BBall Scheduling Talk

06-07 Basketball General49

Since we were talking football scheduling on Tuesday, I figured that we might as well also take care of some basketball scheduling. BJD beat me to the topic of scheduling back in May, so I wanted to piggyback his thoughts before NC State released the 2006-2007 Basketball Schedule.

New Director of Basketball Operations, Quentin Jackson commented on State’s scheduling in the News & Observer in May:

State’s new director of basketball operations, Quentin Jackson, already is looking at filling holes in future game schedules. About 95 percent of next season’s nonconference schedule is set, Jackson said Thursday, so he is focused on the 2007-08 season and beyond.

“We want to play the top teams in the country because that’s what we did when we played,” said Jackson, the starting point guard for the Wolfpack’s 1987 ACC Tournament championship team.

At the same time, he added, State will balance the nonconference schedule with games against mid-major conference opponents and non-ACC teams from within the state.

“I don’t want to schedule him out of a job,” Jackson joked, referring to Lowe. “But at the same time, to challenge the kids to reach their highest potential, if you [want to] do that consistently, you’re going to play some of those top 20 teams.”

This is music to most Wolfpackers’ ears; especially those that have supported the program by purchasing LifeTime Rights since the ESA/RBC opened and have too rarely experienced marquee match-ups on the Wolfpack’s home court.

2006-2007 Schedule

* We know that the 2006-2007 basketball schedule already includes a visit by the Michigan Wolverines to the RBC Center (a projected NCAA Tournament team).

* NC State will play Delaware State on November 17th. (Link)

* NC State will likely host Gardner-Webb on November 24th.

Gardner-Webb is set to begin the 2006-2007 season at the NABC Guardian’s Classic, and has games tentatively scheduled at NC State (Nov. 24), Wake Forest (Dec. 19), Georgia (Dec. 5) and Wisconsin (Dec. 27) next season. GWU is also set to host UNC Greensboro (Nov. 21) and Western Carolina (Dec. 9) prior to a challenging 20-game Atlantic Sun Conference schedule.

* SFN has heard talk of the Wolfpack playing UNC-W. I put UNC-W in the same bucket as UNC-Charlotte and ECU — far too much risk for far too little reward. Why schedule such a game with such a solid team whom we will get a disproportionate amount of credit if we win compared to the level of difficulty/risk of beating them?

* Additionally, a trip to West Virginia to battle ‘almost coach’, John Beilien’s Mountaineers may also be in the cards. This would be a return game from WVU’s visit to Raleigh two season’s ago. The return game was originally scheduled for last season, but in a move that was a surprise to no-one who followed Herb Sendek’s scheduling philosophies, State/Sendek wanted to push the game back a year in order to avoid playing a senior-laden, highly-ranked Mountaineer program last year. Correction: We received some correspondence from some folks that we trust that indicated that West Virginia actually asked to postpone the series a year, not NC State. This was done so they could get a home-and-home with UCLA that CBS wanted to televise. Thanks for the correction!

* State may also receive a home game from Alabama this season as a return of last year’s trip to Tuscaloosa. Considering that it was publicly stated during the Larry Davis debacle that State would travel to the New Jersey Meadowlands to battle Seton Hall this year, perhaps we could defer the Bama game for a year or so? Isn’t the schedule shaping up to be a little too difficult in light of how thin the Pack is looking for the year?

* There has also been some talk about a game with the University of Cincinnati as Andrew Brackman’s ‘home game’…but, is this game necessary if Brackman isn’t playing basketball?

* It was widely publicized that part of Monte Towe’s buyout package from the University of New Orleans would be “funded” by some basketball games between NC State and UNO. By the looks of this release from UNO, the series with the Wolfpack doesn’t look to be starting this season.

Other Scheduling Talke

* One thing that we know is that NC State will NOT be playing in this year’s Pre-season NIT. State/Sendek were supposedly cued up to participate in the tournament this year, but were (of course) quick to back out when it was reported that Boston College had agreed to be in the field when they were a member of the Big East. But, Boston College isn’t in the field and the University of North Carolina will represent the ACC in this year’s Preseason NIT.

* nycfan has added a little to ^this in the comments below:

I think you have it wrong about the PNIT — State was scheduled to be in it NEXT season, but conflicted with BC. UNC has been scheduled for this season’s PNIT for a while. I don’t know how it was decided BC would keep the slot for next year.

