2023 Schedule Analysis Part II

We’ve got the second installment of going around the West and looking at schedules. You can find my first installment here. From that first article, let me repeat this next paragraph in this article:

Last year I introduced grades with a sliding scale depending on the volleyball program. Bottom line, Howard Payne is not Trinity and they have different issues to resolve with scheduling. Programs that aren’t at the top have to build up their reputation while the top teams have an easier time of scheduling other top teams. Teams on the cusp of an NCAA Tournament bid really need to fight to put together a top schedule so their Strength of Schedule (SOS) plays at selection time. So, different scheduling goals will be considered in my grading.

In the first article, I covered 10 teams and there are 37 in Region X. I figure a few teams will be very late with their schedule for no apparent reason but this will prevent me from analyzing them. So, let’s hit up 13 teams here and we’ll see how many are left for the last installment. Here are the teams: Concordia, ETBU, Mary Hardin-Baylor, Lewis & Clark, Pacific Lutheran, Willamette, Dallas, St Thomas, Southwestern, Trinity, Cal Lutheran, Caltech and Occidental. That is certainly a mix of teams. Going back to my repeated paragraph above, if I’m looking at programs fighting for the NCAA Tournament, I’ve got Mary Hardin-Baylor, Pacific Lutheran, Southwestern, Trinity and Cal Lutheran. Rebuilding teams probably consist of Lewis & Clark, Dallas and Occidental. You might also throw in Caltech but they are such a unique program that they really don’t fit into my little boxes (on a hillside…little boxes all the same).  

(I have to break from the article for a second because my mind has wandered to a 60’s folk song. Little Boxes is a song written by Malvina Reynolds and first released by Pete Seeger. It holds a special place in my heart because my mother would sing that to me and my sister growing up. I also sang that song to my children and my godchildren when they were growing up. For my daughter’s wedding, this was the song we danced to although I thankfully used the “Walk off the Earth” cover version. If you want to reminisce with me, you can see and hear the song below.)

Where was I? It’s hard to see the screen as I seem to be perspiring from my eyes right now. Oh, yeah…that leaves a few teams other than Caltech that are sort of the middle. They are Concordia, ETBU, Willamette and St Thomas. I’m always fascinated by these teams because I expect, hope, demand that they schedule as if they are going for an at-large bid and then I am often disappointed. Still, that’s three groups or boxes (plus Caltech) and each will be graded slightly differently.

We will start with the rebuilding programs and Caltech. As I wrote in the first installment, these teams have a more difficult time scheduling top programs as they fear a hit to their SOS. I’ll then move in the middle group and end with the traditionally better programs. I’ll leave Trinity for last as they never disappoint, which is extremely annoying for a Southwestern fan. Oh, speaking of Southwestern, I tend to treat them unfairly because that’s what we do to the one’s we love.

Lewis & Clark

The Pioneers struggled last season after looking like a team that was trying to position themselves into that middle group. They finished 2-19 with only one win in conference. Since Lewis & Clark is a NWC team I need to point out that this is often my most frustrating conference (although the ASC has joined them). This year, the conference is adding a tournament, which means there will only be two weeks for non-conference play. Outside of Whitworth, the schools only take one trip (which is one more than most east coast programs) but in our isolated West Region, it really makes earning an at-large bid difficult. The boiler plate for the Oregon schools (which L&C is one), is to fly out week one (usually to California) and then play in their Oregon Trail Classic week two. After that it’s conference play and now the tournament to finish it up. Looking specifically at Lewis & Clark and they are going with the boiler plate. They fly down to the Pacific Coast Classic (PCC) and draw (2022 records in parenthesis) Illinois Tech (14-11), Alfred (5-13), Nebraska Wesleyan (19-11) and Occidental (6-17). When your program only won 2 matches, it’s hard not to schedule better teams but you won’t get top teams and that’s what we have here. None of these teams will get you into the NCAA Tournament with a win but that’s not the goal for the Pioneers. They are trying to improve and make enough steps to get to where they can think about an at-large bid down the road. The second week it’s the Oregon Trail Classic where they will host West Coast Baptist (a poor NCCAA team) and Schreiner (11-19) and then play McMurry (12-12) and Wells College (13-13) on a neutral court. So, more of the same before they move into conference play. All in all, this is a fine schedule for a rebuilding program and I can’t complain especially as they are taking a flight. Grade B+

