Purdue head basketball coach Matt Painter addressed the difficulty in scheduling mid-major teams in the current NCAA Tournament selection format, after general criticism by Miami (Oh.) head coach Travis Steele, who complained about Power 4 schools not scheduling his MAC team, which nearly cost them a tournament spot, despite a 31-1 regular season record, because that loss came in the conference quarterfinals and the team's strength of schedule was 12th lowest in the nation. High Point head coach Flynn Clayman also spoke out about major conferences ducking scheduling his team.
Painter said in a press conference, “When they say we don’t play mid-majors—we played five mid-majors this year. But if [Steele] was in our position, he’d do the same thing we’re doing. I didn’t set the NET [NCAA Evaluation Tool] rankings. The NET rankings set themselves, but I’m going to go by it. The coaches who don’t look at the NET rankings and get things figured out how to schedule are bozos." He added later, “You are going to do what is best for your institution, so you can get in the tournament and help your seed.”
My take: Exactly. There's too much at stake to schedule a mid-major team when it hurts you in the end. Steele and Clayman's beef is with the NCAA. The only fix would be a mandate for every Power 4 team to schedule the same number of mid-majors, so the teams are evaluated on equal footing. Right now, though, it's better to lose a close game to a top team than beat a mid-major by 30.
THE ASYLUM
Mid-major headache
Purdue head basketball coach Matt Painter addressed the difficulty in scheduling mid-major teams in the current NCAA Tournament selection format, after general criticism by Miami (Oh.) head coach Travis Steele, who complained about Power 4 schools not scheduling his MAC team, which nearly cost them a tournament spot, despite a 31-1 regular season record, because that loss came in the conference quarterfinals and the team's strength of schedule was 12th lowest in the nation. High Point head coach Flynn Clayman also spoke out about major conferences ducking scheduling his team.
Painter said in a press conference, “When they say we don’t play mid-majors—we played five mid-majors this year. But if [Steele] was in our position, he’d do the same thing we’re doing. I didn’t set the NET [NCAA Evaluation Tool] rankings. The NET rankings set themselves, but I’m going to go by it. The coaches who don’t look at the NET rankings and get things figured out how to schedule are bozos." He added later, “You are going to do what is best for your institution, so you can get in the tournament and help your seed.”
My take: Exactly. There's too much at stake to schedule a mid-major team when it hurts you in the end. Steele and Clayman's beef is with the NCAA. The only fix would be a mandate for every Power 4 team to schedule the same number of mid-majors, so the teams are evaluated on equal footing. Right now, though, it's better to lose a close game to a top team than beat a mid-major by 30.
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