SFN: Thanks for the correction! It got so damn hard to keep up with the misinformation that the HSSSers would release that it was hard to keep up with which year (ALWAYS in the future) that we were ‘supposed’ to be playing in which tournaments (only to never end up having it be true. Was this the season that we were supposedly “maybe” going to be in Maui?

* This idea of a 1983 Reunion in 2008 looks like it would be awesome and could provide some SERIOUS national coverage for Sidney Lowe and NC State’s basketball program.

“The plan is to reunite the ’83 Final Four teams — State, Houston, Georgia and Louisville — for the 2008 Jimmy V Classic doubleheader that’s normally played in New Jersey.

“We think it would be a great way to commemorate the 25th anniversary of Coach Valvano’s greatest win,” said Dennis Latta, assistant director of the New Mexico Sports Authority”

* How does this field look for the 2006 Maui Invitational? Chaminade, DePaul, Georgia Tech, Kentucky, Memphis, Oklahoma, Purdue and UCLA. WOW!!

06-07 Basketball General

49 Responses to BBall Scheduling Talk

  1. packpigskinfan23 07/27/2006 at 12:03 PM #

    RickJ- I totally agree. Sure, you can have a tough OOC schedule, but if your 6-6 what top bowl would want you?

    and as for basketball goes, we talk about how a lose to a better team is something that is positive…. but on the court for the past few years, it seems that the Wolfpack goes in huge ruts after close loses to good teams. Sure Sendek has something to do with that… but basketball is a game of momentum…. if you dont have it, its hard to get back.

  2. RickJ 07/27/2006 at 12:11 PM #

    nycfan –

    “I thought the prior regime’s hoops scheduling was too clever for its own good — a lot of decent match-ups with teams between 75-150 (plus some dogs and dogs with fleas in that ridiculous BCA tournament) gave State an RPI advantage”

    I am not an expert on this by any means but I believe these games were anything but an RPI advantage, in fact playing teams in the plus 300 range are RPI killers.

    Jeff – I think different years yielded different results. The 2003-2004 scheduling worked like a charm. Made us look really strong, despite still not really being able to compete at a Top level. Because of the weakness of the ACC that year, we only played TWO GAMES against RPI Top 10. For the 10 year Sendek era, we played 51 total games vs the RPI’s Top 10 – averaging 5 games per year with a median of 5.5. SO, our “mid-level” scheduling worked us into an RPI around #17 (BY FAR Sendek’s best) despite not playing significantly fewer top teams (to whom we almost always lost).

  3. redfred2 07/27/2006 at 12:23 PM #

    Just to further add to my own BS….When I very very young I played basketball against the same guys in my neighborhood over and over. I could hold my own even against the older guys and felt pretty good about it. It wasn’t until I stepped outside of that limited arena that I found out that I wasn’t even close to being as good as thought I was, and I wanted more and more of those challenges that my old neighborhood didn’t offer anymore.

    I look at David Thompson, he played superior talent from day one, and all through his youth. He held his own on the court with future NBA talent as an early teenager and developed his natural abilities far beyond all, because he had a clear idea very early on in his development, just exactly what it took to compete on the highest level available.

    My point is this, you will never get there if you have no sounding board to figure where you stand before you are given the opportunity. That analogy goes in fast forward for a single season in any sport, but there has to be a reality check and solid evidence of a higher benchmark early on, to strive for in any single season, or over the life of playing career.

  4. nycfan 07/27/2006 at 12:27 PM #

    ^Playing teams in the 300 range are RPI killers. Herb also played a lot of teams in the 75 -150 range (together with the ACC lift) that boosted State’s RPI compared to other teams playing 200 and below without having to play top 50 RPI teams. He got cautious points without playing sexy games (from a fan’s perspective).

  5. redfred2 07/27/2006 at 12:29 PM #

    I need to give everyone a break. I’m getting a little too deep again. Back to work for me.

    Later,
    Redfuciuos

  6. packpigskinfan23 07/27/2006 at 12:35 PM #

    redfred… I see what you mean, but I think the only way to really improve completley is to pair up a GREAT set of in-comming recruits with a hellish schedule… and make sure the schedule stays strong for the remaining years of those players… unfortunatly in football doing such a thing would cause so many injuries it would would only harm you…. it very well could work in basketball though. But that takes a LOT of work. and on the buisness end there are contracts that have to be kept with other schools…… booo….

