Situatons to Watch
By Bruce Marshall
We see it every season in college hoops. Teams, for a variety of reasons, either "underschedule" or "overschedule" themselves in the early, non-conference portion of the campaign. The "underscheduled" crowd usually does so out of self-preservation; coaches realize their teams are either in rebuild mode and aren’t up to a challenging pre-league slate, or they simply want to pad their W-L record to keep the boosters happy. This approach might not seem very noble, but it has its positives, especially for a young team looking to gain confidence before the rigors of conference play commence. Meanwhile, though their ranks are thinner, some coaches like to challenge their teams in preconference play, hoping that it will better simulate postseason action. Fewer still are the coaches who don’t mind taking their lumps against superior opposition early in the campaign, knowing that the experience might make their upcoming league games appear a lot more palatable.
But "underscheduling" can occasionally work like a charm; there might have been no better example of it than the 1971-72 UCLA Bruins, in Bill Walton’s debut season on the varsity. More on the early version of the "Walton Gang" in just a moment. In that era, long before ESPN and prior to any network TV packages, most non-conference action was conducted regionally, as there were few made-for-TV type games or early-season tournaments that we have become used to seeing in venues such as Alaska, Maui, Las Vegas, or Orlando. UCLA, however, would usually have as challenging an intersectional slate as the times would allow. And it was more than the ballyhooed 1968 game at the Astrodome against the Houston Cougars, the first nationally-syndicated regular-season affair. The Bruins routinely challenged all comers (and, surprising to some, didn’t always win), and would travel to the midwest, east, and occasionally the south for games each season. John Wooden even made it a point to take Lew Alcindor back to his native New York City for games in Big Lew’s junior (against Bob Cousy’s Boston College) and senior (in the Holiday Festival Tourney at Madison Square Garden) years. UCLA, as defending two-time national champs, also trekked to the Carolinas for a pair of games vs. Vic Bubas’ Duke (which beat the Bruins both times) early in the 1965-66 season, and would annually make trips to the Midwest, where the Bruins lost their only two games during the 1964-65 season (vs. Illinois and Iowa) and again fell to George Ireland’s Loyola Ramblers at the Chicago Stadium in the 1965-66 campaign. Wooden’s defending national champion Bruins also opened Purdue’s Mackey Arena in a memorable 1967-68 lidlifter, marking The Wizard’s return to his alma mater and the varsity debut of Boilermaker hotshot Rick Mount. Purdue seemed on the verge of a major upset before a last-second steal and subsequent 30-footer at the buzzer by reserve guard Bill Sweek gave UCLA a 73-71 win in that epic, pulsating encounter.
Wooden also took Alcindor’s senior team back to Notre Dame, where the Irish had just opened their new Athletic and Convocation Center and were debuting a sophomore G named Austin Carr, and to Ohio State St. John Arena to face the Buckeyes, who had been a Final Four team the year before. So, contrary to the opinions of many Bruin haters of the times, UCLA did not regularly "duck" big-name opposition.
The exception, however, might have been the aforementioned 1971-72 campaign, a year after the graduation of stalwarts Sidney Wicks, Curtis Rowe, and Steve Patterson. Wooden was returning only one starter, G Henry Bibby, plus reserves Larry Farmer and Larry Hollyfield, from the previous title team while welcoming a bevy of touted varsity newcomers, including Walton, F Keith Wilkes, and Gs Greg Lee and Tommy Curtis. Wooden and AD J.D. Morgan did go out of their way that season to soften the early slate; the opening game vs. an outmanned side from The Citadel was long derided by Wooden’s critics, especially since the Bulldogs were crushed 105-49 by Walton & Company. TCU was annihilated by a 117-53 count, and the Bruins regularly cracked the 100-point barrier against the overmatched non-conference foes. That was also the year when a home-and-home series was initiated against Notre Dame, but Digger Phelps’ first Irish team was undermanned, having been crushed 94-29 in an early-season game at Indiana (in Bob Knight’s first season as Hoosier HC) before losing by a heavy 114-56 count at Pauley Pavilion. Phelps’ first Irish team was so undermanned that it even made extensive use of football WR Willie Townsend, although that didn’t help matters much. In the return match at South Bend vs. UCLA, Phelps, with the likes of Townsend in the lineup to battle Walton & Co., employed slowdown tactics to no avail in a 57-32 loss.
