[jack_sparrow81]

Is it just me or is UNC schedule's a joke? Kent St., Valpo, UC santa Barbara comeoe

[SuperJon]

Are you serious? You can't be. Yes, Carolina scheduled some come cakes over break right before ACC play. However, they've played:

Davidson (in Charlotte)
ODU (tournament)
at Ohio St
at Kentucky
at Penn
at Rutgers

Carolina went and played true road games which a lot of top programs don't (because really, they don't have to).


Other ACC schools have schedules these teams:

NC Central
EKU
Albany
USC Upstate
SC State


Everyone's going to play cupcakes when you play in a conference as tough as the ACC. Carolina's schedule is one of the better non-conference ones for top-tier teams because they actually played true road games. I don't care who you play, it's tough to beat them on their floor.

[flamesbball84]

Kent State is normally a pretty solid mid-major...

[ToTheLeft]

Not as tough as Gonzaga's Schedule.

[SuperJon]

Because Carolina's conference schedule is 20x harder than Gonzaga's.

[ToTheLeft]

Yes, I agree.

[hoopsmalone]

Super- i agree unc's non-conf is decent-but it's still not as challenging as that team you all love to hate. With all due respect to the current top team in the acc, it's totally fair that they've only faced one major opponent in Ohio State. KenSucky is a joke this year.PERIOD.
UNC-
Davidson (in Charlotte)
ODU (tournament)
at Ohio St
at Kentucky (do they even have a winning record?)
at Penn
at Rutgers

Duke
W over Davidson (in charlotte)
W over Marquette (currently No. 11)
Three convincing wins over big ten teams-
Wisc,Mich and Illinois
Temple (usually a decent squad)
Lost to Pitt on a nuetral court (a legit top 15 team before they lost those two starters-the first one was injured at the end of the duke game)

FOR THE RECORD---UF has ,by far ,the biggest JOKE of a non-conf sched, especially for a two-time defending champion.In addition to the normal three our four cupcakes everyone has, they went the extra mile with piling them on. Take a look at this lineup
some of UF's non-conf opponents
North Dakota State
Tennesee Tech
NC Central
North Florida (THIS SCHOOL HAS NO BUSINESS IN DIV.1)
Stetson
Jacksonville
Florida A&M
Georgia Southern (won by only 3)
Charleston Southern
High Point

decent non conf- fsu and temple- lost to fsu and beat temple
billy likes extra frosting on his cakes
Don't TAZE ME BRO!

[SuperJon]

Temple (usually a decent squad)
Lost to Pitt on a nuetral court (a legit top 15 team before they lost those two starters-the first one was injured at the end of the duke game)

You can't say that. You discredited Carolina playing at Kentucky by saying Kentucky was terrible, but yet you praise another school for playing teams that are "usually a decent squad." You have to pick one side or the other. You can't have it both ways.

Kentucky - usually a decent squad
at Penn - one of the toughest places to play
Kent St - usually a decent mid-major squad


I didn't want this to turn into a Duke/Carolina debate, and I still don't. However, while Duke may have played a couple teams that were better than the teams Carolina played, the reason I like Carolina's schedule better is that they played true away games and got a glimpse of what it's like to play on the road before conference play. Duke won't step onto an opposing team's floor until January 9 at Temple.

Also, one thing to point out is that three of Duke's challenging games came in a tournament. Carolina didn't play one of those tournaments this year. Duke didn't go out and schedule those three teams but rather scheduled the possibility of those three teams. Instead of doing that, Carolina chose to play some schools that might not be as good, but on their home floor which provides a completely different challenge.

[hoopsmalone]

1. I only cited temple with duke to show that I wasn't overlooking the fact they shared an opponent with florida. I wasn' t using them as a bragging point for duke. The bragging points were the big 10 and marquette wins.
2.The funny thing is, I bet if I looked hard enough in the archives of this place , I could find people who were dogging Duke when they played Valpo and Kent St the paste couple seasons.
3. You can't dog duke for scheduling to play in Maui. That tourney ALWAYS features some of the best teams in the nation. Sure, it may not be road games, but you're still playing away from home, with plenty of distractions against TOP caliber teams, as opposed to budget-booster games.

On a side note, I really believe that the general jealousy and hatred of Duke often blinds people so much that they're unwilling to give the team any credit when they deserive it. Anyone who sits back and objectively compares those two schedules can't rationally defend UNC's over Duke's at this point. Face it, the biggest test they faced was against ONE big 10 team and they only scored 66 points in that contest.

All of this to say, we probably really won't know the best teams in the ACC until Duke,UNC and UVA have all played eachother. Speaking of the ACC, what's up with the terps this year? I'm sure there are some terp fans on here. I don't know much about them, I just know they already have a few losses. I hope to see them , as well as wake and nc state, improve over the regular season.