Dallas

Putting Dallas in the rebuilding group may be a little tough as they went 9-19 last year but with only 3-wins in conference, they didn’t make the SCAC Tournament. Still, this team had nice wins over McMurry and Letourneau last year so they are definitely in a better starting place than Lewis & Clark. Playing in the SCAC, who use a pod schedule, there are more open weekends to play out-of-conference. Unfortunately, there are only so many teams you can drive to in the Texas region. Week one has (I think) Dallas and Austin College co-hosting a tournament. Dallas will host Arlington Baptist, Paul Quinn, Lyon (10-17 in NAIA) and Sul Ross State (8-13). With Arlington Baptist and Paul Quinn in addition to Lyon, that’s only one full DIII program out of the gate. Ironically, this will probably be the last season of DIII for Sul Ross State. Not a great start as only the Sul Ross State match will count in the standings when it comes to the NCAA. Dallas will play Dallas Christian College (again, not a DIII program) during the week before heading over to ETBU for their tournament. There, they will draw Hendrix (10-13), Millsaps (7-16), Belhaven (10-18) and host ETBU (20-7). Hendrix had a down year but they are a good team most years. ETBU is on an upswing but those should be wins against Millsaps and Belhaven. In fact, after two weeks, Dallas could be 8-1 or 7-2 with this schedule and I’ll have no idea what that means for them. Kudos to Dallas for playing in another tournament week three as they go to Millsaps and play Huntingdon (28-9), Belhaven (again) and Millsaps (again). I’m not a fan of playing the same teams over again on back-to-back weeks but I’m sure their options were limited. This is where I typically would go off on the program for not having any flights but one downside to the SCAC is that you sometimes have to fly to Colorado College for conference matches and Dallas will do this twice! (Side note – Huntingdon being 28-9 was shocking to me. They aren’t typically that good but they really didn’t play a tough schedule.) The rest of the schedule is mainly SCAC play where they will draw Southwestern, Trinity and Colorado College twice. They also sprinkle in Howard Payne, LeTourneau (twice), Mary Hardin-Baylor and (just for giggles) Millsaps for a third time. Nice job getting Mary Hardin-Baylor scheduled but I fear this will only having me yelling at them when I cover their schedule below. Overall, not a horrible job with no flights outside of conference play but just too many teams that shouldn’t be challenging. With that said, they aren’t afraid of LeTourneau and Mary Hardin-Baylor so can I really be angry? (The answer to that is always “yes”.) In a lot of ways, I like what Lewis & Clark did more in their two weeks but Dallas did a great job using all of their available time that L&C doesn’t have. Grade B+

Occidental

Occidental (6-17) will also be remembered by me as the place where my father and I got into a fight. Not a fist fight but a verbal outburst and visual daggers through the heart kind of fight. I don’t hold that against the Tigers but maybe I will their schedule. Let’s see.

You know what, my mind is really wandering so let’s do a dad story but not the one from Oxy. My parents were divorced so I didn’t see him a lot. When I did, he was really good at embarrassing a very insecure young man. I went to oddly named University High School in Los Angeles and in my senior year there was the parent walk though the kid’s schedule evening. I really didn’t want my mom going (because she was also embarrassing) but what are you going to do. That night she comes home in a mild panic and I’m instantly worried. Turns out my dad had shown up WITH A CAMERA! He went to each of my classes and asked the teacher where I sat. He then sat there and took a picture of the teacher who was asked to pose. Insecure me was mortified. A week or so later he turns up and gives me the pictures. He didn’t want them. THEY WERE FOR ME! Like who does that? Now, when my kids were in high school, I would tell them this story and grab my camera as we headed out the door for their walkthrough event. You see, what my dad did was embarrassing, but what I did was just funny.

I feel like I’m merging a musing article in with the scheduling article. I wonder if my kids are embarrassed by this?

