Calipari "overschedules"

[Olympic Fan]

Interesting story on ESPN, quoting Kentucky coach John Calipari as complaining that his team will lose some games early because he overscheduled:

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/news/story?id=5679031

Then the story goes on to name all those fearsome teams he has lined up: the article mentions Virginia and Oklahoma in the Maui Tournament, and non-conference games with the likes of North Carolina, Indiana and Notre Dame.

I thought it was interesting that of the five teams mentioned, Notre Dame was the only one to play in the NCAA Tournament last year -- and they were a No. 6 seed.

That's overscheduling?

Not mentioned in the article, but Kentucky does play Louisville, which was a No. 9 NCAA seed last year (but will probably be a lot weaker this year). They could play a couple of NCAA teams in Hawaii. They open with Virginia, which wasn't an NCAA team (and won't be this year), then play either Oklahoma (not in the 2010 field) or Washington (in the 2010 field and which ought to be one of the top teams in the very, VERY weak Pac 10) in the semis. If they reach the finals, Kentucky will probably play Michigan State, which is a very good foe. Plus, I think UNC will be very good this year, although I don't think that Indiana or Notre Dame will be NCAA teams.

The rest of the non-conference schedule is a joke -- Boston U., East Tennessee, Portland, Miss Valley State, Withrop, Coppin State and Penn.

Calipari has cancelled Kentucky's long-standing rivalry with Kansas.

You can say a lot of things about Kentucky's scheduling, but "overscheduling" is not one of them.

[CameronBornAndBred]

Then the story goes on to name all those fearsome teams he has lined up: the article mentions Virginia and Oklahoma in the Maui Tournament.
I (and y'all) will have so much fun pulling for (and celebrating) UVA's and Capel's victory over Calipari. Those early defeats will add that nice little spice to the yule tide season. Should be a kickass luau.

[rhcpflea99]

Roy said something similar last year.

[ACCBBallFan]

I had performed an analysis of top OOC schedules basing it on how many top teams a team plays:

7 - Zags who have to since WCC is weak

6 - Illini who has strongest overall body of work SOS, TX, Mich St and Oakland

5 - Duke, MD, Wake, UCONN, UK, Temple and Miami OH

4 - UNC, FSU, K-St, Pitt, G-town, Butler, Memphis, Xavier, Calif, Marq and Notre Dame

3 - Penn St, Purdue, NC St, UVA, BC, Baylor, A&M, Nova, FL and TN

2 - MN, Mich, Ohio St, Wisc, Maimi FL, VA T, GA T, MO, Okl St, TX Tech, W VA, Louisv and Wash

1 - Indiana, Iowa, KU (only Memphis) and Syracuse (only Mich St)

so while coach Cal does have a competitive OOC, he is hardly over achieveing more than everyone in the field.

[DevilHorns]

Roy said something similar last year.

To be fair, UNC had a ridiculous early schedule last year (not that I think its appropriate for coaches to make escuses about their schedules, especially before playing a game).

[camion]

I had performed an analysis of top OOC schedules basing it on how many top teams a team plays:

7 - Zags who have to since WCC is weak

6 - Illini who has strongest overall body of work SOS, TX, Mich St and Oakland

5 - Duke, MD, Wake, UCONN, UK, Temple and Miami OH

4 - UNC, FSU, K-St, Pitt, G-town, Butler, Memphis, Xavier, Calif, Marq and Notre Dame

3 - Penn St, Purdue, NC St, UVA, BC, Baylor, A&M, Nova, FL and TN

2 - MN, Mich, Ohio St, Wisc, Maimi FL, VA T, GA T, MO, Okl St, TX Tech, W VA, Louisv and Wash

1 - Indiana, Iowa, KU (only Memphis) and Syracuse (only Mich St)

so while coach Cal does have a competitive OOC, he is hardly over achieveing more than everyone in the field.

