There's been discussion of our OOC schedule and how it might impact our NCAA hopes this year, so I decided to do a KenPom comparison of the OOC schedules last year and this year.
2022-23 (KenPom rankings at conclusion of 2022-23 season):
Columbia - 341
Sacred Heart - 326
UMass-Lowell - 134
Temple - 120
Rider - 206
Central CT State - 339
Miami - 24
SHU - 58
Wake Forest - 86
Bucknell - 303
Coppin St. - 338
2023-24 (current KenPom rankings, with last year's final ranking in parentheses just for comparison)
Princeton - 65 (91)
Boston Univ. - 307 (266)
Bryant - 213 (208)
Georgetown - 173 (219)
Howard - 238 (218)
St. Peter's - 231 (308)
Wake Forest - 79 (86)
SHU - 54 (58)
LIU - 356 (363)
Miss. State - 17 (53)
Stonehill - 354 (331)
Thus, in 2022-23, we played 24, 58, 86, 120, 134, 206, 303, 326, 338, 339, 341.
And in 2023-24, we are playing 17, 54, 65, 79, 173, 213, 231, 238, 307, 354, 356.
Bottom line is that I don't really see much difference between last year's OOC schedule and this year's. In fact, although the KenPom rankings for the current year are still incomplete since most teams have only played 4 to 6 games, one could argue that this year's OOC schedule is a tick harder, as: the best team on our OOC schedule this year is higher ranked than the best team last year (17 vs. 24); we're playing more top 100 teams (four instead of three); we're playing more top 250 teams (eight instead of six); and we're playing fewer sub-300 teams this year (three instead of five).
We'll see how the rankings play out over the course of the season, but at worst the OOC schedules are comparable, and at best, this year's is better than last year's by a bit. (Yes, I know BOTH of these OOC schedules are fairly weak, but that's a discussion for a different day -- this thread is simply comparing last season with this season).
2022-23 (KenPom rankings at conclusion of 2022-23 season):
Columbia - 341
Sacred Heart - 326
UMass-Lowell - 134
Temple - 120
Rider - 206
Central CT State - 339
Miami - 24
SHU - 58
Wake Forest - 86
Bucknell - 303
Coppin St. - 338
2023-24 (current KenPom rankings, with last year's final ranking in parentheses just for comparison)
Princeton - 65 (91)
Boston Univ. - 307 (266)
Bryant - 213 (208)
Georgetown - 173 (219)
Howard - 238 (218)
St. Peter's - 231 (308)
Wake Forest - 79 (86)
SHU - 54 (58)
LIU - 356 (363)
Miss. State - 17 (53)
Stonehill - 354 (331)
Thus, in 2022-23, we played 24, 58, 86, 120, 134, 206, 303, 326, 338, 339, 341.
And in 2023-24, we are playing 17, 54, 65, 79, 173, 213, 231, 238, 307, 354, 356.
Bottom line is that I don't really see much difference between last year's OOC schedule and this year's. In fact, although the KenPom rankings for the current year are still incomplete since most teams have only played 4 to 6 games, one could argue that this year's OOC schedule is a tick harder, as: the best team on our OOC schedule this year is higher ranked than the best team last year (17 vs. 24); we're playing more top 100 teams (four instead of three); we're playing more top 250 teams (eight instead of six); and we're playing fewer sub-300 teams this year (three instead of five).
We'll see how the rankings play out over the course of the season, but at worst the OOC schedules are comparable, and at best, this year's is better than last year's by a bit. (Yes, I know BOTH of these OOC schedules are fairly weak, but that's a discussion for a different day -- this thread is simply comparing last season with this season).