A+ effort by athletic department. Incredible schedule!

[Fayettechill14]

2014-2015 Schedule
9 Iowa State
33 Dayton
45 SMU
62 Iona
65 Clemson
117 Wake Forest
197 North Texas
261 Nicholls State
331 Delaware State

Average: 124.4
Top 100 games: 5
Bottom 100 games: 2

Compare to...

2013-2014 Schedule
21 Gonzaga
34 Minnesota
45 SMU
59 California
65 Clemson
89 Louisiana
173 High Point
274 Savannah State
281 South Alabama
308 UTSA
318 SIU Edwardsville
319 Southeastern La.
324 Tenn-Martin

Average: 177.7
Top 100 games: 5
Bottom 100 games: 6

Wow. Same number of top 100 games, but so far the average is 55 points higher. Obviously a few in the 150-250 range are still to be added, but as long as we add fewer than 4 bottom 100 teams to the remaining schedule, this year's will be significantly better than last year's.

UPDATE: Complete schedule is a few posts down.

[Hawg Red]

Just have to avoid the bad teams.

[Hollywood_HOGan45]

Hopefully Wake Forrest will be higher than 117.

Didnt know they were so bad last year.

[HF#1]

We find out the conference schedule in about 30 minutes. 

[sooiepig_12]

Why do we play Delaware State so often?

[Fayettechill14]

Why do we play Delaware State so often?

Al Dillard bombed on them years ago and we like reliving that game.

[-Blu]

From what I hear it's not so easy to get teams to want to come play us at Bud Walton arena, it may be one of the situations where we have to take what we can get.

[Fayettechill14]

From what I hear it's not so easy to get teams to want to come play us at Bud Walton arena, it may be one of the situations where we have to take what we can get.

Doesn't surprise me. How many teams want to lose to an NIT team that has an Elite Eight home atmosphere? The better we get, the more teams will be willing to play for the exposure, but it's not worth it until we dance again.

[Fayettechill14]

New teams:

Southeast Missouri State
Wisconsin-Milwaukee
Northwestern State
Utah Valley State

UVSU almost reached the NCAA tournament. Checking the RPIs of all teams.

[Fayettechill14]

2014-2015 Schedule
9 Iowa State
33 Dayton
45 SMU
62 Iona
65 Clemson
117 Wake Forest
134 Wisconsin-Milwaukee
149 Utah Valley State
159 Northwestern State
197 North Texas
252 SE Missouri State
261 Nicholls State
331 Delaware State

Average: 139.5
Top 100 games: 5
Bottom 100 games: 3

Compare to...

2013-2014 Schedule
21 Gonzaga
34 Minnesota
45 SMU
59 California
65 Clemson
89 Louisiana
173 High Point
274 Savannah State
281 South Alabama
308 UTSA
318 SIU Edwardsville
319 Southeastern La.
324 Tenn-Martin

Average: 177.7
Top 100 games: 5
Bottom 100 games: 6

Incredible. A+ effort by the athletic department for scheduling.

[sooiepig_12]

Doesn't surprise me. How many teams want to lose to an NIT team that has an Elite Eight home atmosphere? The better we get, the more teams will be willing to play for the exposure, but it's not worth it until we dance again.

Hell instead of playing those sub 300 teams.  Play Missouri State a home and home.  Decent rpi and we should be able to win at Springfield.  Still don't understand why Anderson isn't playing Oklahoma anymore.

[Fayettechill14]

Those juicy 100-200 teams that are easy to beat but will boost our RPI are money.

134 Wisconsin-Milwaukee
149 Utah Valley State
159 Northwestern State
197 North Texas

All great choices right here. Last year these four games were against teams ranked 225 or worse.

[ricepig]

Soooo, ya think Hootie will show up to support Dickie when SEMO shows up??

[dsims2k3]

Those juicy 100-200 teams that are easy to beat but will boost our RPI are money.

134 Wisconsin-Milwaukee
149 Utah Valley State
159 Northwestern State
197 North Texas

All great choices right here. Last year these four games were against teams ranked 225 or worse.

+1

[HF#1]

Much better than what we have seen in the last 7 years.  It's a "make the tournament" schedule.

[jesterzzn]

Those juicy 100-200 teams that are easy to beat but will boost our RPI are money.

134 Wisconsin-Milwaukee
149 Utah Valley State
159 Northwestern State
197 North Texas

All great choices right here. Last year these four games were against teams ranked 225 or worse.

I'm not arguing the merits of your point, but damn if that doesn't illustrate how broken RPI is I don't know what does.

[Fayettechill14]

I'm not arguing the merits of your point, but damn if that doesn't illustrate how broken RPI is I don't know what does.

Oh yeah I've been saying that for a couple years. But it's not changing anytime soon so we finally wised up and decided to make it work in our favor.

We have the same number of top 100 games (5) this year as last year, and yet this year's schedule will be ranked near the top of the conference, while last year's was near the bottom. It's a broken system, but we're playing it well.

[Ironhawg]

Soooo, ya think Hootie will show up to support Dickie when SEMO shows up??

Not if he's smart............Yep, he'll be there.

[popcornhog]

This will be the first year Arkansas hasn't hosted either Florida or Kentucky since entering the SEC.

[ricepig]

Not if he's smart............Yep, he'll be there.

Yeah, since it's the LR game, he'll be there.

[Fayettechill14]

Back to the OP, I don't see how an A+ is in consideration here at all. 

Improved?  Yes.

Still lacking a lot in terms of matchups that will move the interest of fans not associated with the university. 