Alright, sorry Oxy. Let’s focus on you for a second. Oxy doesn’t typically travel (fly) and that stays in effect this year. Week one has them at the PCC where they play Nebraska Wesleyan (19-11), Alfred (5-13) and Lewis & Clark (2-19). Not a great schedule but this was a 6-win team last year. I’m disappointed that the Tigers don’t play in any other tournaments over the next two weeks. They do sprinkle in some matches against San Diego Christian (non-DIII), Providence (DI?!), UC Santa Cruz (19-6) and West Coast Baptist (non-DIII). That’s one good DIII team in that mix and a weird match against a decent DI program but not a great substitute for playing into two DIII tournaments. (Of course, Providence could be Providence Christian but they are listed as the DI school in the schedule.) After that, it’s just the SCIAC, which does include some good teams especially CMS. Just a weird schedule to be blunt about it but the rebuilding teams can get away with it. They are trying to improve and they have some matches that will show them where they are at. Still, I’m not a fan. Grade B-

Caltech

The Beavers went 8-12 last year and 5-10 in conference, which was really pretty good. They are such a unique program due to their academic requirements but have really improved over the last few years. They are no longer the doormats of the SCIAC. With that said, they typically play a schedule of non-DIII teams prior to conference. I’m not thrilled about that approach, but, again, this is another program that doesn’t consult me on schedules. Let’s see what the plan is for 2023. It does look like the same start for the season as Caltech is holding a tournament but it consists of non-DIII teams: Providence Christian, Antelope Valley and Life Pacific. For the next week, there is no tournament but do play UC Santa Cruz (19-6) and West Coast Baptist. Week three is a bit of a surprise as they travel to the Oberlin Invite and play Wooster (7-16), St Vincent (17-9) and Oberlin (7-16). A good test against DIII opponents is what I like to see. I’m sure each of these teams is figuring on an easy win but I’d bet on Caltech here going 3-0. After that week, it’s on to conference play. I’d still like to see the Beavers playing more DIII programs and maybe get involved in, at least, one of the SoCal tournaments but the Oberlin flight is a positive sign. Grade B+

Concordia

I have been a heavy investor in Concordia (12-11) stock the last couple of years but they haven’t been able to put it all together. This is another program that doesn’t travel much although I think they have the ability to become a top volleyball program. I’d love to see more love for them from their athletic department. The other problem Concordia faces (as do all of the ASC teams) is basically a timeline that only includes two weeks for tournaments. Week one finds Concordia just up the road at the Mary Hardin-Baylor Invitational. They will play Schreiner (11-19), Simpson (13-12) and Concordia Moorhead (9-15). That’s a group that will not help the Tornados with an at-large bid come November. Week 2 they head over to Southwestern (16-11) for their tournament. They will play the host, Puget Sound (14-11) and Texas Lutheran (27-10). This is a much better group with Southwestern being a bigger program and both UPS and TLU making the Tournament last year. Three wins here will help their regional ranking at their at-large chances (if needed). The Tornados will then move to conference play, but will play both Trinity (30-5) and Luther College (8-20) during the year. You have to applaud the program for getting Trinity on the schedule as this is a match that could instantly put the program in the national spotlight and, of course, help their regional ranking. As far as their grade, you have to remember that these teams being discussed starting here are getting a rougher treatment. I just don’t like their week one tournament and would have loved to see them hit up some bigger teams out-of-region. Still, this schedule could help in the regional rankings and the Trinity match holds out promise if not much hope. Grade B-

East Texas Baptist

The Tigers (20-7) had a really good 2022 season and it’s a program that needs to step up their scheduling if they want to get in the regional rankings and have a shot at an at-large. They start off strong week one by traveling to Emory for the Jenny McDowell Invite where they will play Emory (22-7), Greenville (22-7), Centre (19-8) and Franklin & Marshall (18-9). Emory is a perennial powerhouse who was the #1 team out of Region VI last season. F&M was briefly regionally ranked and both Greenville and Centre had good season so this is an outstanding start for ETBU. Week two has ETBU hosting a tournament, which is always cool, but the teams don’t match what they will face at Emory. They will host Hendrix (10-13), Whitman (10-14), St Thomas (20-11) and Dallas (9-19). None of these teams were regionally ranked and although I know the appeal of hosting a tournament, the Tigers would have been better served at the Southwestern Tournament. (I would have loved if ETBU and Concordia could have just merged their schedules and both gone to Emory and both to Southwestern.) Following their tournament, it’s off to conference play but they will also host Southwestern (16-11) in October followed by a trip to Austin College (16-17). I’m going to grade this better than Concordia because of the flight but it’s interesting to compare them. Concordia has some good regional matches while ETBU has some good national matches. We’ve seen the Region X RAC penalize teams that don’t play a lot of regional matches even with good national wins so it’s good ETBU has Southwestern on the schedule. ETBU needs a good week one, a strong season from Southwestern and then to beat my Pirates for regional rankings and at-large consideration. Grade B