With Notre Dame not providing much of a test that season, Wooden and Morgan did manage to schedule one meaningful intersectional foe, defending Big Ten champion Ohio State, in the Bruin Classic in late December. It was thought that the Buckeyes, with center Luke Witte (later to gain infamy that season for being attacked in the ugly Minnesota-OSU brawl) and G Allan Hornyak, would offer stiff opposition. The Walton Gang, however, was like a tornado and had generated some incredible momentum on its own while gleefully feasting upon the patsies on that season’s December slate. The Buckeyes were dismantled, 79-53, and "The Walton Gang" had truly arrived.
Wooden would later say that he knew that team was talented enough to eventually handle any foe, but thought it important for the young Walton group to gain some unmistakable self-confidence in the first stage of the season. Which it did, as the Bruins continued to roll through their upcoming Pac-8 slate and into the Big Dance in March, where UCLA breezed past Weber State and an expected challenge from Jerry Tarkanian’s Long Beach State in the West Regional at Provo before reaching the Final Four at the nearby L.A. Sports Arena. Once there, Wooden defeated disciple Denny Crum, in his first season as coach at Louisville, by a 96-77 count before having some unexpected problems in the finale with a scrappy Florida State side coached by Hugh Durham. The Bruins still prevailed, 81-76, one of only two UCLA games that season decided by single-digit margins (a narrow 55-52 win at Oregon State being the only true close call of the campaign).
Those who condemn the "underscheduling" vs. the "overscheduling" might take another look at the Wooden UCLA Dynasty in 1973-74, when the Bruins endured one of the most wicked non-conference slates in memory, which cost them their record 88-game win streak at Notre Dame in mid-January. Beyond that games, there was an early death battle vs. Lefty Driesell's Maryland (a heart-stopping 65-64 Bruins win), another clash at Pauley Pavilion vs. Notre Dame, a made-for-TV game at St. Louis vs. NC State, and eventual Elite Eight Michigan were among other noteworthy non-league contests for a UCLA team that would lose in the national semifinals to NC State at Greensboro. Tough non-conference scheduling might actually have taken something out of that Bruin team, especially compared to Walton’s sophomore team two years earlier that rarely had to take a deep breath.
Nonetheless, we use high-profile examples such as Wooden’s UCLA to address the scheduling issue as it relates to the current season that is about to enter conference play. But that’s not all we’re on the lookout for, as the following teams merit extra attention (good or bad), with possible scheduling issues, as we enter January.
Alabama...Here’s a side that might have an excuse for its 2-7 spread mark entering January. Second-year HC Anthony Grant beefed up the Tide’s non-conference slate, which included road games against Purdue, Providence, and Oklahoma State. ‘Bama couldn't win or cover any of those games, but appears to be developing some momentum after those results, romping past Lipscomb and Pepperdine in recent games at Coleman Coliseum. The Tide has yet to win away from home, but the SEC West does not look overwhelming this season, so we won’t count ‘Bama out of any games when it hits the conference trail. A suspension that kept forward JaMychal Green out for a handful of games allowed others such as F Tony Mitchell to get the feel of becoming a go-to scorer.
Baylor...It’s not last season for Baylor, which prepped for an upgraded slate of games in late December by feasting upon the likes of SWAC entries Grambling, Jackson State, and Prairie View, as well as outmanned Bethune-Cookman. Troubles began thereafter, beginning when the Bears entertained slumping Gonzaga on Dec. 18; the Bears proved to be just what the doctor ordered for the Zags, who won 68-64. Two subsequent losses in Honolulu vs. Washington State and Florida State have sounded the alarm bells in Waco, and for good reason. Keep in mind that the Bears do not have the presence on the blocks that they did a year ago, when NBA first-round choice Ekpe Udoh and rugged Josh Lomers patrolled the paint. Moreover, off-court issues were raised in the offseason, with star G LaceDarious Dunn suspended for the first few games after reportedly breaking his girlfriend’s jaw in a dispute. Since his return, Dunn has not been fitting well into HC Scott Drew’s team concept, and the Bears have been further thinned at the PG spot when promising frosh Stargell Love went down with a foot injury in early December. Baylor’s RPI has been hanging in the 150 range, thanks to its SWAC-loaded schedule, and we are not at all convinced of a return Bears trip to the Big Dance.
