The debate surrounding college basketball’s NCAA Tournament scheduling has become a bit one-sided in recent weeks thanks to Miami (OH) and other mid-majors.
The question has been a hot topic that has only intensified as Miami (OH) has gotten closer to March Madness. For some programs, the complaint is a familiar one: Power Conference teams avoid scheduling such teams, fearing a loss that could hurt their playoff resumes.
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But that argument only goes so far when you hear from coaches like Purdue’s Matt Painter and Alabama’s Nate Oats.
There are only a limited number of non-conference games available. Between marquee events like the Maui Invitational and existing conference obligations, power-four programs have limited flexibility when developing their schedules. At least according to some.
And all the mid-level opponents don’t help.
With teams in leagues like the Sun Belt, MAC, AAC and Mountain West, finding the right matchup – one that boosts a team’s NET ranking and schedule strength – isn’t easy.
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Painter made that clear when responding to comments from Miami (OH) coach Travis Steele who suggested that Power Conference teams are “dodging” the mid-majors.
“If he were in my shoes, you would play 11 non-conference games. Next year it would go to 12. And so we play 6 high-level games and we play 5 mid-level teams,” Painter explained. “So when they say they don’t play mid-majors, we played 5 mid-majors this year. But if he were in our shoes, he would do the same thing we did.”
Phew, now that’s a good idea, and he actually makes a valid point about how many games his Boilermakers can actually play. Add to that the fact that every year the question of whether a team is good enough to snag for a “buy game” without destroying your SOS rankings changes based on the quality of those teams.
But when it comes to “dodging,” as some mid-level coaches have implied in recent weeks, the current schedule sometimes proves that some P-4 schools, like Purdue and Alabama, invite combat.
“We played Akron. We played Kent State. We played Oakland. We played mid-majors, but everyone plays mid-majors,” Painter pointed out. “All the high-majors play mid-majors. They just say they won’t play them. And it’s really a backhanded compliment to not play them. But we’ve proven ourselves.
“The guy from Miami, Ohio says ‘no one’s going to play us,’ well Akron has been the best team in the league. Kent State has been the best team in the league. We’ve played them.”
Nate Oats came from a mid-major shadow (Buffalo)
The question of how teams establish their schedules is not going to go away.
Many times, coaches would prefer to have schedules completed months before the actual start of the season. In the case of Miami (OH), Steele has made it clear multiple times that his team waited until October to sign contracts with schools that could fill their schedule.
When they couldn’t find opponents at the power four level, the RedHawks ended up agreeing to play a few NAIA teams. That obviously didn’t help their schedule, and it held them back for much of this season.
But just because some schools are struggling doesn’t mean there’s a nationwide problem in college basketball, given how many teams are looking to “buy games” or tougher opponents to help their SOS.
So when asked Saturday what he thought, Alabama’s Oats didn’t seem to have much sympathy for a school like Miami (OH).
“The only middle schools we’ve turned down are the ones that aren’t good enough. When we look at our ‘buy’ games, they have to be good enough because I don’t want to play Quad 4 games,” Oats said. “For me, I want to play really good ones.
“I think if you call, some of the mid-tier schools we’re talking about aren’t able to find games and have played several non-Division I games. I don’t know how hard you’ve tried if you play three non-Division I games.”
I think it’s fair to say that power four coaches are tired of hearing about the “dodging” component in college basketball.