Wait, Syracuse is playing 1 top team and 3 of their first 16 games are NOT on their home court. That's way tougher than their normal OOC schedule. :confused:

[roywhite]

I had performed an analysis of top OOC schedules basing it on how many top teams a team plays:

7 - Zags who have to since WCC is weak

6 - Illini who has strongest overall body of work SOS, TX, Mich St and Oakland

5 - Duke, MD, Wake, UCONN, UK, Temple and Miami OH

4 - UNC, FSU, K-St, Pitt, G-town, Butler, Memphis, Xavier, Calif, Marq and Notre Dame

3 - Penn St, Purdue, NC St, UVA, BC, Baylor, A&M, Nova, FL and TN

2 - MN, Mich, Ohio St, Wisc, Maimi FL, VA T, GA T, MO, Okl St, TX Tech, W VA, Louisv and Wash

1 - Indiana, Iowa, KU (only Memphis) and Syracuse (only Mich St)

so while coach Cal does have a competitive OOC, he is hardly over achieveing more than everyone in the field.

Sorry, could you clarify this?

For example in #3....who has that schedule....is that Penn State's schedule??

[94duke]

Sorry, could you clarify this?

For example in #3....who has that schedule....is that Penn State's schedule??

It looks to me like the number represents the number of quality OOC games, while the list of schools following the number are the schools with that many quality OOC games.

So, Penn St, Purdue, NC St, UVA, BC, Baylor, A&M, Nova, FL and TN all play 3 quality OOC games.

Perhaps ACCBBallFan will correct me if I'm wrong.

[Dr. Rosenrosen]

Cal is such a tool. Maybe his intention was to try to ease the burden on his young players. More likely he is just publicly covering his own butt in preparation for total fairlure of his master plan.

K has certainly stated at different times that the team is good but not great and I think has done an effective job of challenging his players to become better over the course of a season. I think many of us would agree he is masterful in deploying a positive psychological approach.

Cal on the other hand is giving his players a cruch to lean on by saying that he expects them to lose b/c they are going to play some tougher teams early on. Way to build a culture of confidence and success.

This is why I am so thankful to have K leading the charge. Can't imagine him making excuses and allowing the team the feel anything less than 100% motivated to succeed.

[DukieBoy]

As an IU student, I would hardly consider a game against IU a tough game for right now. Especially with the game being at Kentucky.

[ncexnyc]

He's what Luke Winn of SI has to say about this matter.
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2010/writers/luke_winn/10/05/schedules/index.html

[Jim3k]

I had performed an analysis of top OOC schedules basing it on how many top teams a team plays:

7 - Zags who have to since WCC is weak

6 - Illini who has strongest overall body of work SOS, TX, Mich St and Oakland

5 - Duke, MD, Wake, UCONN, UK, Temple and Miami OH

4 - UNC, FSU, K-St, Pitt, G-town, Butler, Memphis, Xavier, Calif, Marq and Notre Dame

3 - Penn St, Purdue, NC St, UVA, BC, Baylor, A&M, Nova, FL and TN

2 - MN, Mich, Ohio St, Wisc, Maimi FL, VA T, GA T, MO, Okl St, TX Tech, W VA, Louisv and Wash

1 - Indiana, Iowa, KU (only Memphis) and Syracuse (only Mich St)

so while coach Cal does have a competitive OOC, he is hardly over achieveing more than everyone in the field.

I don't believe Wake and Mary are OOC opponents for us. Wait -- did they just join the Big 12? Or the Big Tenlevntwelve? Did I miss something? And aren't Iowa and Indiana in the same conference? Same with Minnesota: Mich, OSU and Wisc; and Ill. with MSU; and Penn St and Purdue.

Or am I misunderstanding the concept of Out Of Conference scheduling?

Maybe you meant SoS?

[-jk]

I think he means Duke, MD, Wake, UCONN, UK, Temple and Miami OH each will play 5 top OOC games.

-jk

[El_Diablo]

I don't believe Wake and Mary are OOC opponents for us. Wait -- did they just join the Big 12? Or the Big Tenlevntwelve? Did I miss something? And aren't Iowa and Indiana in the same conference? Same with Minnesota: Mich, OSU and Wisc; and Ill. with MSU; and Penn St and Purdue.

Or am I misunderstanding the concept of Out Of Conference scheduling?

Maybe you meant SoS?

