Scheduling an easy or hard non conference schedule.
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Even with losses, I think it helps to play tough teams.
Neutral seems to better prepare in theory but walking in someone else's arena can be a real wake-up call.
I think the answer depends on the team you have. In the case of Tennessee we have a mature team with post season aspirations. A tough non conference schedule will benefit the team regardless of the results. Since UK has pretty much a new team, a weak non conference schedule allows the coaches a chance to put the pieces together and learn to play together with an opportunity to grow before they have to step up to higher competition.
We don't have that luxury at UK. It's Champions Classic, sports classic, conference head-to-heads, and throw in Gonzaga and UL (snicker). To some fans, that's not even enough regardless of how young the team is.
Fans can be idiots. Cal is getting y'all the best talent available. He has scheduled a weak non con and allowing the team time to jell. It may put you in the cat birds seat in March and it may fail. We will just have to see.
That's Matt Painter's philosophy. If he has a young and unproven team, he'll lighten the schedule a bit. If he has a team that's supposed to be pretty good, he amps it up like this year.
You think #1 KU, #8 Miami, #9 UNC, and #7 Gonzaga is weak? I'll give you UL. Heck St Joesphs took us to OT and beat Villanova.
That's not including the upcoming games. We can revisit NCSOS after the Gonzaga game.
You do realize that I haven't tried to insult Uk here, right? The point is games this far into the season the SOS is what it is.
