BTI’s Rants and Ramblings: The 2013-14 Non-Conference Schedule, Does it Stack Up?
It’s never too early to breakdown a schedule, right? No, not the football schedule, but the basketball schedule. UK’s non-conference slate this season looks pretty good on paper. A true road game against a Top 25 North Carolina, a home game against the national champion, neutral site games against Michigan State and Baylor, plus tournament teams Boise State and Belmont as well. But just how well does it stack up against the previous 4 years of John Calipari non-conference schedules? And, I put together a little formula to determine the best. It goes as below:
+2 for every RPI Top 10 team
+1 for every NCAA Tournament Team
+.5 for every true road game
-1 for every RPI 300+ opponent
(some opponents can fall under multiple categories)
Now, we are just ranking these non-conference schedules by their difficulty, not by how successful these teams were against those schedules. NCAA Tournament teams in bold:
2012-13 (13 games, 9-4 record)
RPI Top 10: at Louisville, Duke (N)
RPI Top 25: None
RPI 26-50: at Notre Dame
RPI 51-100: Maryland (N), Baylor
RPI 101-200: Lafayette, Morehead St, Long Island
RPI 201-300: Marshall, Portland, Lipscomb, E.Michigan, Samford
RPI 300+: None
Recap: 4 NCAA Tournament Teams (1 Final Four), Five 200+ RPI opponents, 1 true road game
TOTAL: 9 POINTS
2011-12 (15 games, 14-1 record)
RPI Top 10: North Carolina, Kansas (N)
RPI Top 25: Louisville, at Indiana
RPI 26-50: None
RPI 51-100: Loyola (MD)
RPI 101-200: Old Dominion (N), Lamar, St. Johns, Penn State (N), UALR
RPI 201-300: Marist, Portland, Samford
RPI 300+: Chattanooga, Radford
Recap: 6 NCAA Tournament Teams (2 Final Four), Five 200+ RPI opponents, 1 true road game
TOTAL: 8.5 POINTS
2010-11 (14 games, 12-2 record)
RPI Top 10: at North Carolina, Notre Dame (N)
RPI Top 25: UCONN, at Louisville
RPI 26-50: Washington
RPI 51-100: E.Tennessee St.,
RPI 101-200: Portland, Oklahoma, Boston U, Penn, Indiana
RPI 201-300: Winthrop, Coppin St, Mississippi Valley St
RPI 300+: None
Recap: 6 NCAA Tournament Teams (1 Final Four), 3 200+ RPI opponents, 2 true road games
TOTAL: 11 POINTS
2009-10 (15 games, 15-0 record)
RPI Top 10: None
RPI Top 25: None
RPI 26-50: Louisville
RPI 51-100: UCONN (N), Sam Houston St, Morehead St, North Carolina
RPI 101-200: Long Beach St, Rider, Miami (OH), Drexel, Austin Peay, Stanford (N), Cleveland St (N),
RPI 201-300: UNC-Asheville, at Indiana
RPI 300+: Hartford
Recap: 2 NCAA Tournament Teams (0 Final Four), Three 200+ RPI opponents, 1 true road game
TOTAL: 1.5 POINTS
Let’s get the obvious out of the way. Calipari’s first team had one of the more laughable non-conference schedules ever. Admittedly, much of that came from their good teams having down years. But their lone road game was against the worst Indiana team in 50 years. The faced ZERO teams in the RPI Top 25 and their “marquee” games came against North Carolina and UCONN, both of which missed the tournament that year. No wonder they went 15-0.
Now, the other 3 schedules are fairly comparable. But the Brandon Knight-team gets the BTI nod for the best schedule of the bunch. 2 true road games against Top 20 teams, and 2 more Top 20 games. Plus 2 other NCAA Tournament teams and nobody above 251 in the RPI. If I remember correctly, that team had many question marks coming out of non-conference play, but looking back, the fact they went 12-2 against that slate of game was pretty impressive.
The last 2 years have had very respectable schedules as well, although not up to the 2010-11 team. They may have been a little heavy in the 200+ teams, but not at Gillispie levels. This season, UK has what amount to 6 bunnies on the schedule (UNC Asheville, Northern Kentucky, Robert Morris, UT-Arlington, Cleveland St, Eastern Michigan), and 3 more opponents that should be more than beatable but inside the Top 150 (Boise State, Belmont, Providence). And obviously the schedule is held up by MichiganState, Louisville, North Carolina, and Baylor. So, here is the BTI prediction for this year’s schedule in terms of finishing RPI:
Top 10: Michigan State, Louisville
Top 11-25: at North Carolina
Top 26-50: Baylor
Top 50-100: Belmont, Boise State
Top 101-200: Providence
Top 201-299: Cleveland St, E.Michigan, Northern Kentucky, Robert Morris, UNC-Asheville
Top 300+: UT-Arlington
TOTAL: 9.5 POINTS
Not looking too bad, eh?
Follow me on Twitter @BryantheIntern.
41 Comments for BTI’s Rants and Ramblings: The 2013-14 Non-Conference Schedule, Does it Stack Up?
BTI it’s good to have you back
This is just to much…I now feel like not only my eyes but my soul has been raped. You still suck
Good lord! The numbers! Def not going to read this garbage.
Not a fan of hating on the writers here. I appreciate the work that everyone does…except BTI. For those of you who are fairly new to the site. This is CLASSIC BTI.
made up formula…check
data listed in illogical/hard to read form…check
The only thing missing here is the illogical conclusion based on those stats. Yes of course this schedule is pretty good. We all looked at it and figured it out.
