scheduling quirks

[jjasper0729]

Ok, here's something I read from Mike DeCourcy about UNC:


Team to watch: At 12-6, North Carolina is facing the realistic possibility of slipping from the NCAA Tournament chase. The Heels have home wins against Michigan State and Virginia Tech and beat Ohio State on a neutral court, but have lost to every other quality opponent. That's why a victory at home Wednesday against Wake Forest is essential. It will be followed by a period of only three games in 15 days, so there'll be time to work on the team's tendency to commit unforced turnovers.

now, the emphasis is my concern. I'm looking at our schedule and we only have one time where there are more than 3 days between games (@ georgetown and then home to GT - 5 day gap).

what is up with the scheduling. I know we play tough schedules, but geez... someone please tell me i'm making too much out of this.

[CDu]

Ok, here's something I read from Mike DeCourcy about UNC:



now, the emphasis is my concern. I'm looking at our schedule and we only have one time where there are more than 3 days between games (@ georgetown and then home to GT - 5 day gap).

what is up with the scheduling. I know we play tough schedules, but geez... someone please tell me i'm making too much out of this.

You're making too much out of this. The ACC schedule allows for opportunities to either play an out of conference game or to take a game off. We typically choose to play an out of conference game, but many teams simply take a break instead. UNC has chosen to take next weekend off.

[Kdogg]

Personally, I'm more upset that we play Clemson, GTech and BC twice before UNC, UVA, MD, Miami and VTech. I know the schedule is unbalance but this is ridiculous.

[Sgt. Dingleberry]

Personally, I'm more upset that we play Clemson, GTech and BC twice before UNC, UVA, MD, Miami and VTech. I know the schedule is unbalance but this is ridiculous.

That's my sentiment as well...I am sure it is harder than it looks to make an even and a fair schedule, but the fact that we play Clemson twice in our first six games seems extreme...

I know the league's top priority is to coordinate Roy Williams' southeastern U.S. book signings for "Aw, shucks...The Roy Williams Story" with Carolina's schedule...But, I think they took it a little too far this year...

[BD80]

Personally, I'm more upset that we play Clemson, GTech and BC twice before UNC, UVA, MD, Miami and VTech. I know the schedule is unbalance but this is ridiculous.

It would be nice to give Miles and Msaon some more ACC experience before playing at Clemson

[UrinalCake]

In the ACC you always play one weekend game (sat/sun) and one weekday game (tu/wed/thu). Back when the league had 9 teams, one team always had to be "off." So over the course of a half-season, you'd play the other eight teams and then have one week where you only played one game. As CDu said, Duke usually schedules an out-of-conference game during this break. I guess when the league expanded they just decided to keep the off days in there.

I don't mind playing a lot of tough games up front. Back in 2007 we had the opposite - a lot of easy games at the start of the season and then things got tough right before the ACC tournament. That was part of the cause of our late-season collapse. This year we have a veteran team and can take advantage early, then hopefully not be as fatigued entering the post-season.

Playing GT and Clemson twice is tough, but we also only play FSU once, which I expect will be a battle for us.

[Klemnop]

That's my sentiment as well...I am sure it is harder than it looks to make an even and a fair schedule, but the fact that we play Clemson twice in our first six games seems extreme...

You think that's rough, try being in Clemson's shoes - we have to play Duke twice in our first six league games. Sheeze!

It's looking very probable that the Tigers will be without Demontez Stitt for at least the next two games (@GaTech and home vs. Duke.) That's a pretty big loss for the Tigers - especially in the midst of what is a very tough stretch. Littlejohn can get as fired up as it wants to - but without ACC caliber players it won't make a difference. Pick any year of the Larry Shyatt Era as a reference point of this phenomenon.

Still, it's hard to imagine that Clemson Basketball has come so far as to be regarded in this way.

Klem

[CDu]

You think that's rough, try being in Clemson's shoes - we have to play Duke twice in our first six league games. Sheeze!

It's looking very probable that the Tigers will be without Demontez Stitt for at least the next two games (@GaTech and home vs. Duke.) That's a pretty big loss for the Tigers - especially in the midst of what is a very tough stretch. Littlejohn can get as fired up as it wants to - but without ACC caliber players it won't make a difference. Pick any year of the Larry Shyatt Era as a reference point of this phenomenon.

Still, it's hard to imagine that Clemson Basketball has come so far as to be regarded in this way.

Klem

That is an unfortunate situation for Clemson. They take a big step back when Andre Young is the primary PG. Stitt is just such a bigger, stronger, better player at both ends of the floor, and the halfcourt offense is much better when he's at PG instead of Young.

Hopefully he gets better (just in time for the game following Duke ;)), but it will certainly benefit Duke if he's not able to play in the game at Clemson.

[jjasper0729]

Personally, I'm more upset that we play Clemson, GTech and BC twice before UNC, UVA, MD, Miami and VTech. I know the schedule is unbalance but this is ridiculous.

I noticed this too and commented on it to people before we played BC. It just doesn't make much sense.

[rasputin]

In a lot of recent years, our schedule strength has been back-loaded, with more home games in the first half of the conference schedule, more road games at the end. That's TV doing the scheduling; they want to show competitive games toward the end of the season, and one way to accomplish that is to have us play on the road.

[CDu]

In a lot of recent years, our schedule strength has been back-loaded, with more home games in the first half of the conference schedule, more road games at the end. That's TV doing the scheduling; they want to show competitive games toward the end of the season, and one way to accomplish that is to have us play on the road.

I think it's actually nice that our schedule is a bit more frontloaded this year. We'll be battle-tested by early-February, and we'll be able to gain confidence against weaker teams in February to build momentum towards the tournaments. Of course, the key to that is surviving the gauntlet of the next couple of weeks, and not falling on our faces in February.