Scheduling has been Key for Tennessee Basketball

Bruce Pearl has always been an advocate of playing a difficult regular season schedule and this season has been no exception. The Vols strength of schedule has ranked number two or three in the country for most of the year, and for good reason. Looking at their out of conference games, it's easy to see why -- Sienna, Georgetown, Gonzaga (twice), Temple, Marquette, Kansas, and Memphis. Of those games, only Memphis and Gonzaga were played in Knoxville.

The go anywhere and play anyone approach has served Bruce Pearl well during his tenure at Tennessee. The Vols played their way to a No. 2 NCAA Tournament seed twice in Pearl's three trips to the Big Dance. In each case, strength of schedule was essential in obtaining such a high seed.

This year has been no different. Tennessee's RPI, influenced by their strength of schedule, is the key component that currently differentiates the Vols from the log jam of 19+ win SEC schools. Aside from Tennessee and LSU, the other teams are paying the price for poor scheduling and consequently, are bubble teams at best. Those schools are going to need a strong showing in the upcoming conference tournament to punch their ticket to the NCAA tournament.

In his Monday press conference, Coach Pearl acknowledged that scheduling has served him well -- it's something that he believes in strongly and will continue in the future. However, this season it's been somewhat of a negative for his young team because it hasn't allowed them to build any confidence or momentum by putting together 5,6, or 7 wins in a row. Regardless, Pearl insists that his formula for success is working.

The question then, is if strong scheduling is such a benefit, why doesn't every school do it? The answer is simple according to Pearl -- job security. Due to high expectations and the emphasis on winning NOW, typically about half of all coaches are on the hot seat and are therefore reluctant to schedule better teams. It's high reward, but also very high risk. If a coach over schedules and his team doesn't perform, that coach may not be back the following season. That's the reality.