We are an RPI liability.

Last year's non-conference schedule was awful also. I expected this year's schedule to be better since we got a lot of publicity from being in the NCAA Tournament and winning a game.

Coach Les has said a couple of things in regards to the non-conference schedule: 1) He says it's just really hard to get teams to come here an play us and 2) he has said that he is willing to play a lot of non-conference away games since he believes that it brings the players together and teaches them to play through adversity.

From a fan's perspective, the non-conference schedule leaves a lot to be desired.

Les prefers a non challenging pre season?

Playing decent mid-majors on the road is challenging in my opinion. We are obviously not able to get high mid-majors and power conference schools to come to Davis. Road games against just about anyone are always tough and can be especially tough when you travel to places like UNC and Seattle etc where the arenas are practically empty for the home team and there are only a handful of Aggie fans in the seats. The players just have to play for each other as a team in those situations and the empty environment makes it even tougher.

We have to consistently win both at home and especially on the road. Don't expect a great home schedule for a while, not until we consistently win.

Gonzaga was able to get it going quickly because they advanced deep in the 1999 tournament. Their scheduling ramped up the following year and has been excellent since. They've also been back to the Dance since that season.

Bottom line, we have to schedule bottom to mid-tier teams knowing we'll be on the road (like Pacific, Wazzu, Washington, USF) and then win those games. Or see if we can get a two-for-one deal.