|
Scheduling Challenges
By Kyle Macy, Morehead State
It It’s not often that I agree with
CollegeInsider.com’s editor-in-chief, but he is very
accurate with his conclusion regarding the challenge
of scheduling. For a great majority of coaches at the
mid-major level, it’s an ever-changing process.
In a recent conversation with Dwyer, we discussed the
challenges of mid-major coaches. He made the point
that our style of play, approach to recruiting and how
we deal with our players all remain basically the
same. But what changes, from year to year is our
approach to scheduling. It is arguably one of the
biggest challenges facing coaches outside the ranks of
the power conferences.
By in large, there is not much change in scheduling
approach for my piers in the power conferences. In
some cases there have been minor adjustments to
improve RPI ratings, but that has often resulted in
scheduling a so-called better opponent to visit their
arena. In addition some coaches, knowing their team
would be better served, will put together a more
challenging non-league schedule.
But the differences are not drastic.
For the most part, Arizona’s Lute Olson and Memphis
coach John Calipari have always taken the approach of
putting together a challenging non-league slate.
Rarely would hear someone remark that either the
Wildcats or Tigers played a so-called cupcake
pre-conference schedule.
Of course there are countless other examples as well.
The point being that you would find only subtle
changes over the course of a five or ten year period.
This is not the case for coaches at the mid-major
level.
A quick review of the RPI will reveal a number of
examples of mid-major teams that have had a dramatic
improvement in their rating. So dramatic is the change
that these teams have positioned themselves well for
at-large consideration to the NCAA. This point has not
gone unnoticed by coaches around the country.
Oral Roberts coach Scott Sutton noted, in Dwyer’s
feature, that he was going to be taking a very close
look at the selection process for the up-coming NCAA
tournament. Will an impressive “team” RPI be enough to
overcome an average “conference” RPI? Will we hear
that certain teams were left sitting on the bubble
because of an average strength of schedule?
Every year there is a different interpretation of what
is an NCAA tournament team and what is an NIT team.
That would only make sense, as each year the landscape
of college basketball changes. The key is to be one
step ahead as we head into the off-season and begin
the process of scheduling for next season.
In many respects, it has really become an art form at
the mid-major level.
Anytime you have success it becomes more difficult to
schedule in the future. Teams in the ACC, Big Ten,
Pac-10 or SEC will take a long hard look at what you
have in the way of returning personnel. If it appears
you might be among the better mid-major programs in
America, it would obviously be unlikely that everyone
would be anxious to schedule you.
A few years ago Bowling Green had an excellent team,
but they did not receive an at-large bid to the NCAA
tournament. After the pairings were announced, coach
Dan Dakich spoke at length about the snub and wondered
what he could do to improve his chances in the future.
As he pointed out, “How can we improve our strength of
schedule if people won’t schedule us?”
What Dan Dakich went through and what Stew Morrill and
Utah State experienced last season have forced coaches
to be more creative in their approach to
non-conference scheduling. Once again, this is evident
when skimming through the current RPI.
Now the question is: Will that approach work next
season?
The interesting part of scheduling is there have
always been and will always be stark contrasts in
philosophy at the mid-major level. Some programs must
schedule a lot of so-called buy-games, which is an
internal decision. Others have more flexibility and
need only to schedule two or three such contests. But
with just a few exceptions, everyone is trying to put
together a pre-conference schedule that will give them
the best opportunity to play postseason basketball.
For Mid-Majors the steps taken, or not taken, in the
coming months will go a long ways to determining
whether or not postseason is a reality next March.
Nobody, least of all myself, is seeking commendations
or accolades for our approach to schedule making, but
it is a process that is not fully understood by the
masses. And since scheduling in college basketball
will not be taking a page from the NFL, which is based
on how a team finished the previous year, it will
continue to be a real challenge for coaches.
Dwyer actually touched upon something of substance.
It’s good to know that an occasional thought, however
random, runs between those ears once in a while. |