Willamette

The Bearcats are another NWC team that will struggle (because of their location and conference schedule) to do enough for at-large consideration. Week one does have them traveling down to UC Santa Cruz for their tournament. They get Waynesburg (3-22), Cal Lutheran (16-10), Gustavus Adolphus (26-5) and Hamline (6-22). They really needed to replace Waynesburg or Hamline with UC Santa Cruz. As it stands, the Bearcats have two really good teams (both regionally ranked last year) and two teams that do them no good if they win and crush them if they lose. It also gives them only one bite of the regional ranking apple with Cal Lutheran. Willamette is an Oregon school so they will be at the Oregon Trail Classic and play West Coast Baptist, Schreiner (11-19), Loras (8-19) and Wells (13-13). (Can I just say that our Region X teams are playing West Coast Baptist too much? I mean it doesn’t really matter if you play them on an open date but tournament play is a killer.) The Bearcats then move to conference play. Let me go to a hypothetical. Let’s say the Bearcats go undefeated to start the year so they have wins over Cal Lutheran, Gustavus Adolphus and a bunch of teams they should probably beat. They then go undefeated in conference and are undefeated going into the new NWC Tournament where they lose in the finals. Do they get an at-large bid? Regionally, they would have wins over Cal Lutheran and the traditional power NWC schools so they would need those teams to be regionally ranked. If they are, then even the loss shouldn’t hurt them because they will be propped up by those teams, but what if those teams are not ranked? Could you have a one-loss Region X team not be regionally ranked? You would have a team with no good in-region wins and just one (really) good national win. Last season, Whitworth sort of had this happen and weren’t regionally ranked (they had more overall losses, of course). Still, it shows how important scheduling multiple good in-region teams is. Then, if you get to be regionally ranked and considered for an at-large bid, you need those national wins. Right now, that recipe is so difficult to achieve for the NWC and ASC programs. Grade B-

St Thomas

The Celts were 20-11 in their first full season as a DIII member and need to be thinking how they can improve their chances to be regionally ranked. They play in the SCAC so they get top teams to go against but that will stop partially in 2025 with both Southwestern and Trinity leaving. They do a good job of getting at least one flight a season outside of the occasional trip to conference foe Colorado College but they really need a second. That becomes really evident this year when they were unable to get their week one tournament fielded. They did pivot nicely by getting both LeTourneau (TBD on the schedule) and UT-Dallas that first week but losing out on that tournament is tough. It would be good to see them get in bed with Trinity (down the 10 freeway) and be included in their quality tournaments, but I think TLU (being closer) has the inside track there. Week two has the Celts heading to ETBU where they will play Whitman (10-14), Hardin-Simmons (14-10), ETBU (20-7) and Millsaps (7-16). That’s a mixed bag for sure and none of those teams were regionally ranked. Still, they are all teams St Thomas will need to beat. Week three has the Celts flying to Cal Lutheran for their tournament (Cal Lu Fornia Invitational). They get three matches there against SCIAC teams: La Verne (17-10), Chapman (9-15) and Cal Lutheran (16-10). These are extremely important regional matchups that will help get the Celts ranked if they can win them. In fact, I basically see the LeTourneau match plus the two tournaments as all must wins for regional ranking purposes. (I’m nice and will let you decide what to do against UT-Dallas.) As I read that sentence again, it seems rather rude, but getting regionally ranked is really difficult. We only have 7 spots. It’s not like we can split our region into two and give each one 7 sports. After week three it’s all about the SCAC, which obviously presents opportunities. Overall, with the SCAC’s help, this is a schedule that can get you regionally ranked. It’s probably better than ETBU’s because of the better/deeper conference. Grade B+

Mary Hardin-Baylor

Hold me. I’m scared to look at this one. They released their schedule awhile back and I haven’t looked at it fully. Based on other teams’ schedules, I know I’m going to be mad at this one. Like really mad. This was a program on the verge of powerhouse status and they have backed off. (Remember, I have an even stricter grading requirement for these types of really good teams.) I guess it’s a change of priorities but I hate to see it. Let me ponder this for a second. Why are teams leaving the ASC for the SCAC? Could one reason be that there are better programs that are trying to make the NCAA Tournament? In the ASC, I can really only say that UT-Dallas has that as a goal. UMHB’s goal seems to be to win their conference tournament without playing teams that will make them tough enough to do it. Okay. I could be wrong, let me look at their full schedule. (Narrator’s Voice: He was not wrong. It was horrible. He had to walk away for a while.)

