.

St Thomas is 5 Hours. So is Notre Dame and Kansas.

Play KSU or Wichita in Kansas City or Missouri State or Evansville in St Louis.

Once you’re on the bus, a 3 hour bus ride isn’t much different than a 5 hour one. Just schedule games that aren’t RPI killers on your resume, especially if you lose like Michigan did the other night and one game drops you 17 spots.

Was having a similar conversation with a work colleague yesterday. Try to schedule an annual game with KSU or Kansas at Principal Park in Des Moines.

 

[ssckelley]

Was having a similar conversation with a work colleague yesterday. Try to schedule an annual game with KSU or Kansas at Principal Park in Des Moines.

Something like that might work, Des Moines is about a 3.5 hour drive for Kansas. That's still a drive for Kansas for a mid week game but it's closer than Colorado Springs (over 7 hours) that they have scheduled with Air Force in a couple of weeks. But Kansas doesn't help you much on the RPI front, at least not this year as they are currently ranked 106.

 

[AuroraHawk]

But Kansas doesn't help you much on the RPI front, at least not this year as they are currently ranked 106.

That written, Kansas took 2 of 3 from Illinois in their opening series and beat them again in a series where KU also lost to MSU and Minnesota. KU beat MSU in a single game a week or so later. KU was swept by #7 Okie State (losing 4-2; 4-3 and 7-2) and took one of three against #4 Texas Tech. I expect that KU's RPI will climb by year's end.
In 2021, Kansas' RPI was #63; Iowa was #76.
In 2020, before the COVID shut down, Iowa beat KU twice at Banks Field. Iowa ended up #38 that year; KU ended up #157.

 

[whatsup13579er]

Something like that might work, Des Moines is about a 3.5 hour drive for Kansas. That's still a drive for Kansas for a mid week game but it's closer than Colorado Springs (over 7 hours) that they have scheduled with Air Force in a couple of weeks. But Kansas doesn't help you much on the RPI front, at least not this year as they are currently ranked 106.

Western Illinois is 250+ in RPI every year. 106 would be a great midweek game. Iowa isn’t going to find any top 25 midweek games more than likely. They just need to schedule games that won’t kill them if they lose.

 

[HawkeyeGenius]

Western Illinois is 250+ in RPI every year. 106 would be a great midweek game. Iowa isn’t going to find any top 25 midweek games more than likely. They just need to schedule games that won’t kill them if they lose.

Play Northwestern or Illinois in a couple midweek games if they aren't on the conference schedule.