MBB: Landmark Conference

[jmcozenlaw]

Release from athletic dept: The Royals are the No. 6 seed in the region and will battle top seeded St. Thomas (Minnesota) who enters the tournament at 29-7 at a time to be determined on Thursday.

Doesn't sound like a seeded tournament: #6(Scranton) should play  #3(York), not #1(St. Thomas)

It's a six-team double elimination tournament for regionals - then they take the eight regional winners to the final tournament.

Yes, and, in a 6-team regional, 1 & 2 should get byes, 3 should play 6 and 4 play 5 in the 1st round. Then 1 plays the 4/5 winner and 2 plays the 3/6 winner in the next round of the winner's bracket.

Because its double elimination, they don't do byes - well at least in the first round.  The winner of the 1-6 game gets to wait and play the winner of the 2-5 and 3-4 losers, which is where they get the advantage of being the #1.  Kind of like a second round bye.

Ryan's "drop the mic" moment!! Thanks for the info Ryan!

[ronk]

Release from athletic dept: The Royals are the No. 6 seed in the region and will battle top seeded St. Thomas (Minnesota) who enters the tournament at 29-7 at a time to be determined on Thursday.

Doesn't sound like a seeded tournament: #6(Scranton) should play  #3(York), not #1(St. Thomas)

It's a six-team double elimination tournament for regionals - then they take the eight regional winners to the final tournament.

Yes, and, in a 6-team regional, 1 & 2 should get byes, 3 should play 6 and 4 play 5 in the 1st round. Then 1 plays the 4/5 winner and 2 plays the 3/6 winner in the next round of the winner's bracket.

Because its double elimination, they don't do byes - well at least in the first round.  The winner of the 1-6 game gets to wait and play the winner of the 2-5 and 3-4 losers, which is where they get the advantage of being the #1.  Kind of like a second round bye.

Ryan,
I checked with Ralph from the baseball board and you're right; I should have gone to the championship handbook first.

[lefty2]

The 1-6 winner plays the 3-4 loser in the second round.

[ronk]

 Checked out this coming season's conference schedule: Royals open(away-12/4) and close(2/19) with Catholic; Sat doubleheaders have men play 1st.

[NEPAFAN]

Saw this on another board:

Financial Health for Universities...

https://www.forbes.com/sites/schifrin/2 ... 2314e14916

Landmark schools.

1. Catholic 3.24 B+
2. Goucher 2.98 B
3. Juniata 2.44 C+
4. Elizabethtown 2.39 C+
5. Susquehanna 2.21 C+
6. Scranton 2.18 C+
7. Drew 1.04 D

[NJRoyal137]

Saw this on another board:

Financial Health for Universities...

https://www.forbes.com/sites/schifrin/2 ... 2314e14916

Landmark schools.

1. Catholic 3.24 B+
2. Goucher 2.98 B
3. Juniata 2.44 C+
4. Elizabethtown 2.39 C+
5. Susquehanna 2.21 C+
6. Scranton 2.18 C+
7. Drew 1.04 D

Thanks for sharing! How does a school improve financial health? Not sure Scranton can possibly charge more at this point - and I'm done donating until the University improves its alumni engagement, course offering and athletics marketing.

[Tim the Enchanter]

Thanks for sharing! How does a school improve financial health? Not sure Scranton can possibly charge more at this point - and I'm done donating until the University improves its alumni engagement, course offering and athletics marketing.

Basically, increase revenue and decrease spending (much like any organization).  But it is far more complicated than that.

There are three primary sources of income for colleges:  Tuition (and related costs like room/board/fees), donations and investments.  Most colleges rely heavily on tuition income, but that rarely covers the expenditures per student.  Plus many colleges have been heavily discounting tuition with larger scholarships, which is needed to attract students. 

So they need to build up the other areas to be less tuition-dependent, while paying down debt and saving funds at the same time.  But investing in facilities also attracts students, which increases the debt.  And the investments need to have a good balance of generating income for liquidity, growing reserves to weather storms such as COVID, and long-term growth.   

The biggest chunk of expenditures tends to be salaries/compensation, which is needed to attract and retain high-quality faculty, followed by facilities.  Plus there are many other expenditures such as recruiting and marketing and student life costs.  Many colleges are operating on razor-thin margins, if not in the red, so cutting costs (without severely affecting the student experience) isn't easy.  And if I had the answers I'd probably be making a lot more money than I currently do! 

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

This is also why you've seen schools announce 40 or 50 position eliminations in one go. They're really trying to right-size faculty and staff to what the actual enrollment demands.  It's tough, but necessary when there are majors that become unpopular and student demand changes.

[NEPAFAN]

Point of clarification. Apparently this report is dated 2018 , so obviously dated

[ronk]

 Thus before the complications arising from covid factors.

[jmcozenlaw]

I'd venture to say that things were better for many of these schools in 2018.

[NJRoyal137]

Unrelated, I got around to reading Scanton's strategic plan for the next five years. Extremely unimpressive list of buzzwords with little substance of how the U is going to evolve.

[jmcozenlaw]

Unrelated, I got around to reading Scanton's strategic plan for the next five years. Extremely unimpressive list of buzzwords with little substance of how the U is going to evolve.

As you had mentioned previously, what is the issue with "course offerings" at Scranton?

[saratoga]

Not sure there is an issue with course offerings.
They just added 3 new Majors...
*Chemical Engineering
*Mechanical Engineering
*Speech Pathology
This is in addition to a Ph.D program in Business & Physical Therapy.
From what I'm seeing, they are continuing to grow, not retract.

[NJRoyal137]

Unrelated, I got around to reading Scanton's strategic plan for the next five years. Extremely unimpressive list of buzzwords with little substance of how the U is going to evolve.

As you had mentioned previously, what is the issue with "course offerings" at Scranton?

Let me rephrase that - I think they need to do a better job of marketing and promoting the University as a whole, as well as successful programs outside of nursing and finance. Their STEM and social science programs deserve more attention recognition. Lots of great alum and Scranton should promote the heck out of the great staff + success stories.

Additionally, the strategic plan emphasized a strong focus on the humanities - which are a staple of a Jesuit education - but not many of those degrees translate to equitable careers. Important - but perhaps not AS important in this day and age when students are drowning in student loan debt when they can get a solid education at a state school at a MUCH cheaper cost. Not saying Scranton should do away with those - they are a core staple of the school and important - but that does not mean it should be part of the strategic plan. That's like saying "educating our students" is part of the strategic plan.

I want to see a commitment to growing the recognition and awareness of the U of S overall - they need to be in the same tier as Tufts, Swarthmore, Bowdoin, Bates, Haverford, Emory, Middlebury, Williams, etc.