Jamie Dixon once again constructs an embarrassing schedule

[Warner2BruceTD]

PITTSBURGH

Toughest: NIT Season Tip-Off (Nov. 12-23)

Next-toughest: Detroit (Dec. 1)

The rest: Mount St. Mary’s (Nov. 9), Fordham (Nov. 12), Oakland (Nov. 17), Howard (Nov. 27), vs. Duquesne (Dec. 5 at Consol Energy Center), North Florida (Dec. 8), Bethune Cookman (Dec. 15), Delaware State (Dec. 19), Kennesaw State (Dec. 23)

Toughness scale: 3 -- Yikes. This is a whole lotta meh for the Panthers. The NIT will help. Assuming they beat Fordham and/or Robert Morris or Lehigh (the latter of which won't be easy), a trip to MSG will likely produce a matchup with Michigan and either Virginia or Kansas State. The rest is pretty grim, but then again so was Pitt last season. It might be not be a bad way to go about the season.

Is it any wonder this team tumbles like Jenga come March every season and will never see a Final Four?

The toughest scheduled game is either Detroit or Oakland.

Even the Preseason NIT is weak this year. Pitt will play Fordham, the winner (or loser) of Robert Morris/Lehigh, and then probably Michigan. If they somehow get past those three games, Virginia & K-State aren't exactly powerhouses this season.

If Pitt gets knocked off in the NIT by Fordham, RMU, or Lehigh, they won't face a single BCS league opponent until the Big East schedule. LOL. And the mid majors they are playing are absolute trash like Kennesaw St & Bethune Cookman.

C'mon, Dixon.

[Woy]

Is it any wonder this team tumbles like Jenga come March every season and will never see a Final Four?

The toughest scheduled game is either Detroit or Oakland.

Even the Preseason NIT is weak this year. Pitt will play Fordham, the winner (or loser) of Robert Morris/Lehigh, and then probably Michigan. If they somehow get past those three games, Virginia & K-State aren't exactly powerhouses this season.

If Pitt gets knocked off in the NIT by Fordham, RMU, or Lehigh, they won't face a single BCS league opponent until the Big East schedule. LOL. And the mid majors they are playing are absolute trash like Kennesaw St & Bethune Cookman.

C'mon, Dixon.

[Argath]

Job Security



Winning = A Job
Losing = Fired


Who wouldn't stack their schedule so their team only loses 1-2 games in the non conference schedule. Besides, Pitt plays plenty of tough teams in the Big East to balance out the schedule come season end. Even Providence is on the up and up.

[Senser81]

Job Security



Winning = A Job
Losing = Fired


Who wouldn't stack their schedule so their team only loses 1-2 games in the non conference schedule. Besides, Pitt plays plenty of tough teams in the Big East to balance out the schedule come season end. Even Providence is on the up and up.

But its college basketball, so losing to a tough opponent in the non-conference schedule isn't going to ruin your season. Dixon is just once again setting his team up for failure when the real games start. Fine by me.

[Pitty]

Except Dixon is a master of manipulating the RPI, the argument that having a lax non-conference schedule affects March is asinine, considering the guy's still won multiple regular season and tournament Big East championships, along with Sweet 16 and an Elite 8 appearance. Also, the need to play tough opponents when he knows he'll be playing in the toughest league most years doesn't make sense.

Pitt's Jamie Dixon is rarely lauded for his scheduling -- if anything, the knock on him has been that he doesn't schedule hard enough when he has an elite team -- but here, he looks shrewd. He's the best coach in the country at consistently turning a mildly efficient NCSOS into a respectable NCSOS in the eyes of the RPI, and thus, the selection committee. As he says, "I look at kenpom statistics -- I love all the stats he does -- but in scheduling, the NCAA is gonna look at RPI. So I care about RPI."

Dixon's year-to-year gaps break down like this:
Season Team Eff. NCSOS RPI NCSOS Gap
2008 Pittsburgh 129 90 39
2009 Pittsburgh 44 15 29
2010 Pittsburgh 158 49 109
2011 Pittsburgh 223 100 123
2012 Pittsburgh 209 119 90

Sometimes a gap won't matter -- like last season, when the Panthers nose-dived and went 5-13 in the Big East. They had no shot at the NCAAs. But in 2010, when Pitt earned a No. 3 seed despite having zero marquee wins outside the Big East, it was in part due to Dixon's manipulation of the 158th-best efficiency NCSOS into the 49th-best RPI NCSOS.

