Quality Non-conference Opponents.

Although, we only got to the second round of the NIT, it was exciting to watch our guys play well and compete against quality non-conference teams.  There is alot that has been said about Dambrot's philosophy on not scheduling bigger and better teams just because they won't agree to come to play in the JAR.  Our RPI was well into the 100s just because of this philosophy, and if this philosophy of his doesn't change soon our RPI will never change.

Our record wasn't spectacular due to injuries, but I feel pretty strongly that if our RPI was much higher and we could have beaten Kent one or two times, we would have stood a much better chance at getting an at-large in the NCAA tournament.  I just hope that this NIT tournament has taught Dambrot that its still worth while to schedule and play quality non-conference teams regardless of where we play them.

Also, if we had more experience playing bigger and more athletic opponents, we could have blew through UMass and gave Syracuse a game in the next round.  I hear what you ua_zippy said about the 24 and 25 win seasons being better than 18 and 19 wins. 

However, 26 wins didn't do much for us in 07, in regards to national respect and in recruiting.  I'm not saying that our non conference schedule should be really intense, I'm just saying that it wouldn't hurt us at all if we played against more nationally recognized teams in more recognizable conferences. 

Perhaps some of the bottom teams in the Big East and most of the teams in the Big Ten.  Games like that will give our guys respect to the media and recruits, experience against better quality opponents, and are very winable if we play well.