Devil's Advocate: Indiana's Schedule

[IU Hoosier41 14,465]

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It's easy to point and blame Coach Crean and Indiana for missing the NCAA and NIT based on our schedule this year.  Many people seem to think that is the only reason the Hoosiers aren't in a post season tournament.  On paper, if Indiana had a stronger non conference schedule, they would have a better RPI and SOS... Or would they?
 
Indiana played easy teams in the non conference, but I find it hard to believe if Indiana added strength to the schedule that it would have changed this season's result.  By improving our schedule this season, does that mean Indiana would still win those same games?  The Hoosiers went 10-3 pre conference this season.  If you take away some of those cupcakes and add better opponents, do the Hoosiers end up 8-5 or 9-4 pre conf?  The data isn't out there to support this team winning games against better competition.
 
Just maybe, this schedule was a result of Crean and company knowing how rough this season would be.  Getting to the loaded Big Ten schedule with some confidence and momentum would be pivotal for a young team to keep their spirits high.  I'm sure Crean and Co knew this preconference schedule would hurt their RPI, but maybe they thought it was their only chance to get the number of wins required to make the tournament.  Get the preconference wins and then go .500 in conference and we get a bid.  We just didn't execute on the Big Ten portion of that scheduling plan.  It's always nice to look at things from ALL perspectives.
 
NOTE:  I personally HATED our pre conference schedule and I think if we would have played some better teams it would have prepared us from blowing some of our second half leads (See PSU, Nebraska).  That being said, I'm not sure we would have been sitting in any different shape today given we probably wouldn't have won all of those more difficult games.  
 
Just playing Devil's Advocate...
 
Peegs had a good article on the topic for free here.

[HoosierAloha 30,068]

Great post. I would argue that it's easy to manipulate the schedule to make it strong without taking too many chances. Take for instance the games against the 300+ RPI teams, change those to teams in the 150ish range. Same with the 250+. You start rising in SOS quickly without risking a ton.


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[Hovadipo 56,514]

Crean is awful. We don't run an offense. Hire Dakich. Maybe he wouldn't let us dwell in mediocrity for one season. All the players don't like Crean. Jurkin is the only player not transferring. I want Bobby back. Why do we run the weave?


I think I covered every point that will eventually be made in this thread.


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[IU Hoosier41 14,465]

Crean is awful. We don't run an offense. Hire Dakich. Maybe he wouldn't let us dwell in mediocrity for one season. All the players don't like Crean. Jurkin is the only player not transferring. I want Bobby back. Why do we run the weave?


I think I covered every point that will eventually be made in this thread.


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I was actually getting really pissed reading your response and then I saw it was HovaDipo and I knew it would be okay by the end.  Pretty damn funny

[Rayl 527]

You stated the flaw in the logic yourself. The schedule didn't prepare us for the conference season. Ultimately, our postseason fate will always depend on how we do in conference. Sure, we might have lost some more non-conference games with a stronger schedule. But, if that had better prepared us for the conference, we might have still made the NIT.

 

Chalk this one up to remembering who we are and how we got there. We used to schedule in the non-conference judiciously. Knight would try to schedule an opponent that resembled a conference opponent. So if someone in conference played a 3-2 zone, Knight would get a non-conference opponent who ran it. If someone ran the Princeton offense, he would get a quality non-conference opponent who ran it. He would try to schedule at least one true road game in a gym where fans were known to be rowdy to prepare the team for what they would face on the road in conference.

 

That's what our non-conference schedule should be. Prepare the team for what they will face in conference as best as we can, then try to win the conference.

[KingPG21 6,587]

Crean is awful. We don't run an offense. Hire Dakich. Maybe he wouldn't let us dwell in mediocrity for one season. All the players don't like Crean. Jurkin is the only player not transferring. I want Bobby back. Why do we run the weave?


I think I covered every point that will eventually be made in this thread.


