Tough Schedule - toughest in ACC

[gofurman]

Why does Duke have the hardest schedule of all the good teams -

Assigning SOS Points based on objective difficulty rating:
3 points if you play Duke Wake UNC Clemson
2 points if you play BC, VT, FSU, Miami,
1 point to playing UVA, GT, NC State, Maryland

***
Duke has a total ACC schedule of 32 (UNC 2 times, Wake 2, CU 1..
Wake has a total of 31 ( CU 2 times, Duke 2, UNC 1
Clemson has a total number of 30 (Duke 1 time, UNC 1, Wake 2
UNC has a total schedule strength of 29 (Duke 2 time, Wake 1, CU 1 ..
- - -
obviously one of the weakest teams would rate as a tougher schedule because you can't play yourself ..

But this is a valid analysis among the tougher teams

[gumbomoop]

Why does Duke have the hardest schedule of all the good teams -

Assigning SOS Points based on objective difficulty rating:
3 points if you play Duke Wake UNC Clemson
2 points if you play BC, VT, FSU, Miami,
1 point to playing UVA, GT, NC State, Maryland

***
Duke has a total ACC schedule of 32 (UNC 2 times, Wake 2, CU 1..
Wake has a total of 31 ( CU 2 times, Duke 2, UNC 1
Clemson has a total number of 30 (Duke 1 time, UNC 1, Wake 2
UNC has a total schedule strength of 29 (Duke 2 time, Wake 1, CU 1 ..
- - -
obviously one of the weakest teams would rate as a tougher schedule because you can't play yourself ..

But this is a valid analysis among the tougher teams

Glad to see this thread. A week or 2 ago, I posted about this issue on another [can't remember which] thread.

The lack of balance is even more glaring than your figures indicate, for 3 of Duke's "toughest opponent" games are on road, whereas for Wake it's 2, for Clemson 2, for UNC 2.

Moreover, you get a break if you play UVa or Ga Tech twice. Who gets that advantage? Not us. But [my unfounded conspiracy theory starts here....] UNC gets UVa twice, Wake gets GT twice, and Clemson gets BOTH of them twice.

Admittedly anything could still happen, but whether Duke winds up 14-2 or 10-6, it would seem to be a substantially, not just marginally, harder road than any other.

If my analysis here is nothing more than post-Clemson-bummer-paranoia, I trust other posters will appropriately chastise me. And I trust, seriously, that we'll all feel more upbeat by 3:45ish tomorrow aft.

[Bob Green]

Why does Duke have the hardest schedule of all the good teams -

Because expansion was evil. Sorry, I couldn't help myself. The reality is simply the luck of the draw, or the bad luck of the draw.

[WojoSay?]

I wouldn't have it any other way! We will surely be tested before the Big Dance.