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February 23, 2006

Hoops Scheduling: If I were in charge...

If I were in charge of Hoops Scheduling, I would seek out similar programs as Georgia. Teams from power conferences, who are building but aren't "there yet," and teams who would give us a home and home without requiring a two for one. My ideal pool of schools would include:

ACC:
Clemson
Virginia Tech
Georgia Tech
Florida State

Big 10:
Michigan (a reach, but not impossible)
Penn State
Minnesota

Big 12:
Texas Tech
Iowa State
Kansas State
Colorado

Big East:
Notre Dame (another reach, but not impossible)
St. Johns
DePaul
Seton Hall

Pac-10:
Oregon State
Oregon

Over an 11 game non-conference schedule, I would do the following:
2 Neutral Site Game in Atlanta and elsewhere
3 Home Games with the Above Teams
3 Road Games with the Above Teams
3 Home Cupcakes like Ga State, S. Alabama or Mercer

I just totally don't see the point of playing 8 or 9 home games against a complete slate of jobbers like Savannah State. Imagine a schedule like this:

Home - Georgia Tech
Home - Colorado
Home - Iowa State
Road - Clemson
Road - Florida State
Road - Penn State
Neutral - Texas Tech (Atlanta)
Neutral - Michigan (Detroit)
Home Cupcake - Ga State
Home Cupcake - S. Alabama
Home Cupcake - Murray State

As a point of comparison...our schedule in Harrick's last season was:
Home - Pitt
Away - Georgia Tech
Away - Minnesota
Away - Colorado
Neutral - Texas (NYC)
Neutral - Cal (Anaheim)
Neutral - Gonzaga (ATL)
Home Cupcake - Belmont
Home Cupcake - App State
Home Cupcake - S. Alabama
Home Cupcake - Wisconsin-Milwaukee

What I'm hoping for is something similar to what Harrick put together his last year. Only without the third neutral game, without the Top 10 Pitt and Texas teams (for now), and without 4 home cupcakes. We could have a balanced, aggressive schedule with better home games that wouldn't pose too daunting of a task.

Are we ready for a complete shift to the schedule above next year? No. But we need to start transitioning to this sooner rather than later. Felton says our fans aren't supporting the program as if we're a winner. To me, Felton's schedule says that he doesn't think we're a winner either. A team that schedules that soft is scared.

Next year, we need to see a better schedule to go along with a better product on the court.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I would love to see the a Big 12/SEC Challenge that would be like the ACC/Big Ten Challenge. The ideal matchup for UGA would probably be Texas Tech. I think that A&M would be a good matchup as well. Nevada and UGA should try to find a way to play another home and home in the future. I believe we need one top flight out of conference team in our schedule next year. How about Kansas or NC State? I also on my blog tried to explain my logic for my previous blog post.

Unknown said...

I agree with the Big 12 challenge idea. There's no logical reason why it shouldn't have already happened.

I figure that UGA and Auburn would get paired up with Baylor, Nebraska and Texas A&M type programs.

Hmmm...good blog topic. I'll put together my match-ups for a suggested Big 12/SEC Challenge. You do the same.

Anonymous said...

Felton's schedule says he doesn't think we're a winner either? It was a smart thing for him to do this year with several of our best players being true freshman and our front line being among the worst in the country. Anyone in their right mind knew that this team's only chance of making the postseason was loading up on non-conference wins against a week non-conference schedule.

I agree that it needs to get progressively more difficult and I'm sure Felton won't hesitate to play anybody anywhere once we have that's at least capable of competing on that level.

 
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