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Only if he continues to do those segments when he walks on the court during timeouts to demonstrate something

[Hovadipo 56,514]

[quote name="KingPG21" post="49320" timestamp="1395091566"]Only if he continues to do those segments when he walks on the court during timeouts to demonstrate something[/quote]

Lol my bball IQ goes through the roof because of those segments.


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[JSHoosier 20,316]

You stated the flaw in the logic yourself. The schedule didn't prepare us for the conference season. Ultimately, our postseason fate will always depend on how we do in conference. Sure, we might have lost some more non-conference games with a stronger schedule. But, if that had better prepared us for the conference, we might have still made the NIT.

 

Chalk this one up to remembering who we are and how we got there. We used to schedule in the non-conference judiciously. Knight would try to schedule an opponent that resembled a conference opponent. So if someone in conference played a 3-2 zone, Knight would get a non-conference opponent who ran it. If someone ran the Princeton offense, he would get a quality non-conference opponent who ran it. He would try to schedule at least one true road game in a gym where fans were known to be rowdy to prepare the team for what they would face on the road in conference.

 

That's what our non-conference schedule should be. Prepare the team for what they will face in conference as best as we can, then try to win the conference.

This, a tougher non-con might have meant more losses but it would've almost meant better preparation.  What confidence they get beating Eastern Western A&M Tech of the Blind State Community College doesn't mean squat when they lose time after time because they can't get away with the same things against B1G competition.

[BlueDevil 8,693]

I think a tougher non conf would have given us the wake up call earlier than after conf play started.

[colonel06 1,917]

Folks should not hesitate one bit to let the athletic director know your thoughts about scheduling- the earlier your thoughts are conveyed the better in my opinion.

[PointBlank 116]

Folks should not hesitate one bit to let the athletic director know your thoughts about scheduling- the earlier your thoughts are conveyed the better in my opinion.

I realize Fred Glass does not perform the task of basketball scheduling, however; I am surprised he would have approved such a weak non-conference schedule because after all, we are Indiana. The non-conference schedule had much weaker teams than the CBI tournament.

[IU Hoosier41 14,465]

You stated the flaw in the logic yourself. The schedule didn't prepare us for the conference season. Ultimately, our postseason fate will always depend on how we do in conference. Sure, we might have lost some more non-conference games with a stronger schedule. But, if that had better prepared us for the conference, we might have still made the NIT.

 

The flaw wasn't in my logic, that post was just playing Devil's advocate.  I gave my 2 cents at the end.   It's impossible to tell if a harder preconference schedule would have helped this team.  I was merely trying to point out why the schedule might have been as soft as it was and the plan to make the tournmanet based off of that.  Given how Crean is, I find it incredibly hard to believe he didn't know what the RPI and SOS would be with that lineup of games (although some of our better opponents TANKED this season which didn't help.)

[Rayl 527]

The flaw wasn't in my logic, that post was just playing Devil's advocate.  I gave my 2 cents at the end.   It's impossible to tell if a harder preconference schedule would have helped this team.  I was merely trying to point out why the schedule might have been as soft as it was and the plan to make the tournmanet based off of that.  Given how Crean is, I find it incredibly hard to believe he didn't know what the RPI and SOS would be with that lineup of games (although some of our better opponents TANKED this season which didn't help.)

 

Yeah, I got that it wasn't you. That's why I said the flaw was in the logic, not in your logic. :)

[Plasticjimmyhat 71]

Not making the N.I.T. was expected IMO after this season. I think we didn't "pay and play" in the C.B.I  for fear off losing that "tournament", not because we think we're better than those teams... Penn state is in it afterall... Missing out on the N.I.T is bad enough without adding insult to injury. Let this coach and team reflect on the future without wondering what could have been.

[bronkonagurski 894]

The padded win total is negated by the horrible effect on SOS by scheduling those teams.  Beef up the OOC schedule.  Doesn't have to go crazy in the opposite direction but I agree with the folks who state the purpose of the OOC games should be to prepare the team better for Big Ten play and if that means sacrificing a couple OOC wins to achieve that tougher schedule, so be it.  Take off the training wheels and let them get their nose bloodied a little.