Cincinnati...An example, perhaps, of UCLA 1971-72? Let’s not get carried away with Cincy’s 13-0 start, but things are encouraging in the Queen City. Yes, the Bearcats definitely played a lower-grade non-conference schedule before the Big East wars that began this past Tuesday with an easy home win over DePaul (likely the softest touch in this year's Big East) . What we can say about Cincy is that it didn’t stub its toe along the way, and Mick Cronin’s Bearcats have developed a lot of self-confidence as new scoring options have emerged (frosh G Sean Kilpatrick 10 points per game off bench). Cincy is also playing some nasty defense, having led the nation in scoring "D" (51.5 PPG) for much of the last month. Balance and aggression are two qualities that should continue to work in Cincy’s favor...and that new-found confidence can’t hurt.
Connecticut...Yes, UConn impressed early at the Maui Classic, taking down Michigan State and Kentucky in Lahaina while G Kemba Walker flirted with 30 PPG for much of the first month of the campaign. Subsequent to Maui, however, Jim Calhoun’s team faced almost nobody the next month, and was found lacking when confronted with snarling Pitt in its Big East opener last Monday night. Some observers thought UConn HC Jim Calhoun allowed Walker to go too much one-on-one after Maui, and it is beginning to dawn upon Huskies backers that the Big East probably isn’t going to let Walker simply play one-on-five basketball. Don’t be surprised if UConn’s fortunes soon take a tumble.
Indiana...One of the better examples of "underscheduling" this season. Unlike Cincinnati, however, we’re not sure how much it has helped the Hoosiers, who feasted upon cupcakes such as Florida Gulf Coast, Jerry Rice’s Mississippi Valley State, NC Central, Northwestern State, Savannah State, SIU-Edwardsville, and South Carolina State en route to nine pre-league wins. In the case of IU, however, those look like empty calories, considering it failed to step up when asked against Boston College and Kentucky, and finished in last place at the recent Orleans Hotel Tourney in Las Vegas when losing to decent (but by no means great) Northern Iowa and Colorado. A subsequent home loss to Penn State in the Big Ten opener begs the question of whom the Hoosiers might be able to beat in rugged Big Ten play. Disregard most of the Hoosiers’ stats (including 37.7% FG defense and 51.3% FG shooting) compiled against that soft pre-league slate; Penn State hit 54% from the floor and held IU to 42.6% FGs in last Monday’s win. Don’t expect the IU transition game to do much damage in the Big Ten, either, not after just two fast-break buckets against the Nittany Lions.
Rutgers...Scarlet Knights fans have been cautiously optimistic in the early going, as Rutgers seemed to have responded to new HC Mike Rice, recently a big winner at Robert Morris. But playing with spirit and energy are one thing; that alone is not going to help the Scarlet Knights in the Big East. A humbling 79-55 beatdown administered by North Carolina on Tuesday night at Madison Square Garden could be a warning that Rutgers is not yet ready to step up against the potent Big East, and the previous 9-2 mark built with help of victims such as Norfolk State, NJIT, Marist, Fairleigh-Dickinson, Monmouth, and rebuilding Auburn hardly auger well for the Knights (just 1-4 their last 5 vs. the number, by the way) in their upcoming conference wars. Indeed, Rutgers looks well-positioned to win the Metro-Atlantic or Northeast Conferences; the only problem is that it plays in the Big East. Well-regarded soph 6-7 swingman Dane Miller does not look as if he can carry this offense, and with nobody over 6-8 on the roster, Rutgers could be in trouble vs. bigger foes in the Big(ger) East. New Mexico State transfer F Robert Lumpkins has also failed to make much of an impression off the bench, and we are left wondering where HC Rice is going to find sufficient scoring options against the Big East slate.