Oh, and I haven’t gotten to point this out for over a year now. But when the basketball games start, you can look forward to quotes like this from BTI, that let you know you have a lot in common.
“A UK loss has never ruined my day”…BTI
You suck. Hey at least you give effort. You are KSR’s Lanter.
Better than Corey, who just didn’t try. Corey = Brian Long. Not sure he appreciates much
Wanted to call BTI either hood or polson but didn’t want to offend them.
Yeah……I gotta tell ya BTI, I would rather crap in my hands and clap than learn about some made up metric of yours. Having said that it is great to have you back and I look forward to more nonsense in the future. BTI SUCKS!!
Where did you guys get the 2013 rankings? Most places I’ve seen have UNC 8-10, Baylor 18-24, and Belmont and Boise St. are always top 50. If people have seen otherwise I’d love to see a link
BTI sucks.
Nothing like getting a headache first thing in the morning.
I think our non-conference schedule is one of high quality. UNC, Mich ST. and UL all final four potential. Belmont, Boise and Baylor will have a chance to make the NCAA tourney. I am worried about our conference. UF and Ole Miss will probably be NCAA quality. I think Alabama and UT both have off season issues won’t be as good as they looked like a month ago. MSU, GA and Mizzu all could be awful. Due to lack of schools willing to commit to basketball. It is possible that other than Ole Miss and UF we won’t play a NCAA tourney team in January or Febraury.
Bad job, bad effort
Pretty sure I saw this and my brain started to hurt due to the stupidity, man BTI sucks!
Welcome back!
Glad your back Brian. I havent read a good 9 am post since you left. Love your work. You do not suck. Don’t listen to all these jerk-offs.
Bee Tee Dub. It wasn’t a dream. omgz. fur realz corey is gone. i so happy. lolz. wut. catz. also, reddit. luv.
15. Agree. BTI makes a big effort. Some folks have NO clue the challenge of coming up with something different each day…especially in the off season. Glad to have you back Brian
#15, does BTI still live in your basement, or has he moved out into a one-room unit with a futon?
Ok, I haven’t seen anybody whine about the home schedule so I will. Not really anybody’s fault…I realize everybody is scheduling the OOC neutral site games now. But geez, at $40 each for upper arena tix, it is underwhelming to see Transylvania, MOntevallo, unc Asheville, NKU, etc. thank God for the UofL game returning to Rupp. That and the poor saps that pay scalpers prices for my tix on Stub Hub for the crappy games that make up 92% of the Rupp schedule.
Who has the toughest non-conference schedule?
Im not gonna lie Ive always been a fan of your posts. Im glad your back, but you still suck.
What a load of crap. You are the worst.
Stated earlier, that I’m not a fan. I do, however, recognize the effort that goes into something like this. I also know how difficult it is to come up with off-season material.
…and my streak of never having bothered to read a BTI post continues.
you rock!, that a interesting article and makes me feel much better about this non-conference schedule
great now I can go back to completely avoiding the 9am post every day like I used to.
“the numbers Mason! what do they mean?!”
you suck BTI
Home non-Conference sucks again.
Persistence is the key. Not everybody in Germany liked Hitler when he first came on the scene. He just would not go away. But he was better looking than you, so in that department, advantage Hitler. And he was a terrible writer, so, again, advantage Hitler. You did/do both have a negative effect on the masses, so you got that going for you and, in a very close race, advantage BTI/You. So you got that going for you. You are actually pretty funny. It is good to have you back. Make some noise. Kick some dirt around again. Let’s see what happens.
That is a LOT of work put in to something that NO BODY will READ.
Let’s see how the current KSR line-up stack up to previous KSR line-ups. I put together a fool proof formula to determine the best. It goes as below:
+5 Matt
+4 TT
+3 Drew
+2 Ally
+1 Kristen
-4,536,473 BTI
Looking at the preliminary data it looks like the current line-up is the worst.
This is the ultimate formula and makes complete sense.
No wonder you’re still an intern.
BTI I’ve missed you so…much….you ….*sniff*….you suck BTI….*sob* you suck.
Hey, I’ll take this over a recap of the Bachelor any day. Welcome back BTI, even if you do suck.
Great stuff BTI.
back and suckier than ever…
Guess I’ll have to give up my season tickets because I’m not willing to lose money on this crap again.
I am in a coma from data overload. Don’t interns usually get approval before bringing something like this in the public eye?
BTI please research WCS’ lack of stamina.
Is there something wrong physically?
Or is the fact that he is 7 foot tall and runs
around like a 6’6″ guy?
Run the numbers BTI and figure this out!!
BTI’s posts with numbers are the only posts with numbers that I actually read. They usually have great explanation and are easier to read than the others. That being said you used the preseason rankings for the 2013 team and the post season rankings for the other seasons which is not really fair. It would have actually helped the 2009 team because North Carolina was a top 10 team in the preseason.
19, I tried several times to complain about the home schedule, but never made it past the moderator. I will simply say that it is not a good schedule when you play one quality game out of 20. I have four seats and $3200 for one quality game is no bargain.
I like BTI’s posts. But I think the RPI numbers are a bit misleading. When UK played UCONN and UNC in Cal’s first year, they were both top-10 teams. Im sure that the final RPI numbers of each season were used, which is a misnomer. I agree with #39; the schedule looked great going into the 2009-2010 season. By the end of this year, Mich St., Louisville, UNC, etc. could all fall out of the RPI top 10 or even 25. (Not likely, but you get the point here).