Coaches balance RPIs, rankings to make schedules

With a stronger Big Ten, IU men’s basketball coach Tom Crean figured a breather was necessary in the out-of-conference contests for a young team still trying to find itself.

Crean was hesitant to place the Hoosiers against some of the tougher opponents available when he sat down to plan out his team’s 2009-10 schedule. On one specific occasion, he considered leaving a team off the list completely.

“We overscheduled,” he said. “The Pitt game was a reach, and that’s why I didn’t want to do it for so long.”

Crean’s predicament was the same one every Big Ten coach was faced with when preparing for the 2009-10 season. Regardless of the level of program, scheduling can sway a season toward the NCAA tournament, NIT or out of the postseason completely.
The heads of programs try to balance tough schedules, ranking and rating percentage indexes.

Three Big Ten coaches’ schedules ended in each of those various scenarios last season.

Northwestern coach Bill Carmody’s team prolonged its streak of missing the NCAA Tournament. Penn State coach Ed DeChellis ended up in the NIT with a team that was 21-10 in the regular season but secured a bid for this year’s NCAA Tournament by winning the tournament.

And then there is Michigan State coach Tom Izzo, who loads his schedule with top competition every year. He will face seven top-25 teams this season.

Each coach commented on the difference scheduling had made in their own careers and their team’s seasons.

Carmody is facing the first real possibility of making the postseason for his school since the NCAA tournament’s inception.

Last year, the Wildcats surprised the Big Ten with a 17-12 finish and nearly made the postseason.

“I think we lost a couple games that we sort of gave away, and that was the difference,” Carmody said. “Every program is at a different stage. So you’re trying to balance that out with wins and tough schedules and RPI.”

DeChellis had a blue-chip recruit in guard Talor Battle and veteran leadership in forward Jamelle Cornley.

They handed losses to many teams within the Big Ten conference, including IU’s final game of the season in a 66-51 win.

The coach said he thought last year’s schedule was configured to make the postseason.

“We tried to upgrade,” DeChellis said. “But I know the year before we didn’t make the schedule not to make the tournament. We thought some teams were going to be better. They just weren’t.”

Dechillis experienced firsthand the effect minor ripples can have on a season.

One coach in the Big Ten simply takes on whoever wants to play his team. Michigan State plays Gonzaga and defending champion North Carolina – whom they lost to in the NCAA championship game – this season, and the Big Ten isn’t looking shabby, either.

Despite having a team picked to win the conference this year, Izzo said he is worried about what his team has lost from last season.

“We lost more than I think people give us credit for,” he said. “When you lose Travis Walton, who was your best leader since maybe Mateen Cleaves, that’s a big loss.”

Scheduling can make or break a season, which can lead to the deterioration of a program. Crean said IU is one of few schools with a special history, and that he doesn’t want to jeopardize it.

“There’s five or six programs in America that decade after decade have been in the same breath,” he said, “and Indiana has always been one of those programs. We don’t want to do anything to lose that.”