What Dixon likes to do for his home guarantee games, he says, "is play the teams that we think are the best picks to win the non-BCS conferences." These are the best "gap" teams, because they're beatable despite having high RPI returns. In 2010, Dixon beat five of them in Wofford (69 RPI), Wichita State (43), Kent State (47), Ohio (95) and Robert Morris (129). He only had one 250-plus RPI opponent (Youngstown State, at 271), either, and so it didn't matter that he played just one marquee game (against Texas) and lost it; the Panthers were in good standing due to their choices of non-BCS opponents. Despite their efficiency profile suggesting they were the quality of a 7-8 seed, they were a No. 3 on the strength of their RPI.

It's almost always better to play a mid-major that'll go on to have 20-plus wins than it is a cupcake mid- or low-major, or a basement-dweller from a major conference. Dixon still adheres to this philosophy; last season he hosted Long Beach (34 RPI), Robert Morris (99) and Wagner (92), and this season he has Detroit as well as either Robert Morris or Lehigh, depending on how the NIT Season Tip-Off Bracket plays out.

And he says there's an added benefit to playing guarantee games in which you might have a chance of losing: "Those are the teams that other [BCS-conference] schools don't want to play, so not only do you get a higher RPI by scheduling them, you can also possibly schedule them for less money. It comes down to supply and demand, and there's just less demand for those teams."
Not only is he gaming the RPI, he's saving his school money on its guarantee-game budget. High-value teams at low prices: That is next-next-level Scheduleball.


Read more: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/201...#ixzz2BMx3oPqP

In terms of efficiency, by playing probable mid-major league champions, his scheduling efficiency is on par, and by far more shrewd than anyone else in the country. Keep criticizing a 3 time NCAA Coach of the Year.

[FirstTimer]

In terms of efficiency, by playing probable mid-major league champions, his scheduling efficiency is on par, and by far more shrewd than anyone else in the country. Keep criticizing an undeserving 3 time NCAA Coach of the Year.

Fixed.

[Pitty]

Fixed.

Says the ND fan? How many times has Brey won the BE COY award? How many times has Brey won the Big East?

[FirstTimer]

Says the ND fan? How many times has Brey won the BE COY award? How many times has Brey won the Big East?

How many times has Dixon won Coach of the year? How many times has he won the title?

at you getting pissy over your shit house program and coach.

[Pitty]

How many times has Dixon won Coach of the year? How many times has he won the title?

at you getting pissy over your shit house program and coach.

Nope, just people who have no clue how scheduling works in CBB.

[FirstTimer]

Nope, just people who have no clue how scheduling works in CBB.

Jamie Dixon doesn't seem to.

Question, will you be attending the CBI banner raising? I'm surprised Dixon didn't get COY for that.

[Senser81]

Except Dixon is a master of manipulating the RPI, the argument that having a lax non-conference schedule affects March is asinine, considering the guy's still won multiple regular season and tournament Big East championships, along with Sweet 16 and an Elite 8 appearance. Also, the need to play tough opponents when he knows he'll be playing in the toughest league most years doesn't make sense.

In terms of efficiency, by playing probable mid-major league champions, his scheduling efficiency is on par, and by far more shrewd than anyone else in the country. Keep criticizing a 3 time NCAA Coach of the Year.

Even more of a criticism of Dixon, IMO. Is his goal to have a good team, or to have a paper champion team that looks good on paper? All your article explains is why Pitt somehow will get a 3 or a 4 seed in the NCAA Tournament despite having no notable road wins. Good to know. I will continue picking against them in the 1st round knowing that their allegedly strong postseason resume is based on Dixon's schedule manipulation.

[Pitty]

Even more of a criticism of Dixon, IMO. Is his goal to have a good team, or to have a paper champion team that looks good on paper? All your article explains is why Pitt somehow will get a 3 or a 4 seed in the NCAA Tournament despite having no notable road wins. Good to know. I will continue picking against them in the 1st round knowing that their allegedly strong postseason resume is based on Dixon's schedule manipulation.

Funny, because Pitt has lost in the first round one time in the past 10 years.

[Pitty]

Jamie Dixon doesn't seem to.

Question, will you be attending the CBI banner raising? I'm surprised Dixon didn't get COY for that.

Yeah he doesn't seem to, getting top 5 seeds through crafty scheduling obviously proves that. Derp.

[FirstTimer]

Funny, because Pitt has lost in the first round, one time in the past 10 years.

Did Dixon win COY for that?

[FirstTimer]

Yeah he doesn't seem to, getting top 5 seeds through crafty scheduling obviously proves that. Derp.

Oh cool. Top 5 seeds. We are all impressed.

Question: Does Pitt even bother looking at the host sites for beyond the S16 or do they just basically say "screw booking a hotel in advance"?