[hoopsmalone]

I'll admit, i'm slightly blinded by my hatred to UNC. The difference between myself and most duke haters though, is that at least I'm willing and mature enough to admit it.
The "Duke gets every call" crowd is almost annoying as the 9-11 truthers. Move out of your mom's basement.

[SuperJon]

How have I talked crap about Duke's schedule? I haven't. I pointed out reasons why I prefer Carolina's schedule. I've never talked crap about Duke's schedule. I'm not one of those people who criticizes everyone for how they schedule. I understand every coach has his own philosophy on scheduling. Personally, I like Carolina's schedule better. Nowhere have I said that Carolina's schedule has been tougher than Duke's. I even said that the schools Duke played are tougher. I just like the way Carolina's was set up better than Duke's. That's a personal preference. I would rather play road games against teams that may not be as good as opposed to games in front of neutral fans against teams that are a little better. Both schedules are good. There are flaws in both of them. There are good things about both of them. It's all a matter of personal preference.

[hoopsmalone]

I simply thought the criticism of the fact that they won't play on an antoher opponent's home court until Dec. 9 was too skewed because it overlooked the fact that they played nuetral games versus Illinois, Pitt and Marquette, along with a big 10 challenge game vs. a good wisc team.After all, the big dance is always at nuetral sites, and in the end, that's all that matters. But let's not beat a dead horse here. Both teams have made remarkable improvement htis year.

As for Florida's list, I'm curious to see everyone else's opinion on that one.

[TDDance234]

How have I talked crap about Duke's schedule? I haven't. I pointed out reasons why I prefer Carolina's schedule. I've never talked crap about Duke's schedule. I'm not one of those people who criticizes everyone for how they schedule. I understand every coach has his own philosophy on scheduling. Personally, I like Carolina's schedule better. Nowhere have I said that Carolina's schedule has been tougher than Duke's. I even said that the schools Duke played are tougher. I just like the way Carolina's was set up better than Duke's. That's a personal preference. I would rather play road games against teams that may not be as good as opposed to games in front of neutral fans against teams that are a little better. Both schedules are good. There are flaws in both of them. There are good things about both of them. It's all a matter of personal preference.

The thing I hate about Duke's sched. is the amount of time off they have during Christmas time. They have barely played in the last three weeks. I understand the need for some time off due to exams, Christmas, etc... but man.

[WinthropEagleFan]

How have I talked crap about Duke's schedule? I haven't. I pointed out reasons why I prefer Carolina's schedule. I've never talked crap about Duke's schedule. I'm not one of those people who criticizes everyone for how they schedule. I understand every coach has his own philosophy on scheduling. Personally, I like Carolina's schedule better. Nowhere have I said that Carolina's schedule has been tougher than Duke's. I even said that the schools Duke played are tougher. I just like the way Carolina's was set up better than Duke's. That's a personal preference. I would rather play road games against teams that may not be as good as opposed to games in front of neutral fans against teams that are a little better. Both schedules are good. There are flaws in both of them. There are good things about both of them. It's all a matter of personal preference.

The thing I hate about Duke's sched. is the amount of time off they have during Christmas time. They have barely played in the last three weeks. I understand the need for some time off due to exams, Christmas, etc... but man.

Well, by rule, you can only play so many games throughout the year, so if they are taking off alot of time now, then you either made up for it early in the year by playing alot or are making up for it later.

[TDDance234]

Sure, and Maui took up a lot of those games, but I can only stomach so many UNC games.

[JDUB]

i hear ya tdd. i check my duke schedule every day thinking sunday won't come soon enough.

[JDUB]

UNC has played some teams that are usually good. these games are scheduled years in advance, so there was no way for them to know that teams like kentucky would be trash this year. with that said, they don't play a good team until the acc. duke has played at least 3 ranked teams, and it doesn't matter where it was at, its harder to beat a good team on a neutral court than a bad team away. but like i said, its not really unc's fault that there schedule is trash, it couldve been great except schools that are traditionally good turned out bad this year

[BrysOn_G]

i never thought about the heels playing on the road as much as the have. that will most definitely help them out come tourney time (like they need help...).

however, i have noticed that their schedule didn't seem to be very difficult. i'll admit... davidson is always a good game. besides davidson, they have duke twice and clemson twice. that's it. the acc is trash this year. i would be quick to say the heels will probably only lose 1 or 2 games this season... but they've played some closer games with some bad teams. i've expected serious blowouts... every game... especially up to this point in the season. i know... a W is a W.

don't worry... i havent forgot about my dukies losing to pitt.

and thank you pitt for recently losing to ???DAYTON??? by 25, and making my devils look bad.

[flamesbball84]

realtimerpi.com (which is the exact same thing as the real RPI, its just updated after EVERY game) has UNC's SOS at 32. Their top non-conference opponents are Kent St. at 32, Valpo at 38, Nevada at 35, UCSB at 64, Ohio St. at 16, and BYU at 97. Everyone else they have played up to date is ranked 100 or below. Their remanining schedule includes just two teams ranked below 100 and 7 teams in the top 50.