Any sort of general guidelines when scheduling non-conference? It's sometimes hard to determine who will be good/bad the next season.

For you I'd suggest a bunch of teams from 50 RPI to 150 RPI with as many on the road as you can get.

I would be really nice if they had a preseason top 25 that was based on talent, then you would know something. (Edit: I found the preseason top 25 ... is it there during recruit too or only preseason )

If you go to the RPI page, you can see team prestige, which is better than nothing.

If you sort it by Prestige, you should be able to find teams that are significantly better or significantly worse than you based on that.

Quote: Originally posted by jeremyboz on 5/18/2010 For you I'd suggest a bunch of teams from 50 RPI to 150 RPI with as many on the road as you can get.

There is NO RPI at that point ... unless you saved it from last season. The RPI score for everyone is .000 and the teams are in alphabetical order :D

Here are a few tips that may help. These are things I look for in scheduling.

Teams with 6 or more Seniors will likely be good for that season.

Teams that are losing 6 or more players will likely not be good for a season or two (with a few human coach exceptions).

A team with a long time human coach with a consistently good record will tend to continue to be good.

A human coach in a nearly empty conference will likely have a good season.

Weena's ideas are good:

I also won't schedule a team unless the coach has been there at least 2 seasons.

If a team has 5 or more seniors, I won't schedule them for next season unless their coach has a good track record

I schedule all away games, as hard as I possibly can. It's a way to game the all-important RPI. Helped me get a #4 seed in D1 this season without any playing seniors. Helped me get the record all-time high RPI in Phelan D3 a while back. Works every time. If you finish sub-500 you still can have a decent shot at the PIT.