9 Iowa State - keep this one going!

33 Dayton - a home and home with the Flyers makes a LOT of sense since Dayton frequently hosts a 2nd/3rd round NCAA sub regional.

45 SMU - always good for Arkansas to play in Dallas....

62 Iona - playing in NY, always good.

65 Clemson - ACC matchup, nothing more need be said.
117 Wake Forest - ditto.

134 Wisconsin-Milwaukee good mid major matchup.  Hopefully a home and home here too.

149 Utah Valley State - a bit of a reach, but I can see a money game with an opponent at or near this level.

159 Northwestern State - drop this. 

197 North Texas - already playing SMU in the Dallas area.  Play Rice, Houston, someone from the old SWC which should increase SOS.

252 SE Missouri State - drop this, pick up SW Missouri State and make a very doable road trip from Fayetteville.

261 Nicholls State - worthless
331 Delaware State - worthless

No way is this an A+ schedule.

I agree with some of your points, but we don't need that many home-and-homes. Playing in Milwaukee is okay if you win, but they can't afford to pay us to play there and a loss would be devastating.

Playing lower-tier ACC and Big XII teams in home-and-homes is a great call. Gives you an excellent chance to steal a win and improve RPI without risking too much (a loss at Clemson isn't the end of the world).

[Fayettechill14]

Fayettechill14,

I like the home and home arrangements but I understand where you are coming from.  In a perfect world, I would not care about having all that many NC home games just to fill the athletic department's coffers but would want the best (hardest) schedule possible in order to prepare for the NCAA tourney.  But, as we all know, this is not a perfect world and you have to listen to the bean counters on occasion.  Back in the day, Louisville used to play some monster OOC schedules and the Cardinals were always a tough out come March.  I'd like to see Arkansas continue to improve its schedule but as you have, we should take time to acknowledge the improvement for this year.  Hopefully, it will serve Arkansas well come March.   

I agree. I think this schedule will prepare us better than last year's did. SWAC teams don't help at all.

[Fayettechill14]

And 7of400, not to nitpick, but I did not say that the schedule was "A+" as you said. Rather, I said that the EFFORT by the athletic department was A+. They saw a problem with our schedules the last couple of years and fixed it. I applaud that. They picked the kind of games we need to improve our RPI.

[Breems]

Thank you soccer coach dude!

[bruisemeister]

The problem in the past was not the non conference as much as the poor showing in conference. The SEC is weak outside of Florida and Kentucky. I noticed both of those games will be on the road this year. Anyway, if the Hogs could beat teams like Tex A M, Bama and South Carolina, they would have been in the Big Dance last year.

[HawgAdvocate]

The problem in the past was not the non conference as much as the poor showing in conference. The SEC is weak outside of Florida and Kentucky. I noticed both of those games will be on the road this year. Anyway, if the Hogs could beat teams like Tex A M, Bama and South Carolina, they would have been in the Big Dance last year.

People can point to both, but we actually control our NC schedule, which was ranked in the 200s last season due to too many garbage RPI teams in December. We played six teams in NC overall who had an RPI beyond 270, which was far too many. Sure, we can always try and win more than 10 conference games per year, but that won't help a weak NCSOS, which bloated last season's RPI. Roughly 75% of RPI comes from SOS.

Tennessee won just one more conference game than we did last season, yet their RPI (low 50s) was far better than ours going into the Dance due to stronger NC scheduling (top 15 nationally). Winning another SEC game or two wouldn't have shot our RPI up 20-25+ spots needed to better our chances, though a much stronger NCSoS would have made it possible.

[Kevin]

Nice schedule. Much better

[secfan30]

We are finally playing the RPI game like many other teams have been doing.

[Smithian]

Very good schedule, no doubt. Some exciting games and not as many RPI killers.

[sooiepig_12]

Back to the OP, I don't see how an A+ is in consideration here at all. 

Improved?  Yes.

Still lacking a lot in terms of matchups that will move the interest of fans not associated with the university. 

9 Iowa State - keep this one going!

33 Dayton - a home and home with the Flyers makes a LOT of sense since Dayton frequently hosts a 2nd/3rd round NCAA sub regional.

45 SMU - always good for Arkansas to play in Dallas....

62 Iona - playing in NY, always good.

65 Clemson - ACC matchup, nothing more need be said.
117 Wake Forest - ditto.

134 Wisconsin-Milwaukee good mid major matchup.  Hopefully a home and home here too.

149 Utah Valley State - a bit of a reach, but I can see a money game with an opponent at or near this level.

159 Northwestern State - drop this. 

197 North Texas - already playing SMU in the Dallas area.  Play Rice, Houston, someone from the old SWC which should increase SOS.

252 SE Missouri State - drop this, pick up SW Missouri State and make a very doable road trip from Fayetteville.

261 Nicholls State - worthless
331 Delaware State - worthless

No way is this an A+ schedule.

Don't think it is a home and home with Iona.  Could be wrong though.

[WashUhog6]

This schedule does a lot better job of playing the RPI game, but it still concerns me from an NCAA tournament standpoint. If we drop all 3 non-conference road games, then our margin of error in SEC play is going to be much smaller due to not getting UK or Florida at home. We need to win, at the very least, one of those non-conference games--and I'd prefer 2 of 3 for resume purposes--so that we aren't again getting docked because of Mike's terrible road record at Arkansas.

[Cinco de Hogo]

Ya'll do know that as soon as we improve the SOS the NCAA will change its criteria for seeding the tourney.  Myself, I would play only major conference teams or historically power teams.  If your good enough your good enough and the top players want nothing more than to be on TV.  That gets you better and better and better players.

Teams like Gonso and Marquette play this game and have stayed relavant doing it.