  7. redfred2 07/27/2006 at 12:45 PM #

    On last thing before I go. Some one is comparing Bunting’s to Amato’s better overall record, again, and openly admitting UNC’s tougher OOC scheduling as being a factor for Amato’s better stats. Then saying that that the weaker OOC schedule is the preferable course to take because it gives us better bowls consideration.

    I will let the recent face to face record between the two programs stand as to who is apparently making real progress. Stronger scheduling being part of that equation.

  8. Trout 07/27/2006 at 1:12 PM #

    “little was expected of them prior to the season. It isn’t like we went out looking for a behemoth to schedule. We actually got burned since they ended up being so much better…” SFN

    A behemoth, no. But WVU was 7-9 (17-14 overall) in the Big East and made the 3rd round of the NIT the year before, had everyone returning, so they were certainly a solid OOC opponent. Of course, they became much more than solid as the year progressed, and ended up making the Elite 8. I dont think NC State got burned by scheduling WVU. It was a quality opponent, and a game that we played without Julius Hodge.

  9. Rick 07/27/2006 at 2:06 PM #

    “but basketball is a game of momentum…. if you dont have it, its hard to get back.”

    Actually, it is a game of confidence and you can get confidence many ways.

  10. Gene 07/27/2006 at 10:33 PM #

    Don’t knock the UNC-W’s, Gardner-Webb’s and UNC-C’s. We need to play the top teams from smaller conferences. Herb’s problem was he scheduled the bottom teams from those conferences. The best RPI Herb had, was when the mid-majors he scheduled, like Manhattan, UW-Milwaukee, etc. all made the NCAA’s. In terms of RPI, playing the top teams from smaller conferences, especially if they can be NCAA tournament worthy, will not hurt our RPI and NCAA prospects.

  11. redfred2 07/28/2006 at 12:01 AM #

    Gene- If you’re refering to my Gardner Webb comment, I realize we have an obligation to play some of those guys and it is worthwhile, although mainly for them. I just don’t want our RPI or NCAA prospects to be gained or based heavily on those games, as has been the case around here in recent years.

    Let’s see if we can’t start playing the real game of basketball a little better and actually earn our way in legitimately for a change. Then maybe someone will start taking us seriously around tournament time and we can stick around for a few more, this time deserved, worthwhile hours on the basketball court.

  12. RickJ 07/28/2006 at 10:46 AM #

    We have played ECTC off & on over the years in basketball. Valvano refused to play them again after one early season game when Charlie Harrison (?), ECTC’s coach refused to use the experimental rules we were using that year (I think it was a shot clock). It really ticked V off.

    There is a story about an earlier game with ECTC during V’s tenure in one of the books written about him (maybe “Remembering V & Me�) The Pirates’ had a guard that wore black glasses and he had a very hot first half shooting from the outside. At halftime, V came fuming into the locker room and screamed “Can anyone guard the chemist?�

  13. BJD95 07/28/2006 at 10:57 AM #

    I have no problem OCCASIONALLY playing the Pirates, but certainly not regularly, and NEVER on the road.

    I would much, much rather schedule a home-and-home or a “2 for 1” with a quality mid-major from the MAC or MVC.

  14. redfred2 07/28/2006 at 12:15 PM #

    RickJ- Valvano made it fun and brought it down to a level that gave the players clear directives on where they needed to work harder.

    All of my previous garble about football and basketball sheduling means that I believe that the pre-conference schedule is the place to prepare for the season, not the place to skip through like a school girl, relying heavily on it as major factor in getting into the post season. If anyone is afraid to face a real challenge very early before conference play begins, and maybe lose that game, then they just want to get into the post season play a la Herb Sendek, and hang their hats on another fruitless, looks good on paper, and hum drum season. That would be the easier alternative to actually improving the players and the overall program as we have all been force fed and had to sit back and tolerate up until now.

  15. redfred2 07/28/2006 at 12:23 PM #

    ^Basketball has many more opportunities in pre-season, but I think in football it is a definite must, and the earlier it happens, the better.