Perhaps ACCBBallFan can elaborate, but it looks like 94duke already explained it above. Each number represents the category (standing for the number of quality OOC games). The teams listed all have that number of quality OOC games. So for 5, Duke and Maryland both have 5 quality OOC games...not against each other though.

[Jim3k]

OK -- I see it now. Thanks to -jk and El Diablo.

I guess this might be time to make the point that charts are hard to do in html. And, since many of us are chart and stats driven, maybe there is a way to fix the board to make it easier to post such things. I know I'd be less confused if columns could be established and labeled.

-jk? Is is it possible?

[sagegrouse]

OK -- I see it now. Thanks to -jk and El Diablo.

I guess this might be time to make the point that charts are hard to do in html. And, since many of us are chart and stats driven, maybe there is a way to fix the board to make it easier to post such things. I know I'd be less confused if columns could be established and labeled.

-jk? Is is it possible?

To do a really nice table, Jim:

!. Start with an Excel file and paste into the message.

2. Surround the table by "code" and "/code" enclosed in brackets ([ ]).

3. Click "Preview Post" to see how it looks and then go back to the table and adjust the spacing.

4. Repeat "Preview Post" and "adjust spacing" about a dozen times.

5. Admire your nifty keen handiwork and then click "Submit Reply."

6. Wait for positive comments, which will never arrive, because no one goes to this trouble and has any idea of the amount of effort involved.

sagegrouse

[Greg_Newton]

He's what Luke Winn of SI has to say about this matter.
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2010/writers/luke_winn/10/05/schedules/index.html

What an absurd list.

Georgetown plays the following five teams: ODU, Temple, Memphis, Missouri, and possibly NCSU, and no one else substantial.

Illinois plays the following five teams: Gonzaga, UNC, Missouri, Texas, and the winner of Pitt/Maryland.

Georgetown is awarded the toughest schedule, while Illinois is down at #10.

Because, clearly, a true road game at ODU is tougher than Pitt on a neutral court... :rolleyes:

[-jk]

OK -- I see it now. Thanks to -jk and El Diablo.

I guess this might be time to make the point that charts are hard to do in html. And, since many of us are chart and stats driven, maybe there is a way to fix the board to make it easier to post such things. I know I'd be less confused if columns could be established and labeled.

-jk? Is is it possible?

I haven't found a really good solution to tables. But I keep looking.

Meanwhile, there is a tip in the stickies that'll walk you through it using Excel and Notepad.

I'm not sure the data above particularly lends itself to a table, though.

-jk

[ACCBBallFan]

It looks to me like the number represents the number of quality OOC games, while the list of schools following the number are the schools with that many quality OOC games.

So, Penn St, Purdue, NC St, UVA, BC, Baylor, A&M, Nova, FL and TN all play 3 quality OOC games.

Perhaps ACCBBallFan will correct me if I'm wrong.

Exactly right.

Yes, I should have clairifed that it is a count of number of top 30 or so teams each team on that row conceivably plays. It varies because of uncertainly of opponent at Maui, P-NIT, CBE, etc.

With VA Tech's very favorable ACC unbalanced schedule, they better have a good ACC W-L or history repeats itself even with 68 teams.

You can use this link to get any schedule

http://www.cbssports.com/collegebasketball/schedules/teams

[ACCBBallFan]

I haven't found a really good solution to tables. But I keep looking.

Meanwhile, there is a tip in the stickies that'll walk you through it using Excel and Notepad.

I'm not sure the data above particularly lends itself to a table, though.

-jk

Not sure how much boards cooperate with one another, but tables paste better onto Scout.com than Rivals.com or here.

[ACCBBallFan]

What an absurd list.

Georgetown plays the following five teams: ODU, Temple, Memphis, Missouri, and possibly NCSU, and no one else substantial.

Illinois plays the following five teams: Gonzaga, UNC, Missouri, Texas, and the winner of Pitt/Maryland.

Georgetown is awarded the toughest schedule, while Illinois is down at #10.