I literally had to leave my computer before I started to write this next part. In the end, I’ve decided that UMHB is not trying so why should I care as much as I do for them when they don’t seem to care about their program and how it impacts others in their conference and in their region. Without going into specifics, because they don’t deserve my time, they host a tournament week one where the best team they play is Simpson (13-12). They then go to Rhodes for their tournament while picking up a game at Belhaven (Why? It only hurts you!). At Rhodes they get four matches and thankfully one is Bethel (who was regionally ranked last season). They do head to Hendrix week three for matches against the host school and Centenary but neither should challenge UMHB. It’s then all ASC except for a match against Dallas (Why? It only hurts you!) and Luther College (Why? It only hurts you!). Bottom line, their regular season comes down to Bethel and two matches against UT-Dallas. I have no clue why this program continues to avoid playing Trinity and Southwestern and you have to remember Southwestern is 30 minutes away! There should be a home and away match with Southwestern every year! Best case, UMHB beats Bethel and UT-Dallas twice but that won’t get them in the NCAA Tournament if they lose in their conference tournament. Their SOS is going to be horrible and unselectable for an at-large bid. Another year without a flight, too. This one really hurts me but they get a plus because of Bethel. Grade F+

The above is what I originally wrote and then I reached out to Riley Zayas who co-founded Tru To The Cru, which is a great site dedicated to UMHB athletics. I was complaining about the schedule to him but mentioned at least they play Bethel. He replied, “You know that’s Bethel TN, right?”

I responded, “Shut up”.

I said that the website points to DIII Bethel MN and not the NAIA school. Riley responded that he checked the Bethel MN schedule and the match wasn’t there so he reached out and confirmed it was Bethel TN.

I can’t. I just can’t write more about this. New Grade F—–

Pacific Lutheran

You know the old rule about always wanting to go after someone that does really bad right before you. You’re welcome PLU. The Washington teams of the NWC don’t ever participate in the Oregon Trail Classic so they go a different route. In the case of PLU (and Puget Sound), they play in the Puget Sound Premier Tournament week one which includes a non-conference match between the two. In addition to playing UPS, they will also get Saint Benedict (15-12), Eastern (24-6) and Adrian (13-10). This is a pretty good group of non-region teams with Eastern making the NCAA Tournament last year. Saint Ben is typically pretty good, too. Week two has the Lutes flying down to SoCal for the Whittier Tournament (although it’s hosted by both Whittier and La Verne). They will draw Whittier (10-14), La Verne (17-10), Chapman (9-15) and Pomona-Pitzer (17-9). Both ULV and Pomona were regionally ranked last year and this will give the RAC a pretty good idea about PLU depending on the results. So, two out-of-conference weekends and we have some good national teams and four in-regions teams, which is a good mix. I guess I could argue that they are not drawing elite teams either weekend and they will be constrained a bit by how well those SCIAC teams perform. Still, if the Lutes can sweep the SCIAC matches then they should be in good shape for a regional ranking. Grade B+

Southwestern

I don’t know if it was laziness this summer or just wanting to be surprised a bit by the schedule, but I typically don’t absorb a schedule when it’s released. I try to wait for these articles and that even held true for my Pirates. I did know they were going to the PCC week one because I’m trying to figure out if I want to fly out there that weekend or catch the East/West Challenge (also at CMS) week two. My (hot) wife is fine with either but rolls her eyes when I mention we could just stay out there for both. I think that’s a good sign, but I’m not sure. At the PCC, my Pirates will beat La Verne (17-10), Pomona-Pitzer (17-9) and CMS (30-1). Yikes, that’s three regionally ranked teams from last year including one of the few teams who are probably a favorite for the national title this year. Week two they are hosting a tournament where they will beat Concordia (12-11), Aurora (22-10) and Puget Sound (14-11). Those are two nice regional matches and two NCAA Tournament teams from last season. Week three they drive down to Trinity for the day and pick up matches with Pomona-Pitzer (again) and Whittier (9-16). I would have loved to see a third match that weekend but I’m assuming the schedule couldn’t be worked out. Either Franklin & Marshall or MIT (who are both there) would have been great matches. Starting week four, it will be mainly SCAC play with one match thrown in where Southwestern travels to ETBU (20-7) for a match. I’m sort of happy because I may drive over there for it but that’s a tough place to play. When you throw in Colorado College and Trinity for at least two matches, this becomes a really good schedule. I’m a little disappointed we don’t have a UMHB match (don’t get me started) or a UT-Dallas match on the schedule so I’ll mention again my great idea for the D3VbWest ASC/SCAC Challenge. Let’s get those three schools and Trinity and add in one more good team from each conference and play one weekend in October. Easy for the SCAC to do and just some schedule juggling for the ASC teams but easily done. I’ll tell you what. I’ll even donate a trophy that can be kept by the conference that wins for that year. Grade A-

