Value of a tough non-conference schedule

In Coach Rose's weekly radio program, Greg Wrubell asked him about playing a tough non-conference schedule:

BYU is in the middle of what may be the toughest non-conference schedule in school history. The Cougars are facing four ranked teams in their non-conference schedule for the first time in team history. BYU's four losses have come to teams with a combined record of 37-1. The four ranked teams on BYU's slate are Iowa State, Wichita State, UMass, and Oregon.



While the Cougars haven't been able to come out on top in these games, Coach Rose said he likes playing these games because, "we want to get better and improve. We want to be in that group of teams in the top 25 with great records. The bottom line is you've got to win games, and you have to win the close games. We need to concentrate on getting our team better."

I really wonder if playing a tough non-conference schedule does have much merit because my fear is that it probably does have an effect on the first games of your conference schedule because you have been pushed and have hopefully learned from the experience. Though if your conference tilt is not as tough, I believe teams will lower their ability down to the level of the conference competition and if that is true, then the benefit is minimized related to performance. I believe playing a tough non-conference helps when it comes time for invitations to the Big Dance. So far we don't have any marque wins, but we have a couple of good wins (Stanford, Texas and USU).



I think playing a tough conference prepares you more for the tournament than the non-conference affords, but I was curious what others thought.



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It is such a crapshoot when it comes to scheduling. Every year when Selection Sunday rolls around you hear about a team's strength of schedule (or lack of strength of schedule). You see teams with double-digit losses that have a high SOS that get into the tournament. The majority of those teams (if not all) are from one of the P5 conferences. I don't think any WCC or "mid-major" conference team gets in with double-digit losses. I am sure it has happened, but I can't think of any in recent years off the top of my head. The dilemna for BYU this year is there isn't much of a margin for error in WCC play and the conference tournament. A loss at Oregon on Saturday (a real possibility) brings the loss total to 5. The fact that those 5 teams are currently 47-1, and the good teams we have beaten (TX, Stanford, USU) are a combined 22-5, speaks volumes as to how difficult this schedule has been. I am sure that Coach Rose knew those teams would be good, but I'm not sure he himself envisioned them being that good. If this schedule hasn't prepared this team for the rigors of WCC play, then I am not sure Coach Rose could put together a schedule that would. IMO I don't think this team can afford more than 4-5 more losses from here on out if they want to go dancing.

EM_Puma wrote:
In Coach Rose's weekly radio program, Greg Wrubell asked him about playing a tough non-conference schedule:

BYU is in the middle of what may be the toughest non-conference schedule in school history. The Cougars are facing four ranked teams in their non-conference schedule for the first time in team history. BYU's four losses have come to teams with a combined record of 37-1. The four ranked teams on BYU's slate are Iowa State, Wichita State, UMass, and Oregon.



While the Cougars haven't been able to come out on top in these games, Coach Rose said he likes playing these games because, "we want to get better and improve. We want to be in that group of teams in the top 25 with great records. The bottom line is you've got to win games, and you have to win the close games. We need to concentrate on getting our team better."

I really wonder if playing a tough non-conference schedule does have much merit because my fear is that it probably does have an effect on the first games of your conference schedule because you have been pushed and have hopefully learned from the experience. Though if your conference tilt is not as tough, I believe teams will lower their ability down to the level of the conference competition and if that is true, then the benefit is minimized related to performance. I believe playing a tough non-conference helps when it comes time for invitations to the Big Dance. So far we don't have any marque wins, but we have a couple of good wins (Stanford, Texas and USU).



I think playing a tough conference prepares you more for the tournament than the non-conference affords, but I was curious what others thought.



Read more at http://www.ksl.com/?nid=498&sid=28069624#1JpWD6pXTAOTZPum.99" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Completely agree. Gonzaga is a good example. They usually play a tough nonconference schedule all over the country, and they usually do very well. Then they get into conference play. Dominate, but get soft. When tournament time comes it is tough for them to get ramped up and they usually are bounced in the first weekend.

btw, Texas just beat UNC ON THE ROAD and Stanford is up 1 with a minute to go against UConn ALSO ON THE ROAD. If the cardinal can pull it off our RPI is going to sleep well tonight.



Edit: Cardinal beat Uconn by two, I'll be very interested to see what our RPI does when the computers recrunch the numbers in the morning. (currently #20 with #4 SOS).

UConn has scored 13 points in the 2nd half. Looks like they (stanford) learned to play some defense. Hopefully BYU can do the same.

Huge game for both the Cardinal and the Longhorns. Great wins for both programs. Nice to see that the only loss Texas has had this season is to BYU.

Texas and Stanford both with huge road wins tonight. See BYU, it can be done. Time to go from "I think I can" to "I know I can". Go Cougars!

It would feel great right now if we had beaten Utah... I think that's where you saw the tone on this forum go south, a massive beat down by our archrivals and the next few days the sky was falling. I think we should just enjoy the ride and fortunately we've beaten some good opponents and lost to some good ones and one evil classless, bound to tank in their conference slate, team.

The combined record of the teams to whom BYU lost is 39-1. Our SOS is now at 30. This can only help us in our seeding if we play well in WCC.

craigoscarson wrote:
It would feel great right now if we had beaten Utah... I think that's where you saw the tone on this forum go south, a massive beat down by our archrivals and the next few days the sky was falling. I think we should just enjoy the ride and fortunately we've beaten some good opponents and lost to some good ones and one evil classless, bound to tank in their conference slate, team.

My only hope is the Utah loss forced some changes. When you lose to Top 25 teams you can always console yourself and say, "Well, they're a top 25 team." When you get blown out by a team you should have handily beat (I think Rose got caught looking ahead a bit) then you're forced to take a harder look at yourself.



If BYU pulls off a miracle this week and beat Oregon on the road, I'll gladly forgive them for losing to Utah.