College hoops: OSU’s schedule stiffer, OU’s weaker
The non-conference basketball schedules for OSU and OU are out and appear to be just what they ought to be. The Cowboys’ is tougher than last season; the Sooners’ is weaker. That is as it should be for programs going in opposite directions.
The Cowboys, after two straight NCAA Tournaments under Travis Ford, appear to be building back into a March Madness regular. The Sooners are reeling after massive defections, a roster overhaul and what could be looming NCAA probation.
OSU is playing five automatic-win games. That doesn’t mean the Cowboys will win all five, but it means they were scheduled as automatic victories: home games against Houston Baptist, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, Nicholls State, Central Arkansas and Texas-San Antonio.
Oklahoma State head coach Travis Ford calls in the play to his Cowboys as they take on Oklahoma in the first half of the college basketball game during the men's Big 12 Championship tournament at the Sprint Center on Wednesday, March 10, 2010, in Kansas City, Mo. Photo by Chris Landsberger, The Oklahoman
The rest of OSU’s non-conference schedules is nothing but interesting. Home games against Missouri State and Stanford. Road games against LaSalle, Tulsa (in the BOK Center) and Gonzaga. Neutral-site games against Alabama (in Oklahoma City), DePaul (in Anaheim, Calif.), Virginia Tech or Cal State-Northridge (in Anaheim) and Murray State, UNLV, Stanford or Tulsa in Anaheim.
That’s not a killer schedule. That’s not the kind of non-conference schedule Texas plays. But it’s a solid schedule and one that should fit Ford’s team.
Meanwhile, Jeff Capel’s OU schedule contains seven automatic-win games, home games against Coppin State, North Carolina Central, Texas Southern, Gardner-Webb, Sacramento State, Central Arkansas and Maryland-Eastern Shore.
The Sooners, who likely will be picked no higher than 10th in the Big 12, play in the Maui Classic, which has only host Chaminade as a pushover. The pairings have not been announced, but the other teams in the field are Connecticut, Kentucky, Michigan State, Virginia, Washington and Wichita State.
OU’s other legitimate matchups are road games at Arkansas and Arizona, a home game against Oral Roberts, and a game against Cincinnati in Oklahoma City.
The Sooners might be able to get out of that non-conference schedule with a 9-5 record, which means a 6-10 Big 12 record could put OU at 15-15 heading into the conference tournament. A 6-10 Big 12 record won’t be easy to achieve, but it appears OU has a shot at besting last season’s dismal record of 13-18.
-------------Berry Tramel can be heard Monday through Friday from 4:40-5:20 p.m. on The Sports Animal radio network, including AM-640 and FM-98.1. You can e-mail him here and follow him on Twitter @BerryTramel. Visit Berry's website here.
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Obama caused this?