Never heard of Stonehill. What's the purpose in playing cupcakes? They don't help, often hurt seeding. The fans don't show up. It's not like Cal works on zones or inbound plays during these games. What gives?
Purpose in playing cupcakes?
- Thread starter Boyd94
- Start date
They don't hurt seeding at all, and every team plays them lol.
Cal does seem to go for the very worst though.Never heard of this chump team.
They could be a little better of cupcakes, I guess. But it's also not always easy to figure out which ones will be in the 150's and which ones will be in the 300s. I did this experiment with Ualbany who we played recently. They went from being close to a top100 team several years back, and then dropped like a rock to the low 300s and high 200s. When you schedule these games sometimes a year in advanced, you don't always know what type of team you're getting. Teams can swing 100-150 positions any given year.
They could potentially finish as the very worst team in D1. This is a strength of schedule killer. As was Texas A&M Commerce. Each of those teams may finish in the bottom five of D1. And I’m not exaggerating.
No one seemed to have a problem when Uconn scheduled them..
UK plays Kansas, UNC, Miami, and Gonzaga in the non conference. If UL was not a dumpster fire, they would only add to the overall value of our non conference schedule. Not to mention the SEC will be loaded with top 25 teams. UKs strength of schedule will not be killed by playing these cupcakes...if UK handles business, strength of schedule will not be a reason why UK is or isn't considered for a high seed.
Ever heard of Queens University, Eastern IL St, North Carolina Central, Eastern Oregon, Morgan St, Charleston Southern?
Those are all teams Duke, Kansas, Gonzaga, Arizona, UNC play this season. EVERY freaking team in college does it.
Those are all teams Duke, Kansas, Gonzaga, Arizona, UNC play this season. EVERY freaking team in college does it.
I’m not making a case for this impacting seeds. I’m simply pointing out that we may in fact play two of the very worst teams in all of D1 basketball.
And, to be fair, the response that others are giving, “everybody does it” isn’t a proper answer to OP’s question.
I didn’t answer his question either.
OP: because they’re automatic wins (Oh, Evansville wasn’t) in which everyone gets to play, build confidence, get their numbers up - and the coach can experiment with rotations.
After the Stonehill game we will have played the three worst teams on the schedule.
St.Josephs, Marshall, UNC-Wilmington and Illinois St are legit mid major programs and you could throw New Mexico St in their also but they had circumstances where they fielded an entire new team.
St.Josephs, Marshall, UNC-Wilmington and Illinois St are legit mid major programs and you could throw New Mexico St in their also but they had circumstances where they fielded an entire new team.
Remember that CCC got burned by Evansville - now even the cupcakes have to be carefully picked and vetoed
I believe you said playing teams like this are a strength of schedule killer. I am saying it isn't, based upon whom UK plays out of conference as well as in the SEC.
If you believe it effects UKs strength of schedule (which again it won't based upon who else UK plays), what is the ultimate effect of that if you say you are not making a case for impacting seeding?
You and I and everyone else here knows the OP wasn't ACTUALLY asking about the reason for scheduling cupcakes lol. He even gave himself away with his last sentence.
Just shedding light on the fact that we’ve managed to not only play some bad cupcakes, but some of the very worst.
I can see playing the first couple of games but after that not much use except to pad the win column.
I’m convinced most people on this board only pay attention to UK and don’t watch a single non-UK game all year. Most of what people complain about are things every fanbase complains about.
The purpose is the same purpose Cal uses to run the program overall - to increase the draft stock of his recruits.
There's no reason to make your schedule tougher than it needs to be. We play Kansas, Miami, UNC, Gonzaga and one of the top 3 conferences in college basketball (One could argue it IS the top conference at the moment with 5 ranked teams). That is more than good enough.
We go through this every year. Some fans are seemingly mad that Cal isn't playing the LA Lakers so he can lose and therefore feel justified in criticizing him. I have never seen ANY fan actually WANT their team to face tougher competition, in any sport.
We go through this every year. Some fans are seemingly mad that Cal isn't playing the LA Lakers so he can lose and therefore feel justified in criticizing him. I have never seen ANY fan actually WANT their team to face tougher competition, in any sport.
Not sure if I had ever heard of Saint Peter's. Barely recognized Evansville had a team. No such thing as an automatic win with Cal. at the helm.
He's just collecting wins, as cheap as they may be, to hopefully offset the real losses to come and achieve a seed, albeit lower, in the tourney. Cal needs the tourney as nothing more than extra games to showcase his NBA prospects, and to hell with prepping to win a title which means nothing to him. For Coach John Quixote, it's all about battling the imaginary evil windmills of generational poverty ... don't you know.
I think there is legitimate discussion here. My question would be this, given that there are lighter teams on the schedule, is the program better served by playing teams in the 75 - 150 ranking range versus well down in the sub 200 range? Where do we learn the most basketball? Our players over the last several years have been failed by the pre-college prep system. Aren’t the stronger teams in the mid range grouping going to bolster and reinforce team basketball skills. PlayStation basketball works with patsy teams but not with better programs. The weak part of the schedule needs to be stronger.
How does this continue to be a question and people don't understand it?
Stone hill is only 3-4 teams from the bottom of kenpom. They don't belong on UK's schedule. Shame.
UK would benefit by playing some 100 to 150 type mid major over these teams. These teams provide no test.
That's probably my only small gripe with it. Try and aim for teams in the 199 to 100 range. I just think that's not always easy to do. You could think we're scheduling the 175th team for next year, then they get decimated by transfers between now and then, and they drop to the 300s.
But either way, the SEC is going to give us plenty of tests, Throwing a few Stonehills into the mix isn't going to hurt us.
But we're not looking for a test vs a cupcake.
We're looking for games where we know we'll win. We're looking for the ability to work on certain sets, lineups, rotations, etc.
Kanas started the season with North Carolina Central and Manhattan. They weren't tested in those games.
Does Cal have some connection to somebody at Stonehill? This team is clearly awful, Georgetown, KY would prob beat em by 20.
Stone hill and commerce are bad teams, but st joes, unc Wilmington, and penn are all good mid majors
This. Play some decent mid majors or even bad power 5 teams. It's just not much fun to see us blow out the school of the blind teams. I think you can gauge where you are more by playing teams with a pulse. Just my 2 cents
I don't know the answer to this, but how far in advance are these cupcake games scheduled? It's probably hard to predict exactly how good these interchangeable mid majors would be too far in advance.
Is Stonehill going to be allowed to play zone?
There is enough to criticize Cal on without forcing it. Every team does it. That’s why the early season events like the State Farm Classic get so much hype. Solid matchups early in the season are rare.
Now Cal does seem to intentionally pick some of the absolute worst cupcakes and UK could be better served by getting some higher quality “cupcakes” where the team can’t simply out athlete them and win by 40 regardless of level of execution.
Now Cal does seem to intentionally pick some of the absolute worst cupcakes and UK could be better served by getting some higher quality “cupcakes” where the team can’t simply out athlete them and win by 40 regardless of level of execution.
