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Thanks Pa, forgot about the conflict with Chief games on Sundays.
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The 2023 schedules for Tulsa, Memphis, and Rice are up.
From what I gather, the American will be divided into two divisions, east and west.
West: WSU, Rice, Tulsa, UTSA, SMU, Tulane, and North Texas
East: UAB, Memphis, Charlotte, FAU, ECU Temple, and USF
Looks like teams will play those in their division twice on the same week/weekend. (Tulsa plays North Texas on Thursday and Friday)
Tulsa comes in Wichita Fri Oct 20 and Sat Oct 21. I guess we have no more Wed games against Tulsa.
Shockers travel to Memphis Sun Oct 19.
Shockers go to Rice Fri Nov 17 and Sat Nov 18.
Rice could be playing a tough preseason schedule - Houston, USC, Baylor, Stanford, Texas, and K-state.Comment
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Rice will be the power of the conference - and it may not be close.Originally posted by Critter's Pa View Post
Per 2022 year-ending Pablo, the top four teams were:
West
6520 Rice
5870 SMU
5535 Shockers
5305 North Texas
East
5105 UAB
5055 Charlotte
4880 Memphis
4820 ECU
There are caveats galore. This is intended to give a simple notion of the possible contenders.Comment
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If this is any indication it certainly looks like the West Division is definitely the stronger of the 2 divisions I assume that will be an RPI benefit to the West Division teams.Originally posted by flyingMoose View Post
I think Lambo will also like the structure of the Non-Con schedule with playing division opponents on back-to-back days at one location (either home or away). Should help the travel budget and may also allow for an additional practice time in-season with fewer days on the road. It will be interesting to hear Lambo's take on it.
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Would have rather had Memphis rather than Tulane in the West. Shorter travel timeComment
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Rice seems to play a lot of ranked teams, year after year. For the last few years, they have played both Texas and Baylor. Western Kentucky (WKU), often ranked top 25, has been their nemesis to winning the C-USA tournament, but they still get into the NCAA tournament. This is just an example of what Coach is talking about when he lectures about strength of schedule.Originally posted by flyingMoose View Post
Since the American doesn't have a post season tournament, winning the conference, to get that automatic bid, will probably be tough, but not impossible. North Texas is usually good. We definitely got the tougher of the incoming teams, but that's okay, because it should help, or at least hurt less, playing a better RPI teams twice and the teams with lesser RPI only once.
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I wonder how they will select the conference champion in an unbalanced schedule like that? Do we know yet?
I would hope that a conference tournament is in the immediate future (PM me for further discussion if anyone wants) as otherwise it makes no sense.
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I'm going to guess that Tulane and Rice, like Houston before, made better travel partners for the eastern division. I bet that Memphis and (maybe) UAB (or Charlotte) make better travel partners for those in the Western division.Originally posted by pogo View Post
I maybe totally wrong on the reasoning behind that choice.
...and it appears I am probably wrong...
Out of curiosity I checked the Rice, Memphis, and Tulsa schedules. Looks like the regular season starts on a Wed with an interdivisional game. I don't know if there are travel partners. From what I gather, out of division games played at home are back to back on the same weekend. The three away games are played three separate weeks, the first week and last week and one week during the conference season, seems to be the pattern.
Then I look again at Rice's schedule and they travel to Memphis and Charlotte on the same weekend. Who knows.Comment
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I'm sure there is some fancy math they can use in lieu of playing a conference tournament. It does look like it's set up for a post season tournament, whether that is two teams, or four, or more, is anyone's guess. I bet that Rice has been pushing for a post season tournament. None of the schedules I have looked at list a date/location of any post season play. Memphis, Rice, and Tulsa all play their last game of the season on Wed, Nov 22.Originally posted by WuDrWu View PostComment
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And here it is:
Shocker Volleyball Unveils 2023 Schedule
he first opportunity to watch the Shockers is an exhibition match against Oklahoma on August 17 at Charles Koch Arena.
In non-conference play, the Shockers host the Shocker Volleyball Classic on September 7-9 against NCAA tournament participants Kansas and Colorado. The tournament is just the second time the Shockers have hosted Kansas since the 2002 season; the only other meeting during that time came in the spring of 2021. Wichita State and Colorado have played only once previously, a single match as part of the Shocker Invitational in 1986.