Cal Lutheran

The Regals went 16-10 last season based primarily on their 12-3 conference record. They had their chances at an at-large bid but early losses to Babson, NYU, UC Santa Cruz, UT-Dallas, Tufts and WashU destroyed any hope. Remember, you can’t earn an at-large bid the first few weeks but you can lose one and that’s what happened to Cal Lu in 2022. I’m sure their schedule is tough again but we’ll need to see a better start for this squad. It’s interesting to see the Regals head up the coast to the UC Santa Cruz Slug Fest. They will play Gustavus Adolphus (26-5), Willamette (11-11), Whitman (10-14) and UC Santa Cruz (19-6). (Whitman doesn’t show this tournament in their 2023 schedule so we’ll see if they dropped out.) The Whitman (if it happens) and Willamette matches probably don’t help the Regals but the other two matches are big time important. UC Santa Cruz is doubly important as it impacts them both regionally and nationally. Cal Lu then heads back to SoCal for the East/West Challenge where they will draw Trinity (30-5), Emory (22-7) and WashU (30-6). That’s three NCAA Tournament teams from last season and the second-place finisher. The Regals then get to host the Cal Lu Fornia Invitational (best tournament name out there) week three. What’s interesting here is that defending champions Juniata are here but Cal Lu won’t be playing them. Normally, I’d be annoyed by this but this schedule is really tough and that match really isn’t needed. Instead, that week they will host TLU (27-10), St Thomas (20-11) and UT-Dallas (21-6). That’s three really important regional matches for the Regals, which will be needed for the regional rankings, who already had a number of great out-of-region matches on their schedule. This will be another year where we’ll have a good idea of the Regals at-large chances by week three regardless of how the SCIAC goes. Just a great schedule. Grade A+

Trinity

Ending this round of analysis with a team that always schedules well. Coming off a second-place finish last season, we should expect more of the same. Let me take a short break and remind everyone that I respectfully hate Trinity but they are the poster child of what top/elite programs should do when it comes to the schedule. You play the toughest teams you can, get your SOS high and toughen up your squad for conference play. If you perform then you are in the NCAA Tournament and you don’t have to worry about conference tournaments. So, let’s see if Trinity surprises me this year and goes the UMHB route. Week one Trinity hosts a tournament where they will play Whitworth (17-7), Birmingham-Southern (19-9), UT-Dallas (21-6) and UW-Oshkosh (31-6). Great start where they get one of the best teams out of the NWC, the best team out of the ASC and two good out-of-region teams (Oshkosh made the NCAA Tournament). I’m on record saying that I fear the BSC team this year won’t be very good because of the financial problems they are facing, but we shall see. Week two it’s off to the East/West Challenge where Trinity will play Cal Lutheran (16-10), Tufts (23-6) and CMS (30-1). Another great mix of teams where they get the best team out of the SCIAC, a good Cal Lu team and an elite New England team. Week three they are hosting another tournament where they play Franklin & Marshall (18-9), Pomona-Pitzer (17-9), Whittier (10-14) and MIT (27-6). Sure, there’s no NAIA Bethel team here but I guess Trinity will make do. Seriously, just another great schedule that allows them to be accurately regionally ranked and gets them national attention. Starting week four it’s off to the SCAC where they will get Southwestern and Colorado College twice and will throw in some out-of-conference matches against Concordia and Hardin-Simmons. Neither of those squads should challenge them but neither will really hurt their SOS. I could stay and write some more love for Trinity but remember I hate them. Grade A+

Outside of UMHB’s schedule, I really haven’t had a lot to complain about this year. Maybe next year, I’ll move UMHB down from a top program and go easier on them, but that thought just makes me sad. We still have some good schedules to go (UT-Dallas just released theirs) so hopefully everyone will have their schedules posted by the end of the month and I can get everyone in the final installment.