Does ND beating up on central Michigan really help Them become a better team or are they just padding stats a la Stony Brook?
Above is the post that took us down the rabbit hole.... The first response was something to the effect that ND and some other ACC teams as well as some Big 10 teams have had to schedule some less competitive teams for their non conference games (because their conference game are so difficult) so they can be sure to have at least a .500 record in order to ensure eligibility and consideration for the NCAA Tournament.
I really have not seen a post "defending" Duke for their in-game actions, what I have seen is people pointing out why they do not schedule more Top 10 or even Top 20 non conference games.
I am not sure of the exact timeline but for several years Duke was consistently a Top 10 program maybe even a Top 5 program with Final Four appearances. I think there were then a few years with very average records and even a losing record so the powers that be had to lighten the load in order to keep the record respectable.
No love or detest for Duke but I see why they (and others) have done it. As far as running up the score goes, I think most of the stronger programs are guilty of it.
It depends on how they manage the game. Duke won 22-3 and 25-5. Duke’s top 2 players scored 22 goals in those two games. That is not a typo. That is a total disgrace. Particularly because it is out of conference and they elected to play these games. Duke has 5 more out of conference games against similar competition and then at least 2 or 3 more in conference. As a better example of how to manage a mis-match, Michigan beat Detroit Mercy 23-2 but 15 different girls scored goals and none had more than 2. That is the right way to do it.
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