  16. Andy 07/28/2006 at 12:32 PM #

    One of ESPN insider blogs (Keith Law) had a nice writeup on Brackman’s performance in the Cape League. If you have insider you can read the whole article here:

    http://insider.espn.go.com/espn/blog/index?entryID=2532554&name=law_keith

    The Cape’s biggest standout is two-sport star Andrew Brackman, a 6-foot-10 right-hander from North Carolina State who is also seen as a potential selection in the 2007 NBA draft. If he shows he’s committed to baseball, however, he’s the leading contender to be the top college player selected, with a good shot to be the top overall selection. His mechanics are surprisingly simple and consistent for such a tall pitcher. He has a plus fastball (91-97 mph) and good command, pitching to both sides of the plate. He also has an above-average curve with a hard two-plane break, and he can work with just these two pitches, changing speeds on his fastball as needed, although he flashed a changeup during warm-ups. Tall pitchers with this kind of stuff are supposed to need mechanical work, but Brackman’s delivery is already good. There was a rumor floating around the Cape that Brackman plans to drop basketball, realizing that he has a chance to be a star in baseball; but my ESPN.com colleague, Andy Katz, spoke with Brackman’s basketball coach at NC State, who was unaware of any such plans.

  17. redfred2 07/28/2006 at 1:09 PM #

    “coach at NC State, who was unaware of any such plans.”

    Is that just another set up, intended to make everyone at NCSU look like the most clueless morons on the planet?

    That article is dated today. There is no way Lowe has no idea any of this was taking place.

  18. cfpack03 07/28/2006 at 1:28 PM #

    Katz is a clueless liar who publishes fiction the majority of the time. He talks out his ass like 87% of all ESPN employees.

  19. redfred2 07/28/2006 at 1:49 PM #

    Katz has the same thing.

    If someone is trying to keep the optimism up by denying the fact that Backman’s departure has been a distinct possibility since last season ended, or is simply postponing the inevitable, then we need to get on Lee Fowler’s back and stay on it until he finally keels over and moves on. If no one saw the implications of the totally absurd use of the word “unaware” coming from the man in charge, the head coach, I really have to wonder if I haven’t gotten my hopes over nothing.

    I cannot believe that Sidney Lowe would shrug it off as an “Oh really, thats news to me” when it has been a constant topic of discussion since shortly after Brackman arrived at NCSU, or unless Brackman quietly assured Lowe, way back, that he was planing to play basketball all along.

    If the later is not the case, and Lowe claims he was blindsided, that would be a sincere disappointment for me and open a can of worms that I would prefer not to think about.

  20. redfred2 07/28/2006 at 2:13 PM #

    Maybe I read too much into that. I haven’t seen any direct quotes in regards to it straight from Coach Lowe.

    But if anyone, with any interest in sports at all within a thousand miles of Raleigh, doesn’t already know that Brackman was leaning towards baseball, I don’t know what to think about them. Also, if the coach was honestly unaware, which there is not a single snowflake’s chance in hell, someone around the program should have informed him. What can you say?

    I am hoping I can simply write two more sports journalists off of my list, and that’s all this nonsense entales.

  21. Cardiff Giant 07/28/2006 at 2:58 PM #

    Does this mean that our streak of Black Coaches Classic (or whatever it was called) championships is set to come to an end? Say it aint so!

    SFN: I don’t know…now that we have a Black Coach does every game become a Black Coaches’ Classic?

  22. redfred2 07/28/2006 at 3:20 PM #

    Cardiff- Maybe I’m just a panic stricken alarmist. It’s all only a farce or the work of a few totally incompetent journalists, but the implications are pretty wide ranging if any anyone at the university is really trying pass that BS off as the truth.

  23. TomCat 07/28/2006 at 11:03 PM #

    Jeff- For clarities sake- may complete sentence was: “On the other hand, playing UNC-W, UNC-CLT or ECU does ensure a bump in attendance over hosting a random cupcake from parts unknown. Just beat’em…”

    —- . I did say, (quote) a bump in attendance *OVER* hosting a random cupcake from parts unknown. I have no problem playing region programs. We aren’t competing for the same players with these guys. Many of our fans live in Charlotte and in Eastern North Carolina. I have no problem with playing these teams providing a random ‘exhibition’ in these regions every once and a while- just as we do in all our other sports. Take emotion out of it- what’s the problem? Just beat’em.

  24. Texpack 07/30/2006 at 9:03 PM #

    For the record it was Othell Wilson who shot the air ball for UVa from six feet in ’83. Four or five major conference opponents in bball each season should be our minimum. We need to play two on the road and try to find a neutral site game as well. Give Sidney three years and you’ll see a different program altogether. Another game against UH would be nice.

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