Wichita State opens the season with three matches at the Under Armour Classic in Lubbock, Texas hosted by Texas Tech. The Shockers battle Notre Dame on Friday, August 25 to kick off the 2023 campaign, followed by a match later that evening against Texas Tech. WSU rounds out the competition against Houston Christian, who claimed the Southland Conference regular season championship a year ago.
WSU treks to Champaign, Illinois on September 1-2 for matches against Illinois and Illinois State before rounding out the non-conference schedule September 14-16 at the Northern Colorado Classic against Bradley, Omaha and Northern Colorado. The host Bears won the Big Sky regular season and tournament championships, while Omaha qualified for the NIVC after finishing as Summit League runner-up.
One of the major changes to the schedule is the introduction of divisions into the American Athletic Conference format. Teams play opponents within their own division back-to-back on Fridays and Saturdays, while playing single matches against opponents from outside the division on Fridays and Sundays. Wichita State's fellow West Division foes are North Texas, Rice, SMU, Tulane, Tulsa, and UTSA.
The Shockers host North Texas, Tulsa and UTSA, with road trips to Rice, SMU and Tulane. Outside of the West Division, Wichita State hosts Charlotte, Temple, South Florida and UAB, and travels to East Carolina, Florida Atlantic and Memphis.
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Looks like a pretty solid schedule to me.Comment
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In total agreement. The pre-conference matches, while not top 25 teams, are all teams that should, hopefully, have decent RPIs. They are all winnable games and they are all losable games. While there are several teams the Shockers should beat, none of them are push-overs.Originally posted by 1972Shocker View Post
I was going to list my predictions for each game, but decided not to do that. Then I remembered that my guesses have zero effect on outcomes.
TL;DR- I predict the Shockers will be 22-7.
OU- Too bad it's an exhibition match. Hope they play 5 sets and we have a chance to see how well Izzi is connecting with the hitters, especially the middles. I am not counting this match in the win/loss totals.
Pre-conference:
ND- Win. I checked out their roster a few weeks ago, they might have updated it since, but I think there were only 11 players on the roster, with no players higher than a junior.
Texas Tech- Winnable. Didn't Sophie Childs transfer to Texas Tech? I think winning this game early in the season will really boost team confidence which will hopefully translate to winning games when the Shockers are not playing their best.
Houston Christian- Win. Or could be a loss. Don't know anything about this team (a few of teams we play this year fall into this category), so this is a pure guess.
Illinois- Winnable. I would guess this team is probably close to, if not a little better than, Tx Tech in the talent of their players.
Illinois State- Should win, but will probably lose, especially if the Shockers beat Illinois.
Kansas- Win. Home opener- will be a large crowd.
Colorado- Win, especially if we beat Kansas.
Bradley, Omaha, and Northern Colorado. Should all be wins, but I think the Shockers will lose one in a WTH-was-that fashion.
Conference games
At EC- Win. If the Shockers lose this game, it's gonna be a long year.
Hosting Charlotte- Win. I think this is one of those teams WSU has never played.
At SMU- Win and win. I think we sweep SMU this year, hopefully easily.
Hosting Temple- There is a conference game this year that we will lose that should be an easy win. this is not it. Win.
Hosting So FLA- Win. At least, should win.
At Tulane- Win and Win. The Shockers lost last year at Tulane, a team they should have handled easily. It won't happen this year.
Hosting Tulsa- Win and win. I bet these games are going to be a little closer than they should be.
At Florida Atlantic- I'm going to guess this game is the game we should win, but don't. I hope I'm wrong.
At Memphis- Win. They are tough at home, but it could be a good bounce back win.
Hosting North Texas- Win and win. Only because WSU is playing at home. If the games were in Texas, I would guess a split.
Hosting University of Texas San Antonio- Win and win. Same as North Texas, if this was played in Texas, they might split.
At Rice- Win and Loss. I hope we at least split with rice. I could see rice sweeping, but I hope that doesn't happen.
Hosting University of Alabama Birmingham- Win. Gotta win on senior night, right?
I'm guessing the Shockers will finish 22-7. I understand that if you add up my predictions, I have them at 26-3, but I know that I'm going to be wrong on some of my predictions of winning and I adjusted for that. I just hope I'm not too wrong.
Will 2-4 conference losses cost WSU a chance at winning the conference? Maybe. Depends on if Rice and SMU stumble and how bad.
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Christmas in August?
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