SEC goal right on schedule

Coaches know RPI a key issue

Arkansas head coach Mike Anderson is confident his team's nonconference schedule will be difficult enough, but hopes his team will have a few more wins this season than it did last. (AP Photo/Gareth Patterson)
Arkansas head coach Mike Anderson is confident his team's nonconference schedule will be difficult enough, but hopes his team will have a few more wins this season than it did last. (AP Photo/Gareth Patterson)

Correction: Michigan defeated Syracuse in the semifinals of the men’s NCAA basketball tournament this past season. This story incorrectly stated the result of the game.

FAYETTEVILLE - South Carolina Coach Frank Martin initially wasn’t thrilled about the idea of the SEC office checking his team’s nonconference basketball schedule.

“When I first heard about it, I wasn’t happy because, like I told my boss, I like to do my own scheduling,” Martin said Monday on the SEC coaches’ summer teleconference. “I’m not in kindergarten anymore. I think I can take care of my responsibilities.

“But I also understand, because South Carolina was part of the problem with nonconference scheduling.”

The Gamecocks were ranked last among the SEC’s 14 teams by CBSSports.com in strength of schedule last season at 164 as they finished 14-18, which included a loss to Elon.

“We have to do a better job of scheduling to represent both our institution and the conference,” Martin said. “We have to improve our RPI number, and we have to improve the league’s RPI number, because that’s the only thing that’s fair in how we do our business.”

The RPI, or Ratings Percentage Index, is a formula used by the NCAA to rank teams based on their won loss record and strength of schedule. It’s a major component among the data used by the NCAA Tournament selection committee when putting together the 68-team field.

Last season the SEC had three NCAA Tournament teams - Florida, Missouri and SEC Tournament champion Ole Miss - when its conference RPI ranked eighth, which included being behind the Atlantic-10 and Mountain West.

Among the SEC’s most egregious losses: Alabama to Mercer and Tulane; Auburn to Winthrop; Georgia to Youngstown State; Mississippi State to Alabama A&M, Troy and Florida Atlantic; Texas A&M to Southern University and Vanderbilt to Marist.

SEC teams played a combined 30 nonconference opponents with RPIs of 300 or lower. Arkansas and LSU played four each.

“We had a bad year,” SEC Commissioner Mike Slive told the media at the conference’s spring meetings.

To help make sure the SEC doesn’t have a repeat of last season’s embarrassment, Slive hired Greg Shaheen, a former NCAA vice president whose duties included overseeing the basketball tournament’s operations, as a consultant.

Shaheen is charged with helping SEC coaches and athletic directors understand the process of putting together nonconference schedules that will benefit the conference as a whole and help more teams earn NCAA Tournament bids. He gave a 20-page report to each SEC team, analyzing last season’s nonconference schedule.

Slive also announced that every team must submit its nonconference schedule to the SEC office for approval and possible tweaking.

Arkansas Coach Mike Anderson said it’s probably good to have “checks and balances” by the SEC considering what happened last season.

“I’m sure that’s a concern for the commissioner and for our coaches as well,” Anderson said. “Making sure that everybody is scheduling as good as you can, and therefore it doesn’t hurt our conference when we play each other.”

While Arkansas’ nonconference victories last season included Longwood (RPI 332), Florida A&M (330), Alabama A&M (328) and Alcorn State (310), the Razorbacks also played Syracuse and Michigan - who met in the NCAA Tournament final with the Orange winning - along with Oklahoma, Wisconsin and Arizona State.

The problem for the Razorbacks was that they went 1-4 in their marquee nonconference games, beating only Oklahoma at home.

“We were in position to really have a very good nonconference schedule, but we didn’t win the games,” Anderson said.

Arkansas hasn’t announced its schedule yet, but the Razorbacks are playing three games in the Maui Invitational, where the field includes Syracuse, Gonzaga, Baylor, California, Minnesota, Dayton and host Chaminade. The Razorbacks also have a road game at Oklahoma.

“We will be playing people,” Anderson said. “The key now is hopefully we can beat some people.”

Florida (21) and Missouri (48) were the only SEC teams in the top 50 for strength of schedule last season according to CBSSports.com. Kentucky was No. 70 and Arkansas No. 88. Five SEC teams were outside the top 100.

“We all need to be as competitive as possible in our nonleague, so that once we get to beating up on each other in January, February and March that we’ve helped ourselves coming into those months by scheduling aggressively,” Ole Miss Coach Andy Kennedy said.

Kentucky Coach John Calipari said he believes Slive wants the SEC to be a resource and sounding board for teams to use when scheduling.

“I think what the league wants to do is, if you’re confused if this is a good game or not, call us and we’ll tell you,” Calipari said. “If you’re in a jam and you need to schedule x, y, z, explain it to us. Why are you scheduling this team and not that team? Why would you not go for a 2-for-1 versus what you’re doing?

“I doubt seriously that this league, knowing [Slive] like I do, would ever step up and say, ‘No, you’re not scheduling those teams.’ I just don’t see him being that way. But he’s saying to us, ‘Use us. We have some expertise now, ask us. We have guys that understand the RPI and we’ll help you walk through this.’ “

Vanderbilt Coach Kevin Stallings said meeting the SEC’s goals to improve strength of schedules and RPIs is more complicated than it sounds.

“I’m not a huge fan, to be honest with you,” Stallings said. “I understand the reasoning why, but scheduling is a little bit more difficult than the people that don’t do it think it is. So to add more layers of approval is not necessarily what I would desire. But I understand the Commissioner’s reasoning as to why he wants to do it, and so we’ll do it the way he wants to.”

Georgia Coach Mark Fox said he supports Slive’s initiative but that the process is tougher with the SEC expanding from 16 to 18 conference games.

“When you add conference games, one of the negatives of that is some conference team has to lose that game,” Fox said. “I think we have to be careful.”

Martin said he can accept the SEC approving South Carolina’s nonconference schedule because of what it means for the conference.

“We all compete with one another, but we’re all one big family,” Martin said. “My doings cannot negatively impact the other 13 schools.

“After being through it, I understand what Commissioner Slive did, and I support it.”An SOS for SOS

SEC Commissioner Mike Slive is requiring basketball teams to submit their nonconference schedules to the conference office for approval and possible tweaking after only three SEC teams made the NCAA Tournament last season.

Florida, Missouri and Ole Miss were the SEC’s only NCAA Tournament teams as a result of poor strength of schedules that led to low Ratings Percentage Index rankings. The RPI is a formula used by the NCAA based on a team’s won-loss record and strength of schedule.

Here is a rundown of where the SEC’s 14 teams ranked nationally last season out of 347 Division I teams in strength of schedule and RPI:

STRENGTH OF SCHEDULE

21.) Florida

48.) Missouri

58.) Tennessee

59.) Vanderbilt

63.) Texas A&M

68.) Georgia

70.) Kentucky

76.) Alabama

88.) Arkansas

105.) LSU

115.) Miss. State

120.) Ole Miss

125.) Auburn

164.) S. Carolina

RATINGS PERCENTAGE INDEX

8.) Florida

35.) Missouri

47.) Ole Miss

56.) Kentucky

58.) Tennessee

60.) Alabama

85.) LSU

88.) Arkansas

99.) Texas A&M

110.) Vanderbilt

141.) Georgia

224.) S. Carolina

232.) Miss. State

254.) Auburn

SOURCES CBSSports.com and ESPN.com

Sports, Pages 19 on 06/26/2013

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