Because, clearly, a true road game at ODU is tougher than Pitt on a neutral court... :rolleyes:

You are correct and it gets even worse when you look at overall body of work since Illini have to play home and home with Purdue, Mich St and Ohio St all top 5 teams, plus Wisconsin a fellow top 25.

Illini have the toughest schedule followed closely by Mich St and Penn St, and the toughest after that is Maryland.

[-jk]

Not sure how much boards cooperate with one another, but tables paste better onto Scout.com than Rivals.com or here.

It's not so much cooperation as the underlying software running the board. vBulletin (what we use, and generally a nice board system) doesn't have table support built in, and I haven't found a good add-on to provide it.

-jk

[Jim3k]

To do a really nice table, Jim:

!. Start with an Excel file and paste into the message.

2. Surround the table by "code" and "/code" enclosed in brackets ([ ]).

3. Click "Preview Post" to see how it looks and then go back to the table and adjust the spacing.

4. Repeat "Preview Post" and "adjust spacing" about a dozen times.

5. Admire your nifty keen handiwork and then click "Submit Reply."

6. Wait for positive comments, which will never arrive, because no one goes to this trouble and has any idea of the amount of effort involved.

sagegrouse


See my bad layout below, but since I don't really know Excel, I see it can be done (with some practice). If I were to do it again, I wouldn't use Excel, but would simply use vertical rank like this:

7.. ABC
EFG
STUV

6. MNO
QVR
etc.

That way, the layout would make it clear that those teams were grouped. No offense ACCBF, but your layout confused an old geezer like me (though not my equally old geezer classmate, the Grouse, who is rarely confused). Anyway, here's my Excel effort.



Teams with highest number of highly-ranked
out of conference opponents listed in
descending order



7 Gonzaga

6 Illinois Texas Mich St. Oakland

5 Duke Maryland Wake Forest Ucon Kentucky Temple
Miami (OH)
4 North Carolina Fla State Kansas State Georgetown Butler California
California Marquette Notre Dame
3 Penn State Purdue NC State Virginia Boston Col Baylor
Texas A&M Villanova Florida Tennessee
2 Minnesota Michigan Ohio State Wisconsin Miami (FL) Va. Tech
Ga Tech Missouri Okla State Texas Tech West Virginia
Louisville
1 Indiana Iowa Kansas Syracuse

[sagegrouse]

If Calipari has coined a word, I propose that, when its added to the English lexicon, the official synonym should be "underperform."

sagegrouse

EDIT: Please, Mr. or Ms. Mod, fix the dumb-a-s-s typo in the heading.

[ACCBBallFan]

See my bad layout below, but since I don't really know Excel, I see it can be done (with some practice). If I were to do it again, I wouldn't use Excel, but would simply use vertical rank like this:

7.. ABC
EFG
STUV

6. MNO
QVR
etc.

That way, the layout would make it clear that those teams were grouped. No offense ACCBF, but your layout confused an old geezer like me (though not my equally old geezer classmate, the Grouse, who is rarely confused). Anyway, here's my Excel effort.



Teams with highest number of highly-ranked
out of conference opponents listed in
descending order



7 Gonzaga

6 Illinois Texas Mich St. Oakland

5 Duke Maryland Wake Forest Ucon Kentucky Temple
Miami (OH)
4 North Carolina Fla State Kansas State Georgetown Butler California
California Marquette Notre Dame
3 Penn State Purdue NC State Virginia Boston Col Baylor
Texas A&M Villanova Florida Tennessee
2 Minnesota Michigan Ohio State Wisconsin Miami (FL) Va. Tech
Ga Tech Missouri Okla State Texas Tech West Virginia
Louisville
1 Indiana Iowa Kansas Syracuse


You are right, and I will try to do that in future.

I often use excel and do what you are suggesting but that time I just typed it since my source data was in a vastly different format.

There was no table until I typed it on the reply in quasi table format.

[JasonEvans]

EDIT: Please, Mr. or Ms. Mod, fix the dumb-a-s-s typo in the heading.

Sorry. We can edit the text of a post but not the title.

-JE

[pfrduke]

Sorry. We can edit the text of a post but not the title.

-JE

Ah, but we can (just need to go into the "advanced" edit).