I know, I’ve been complaining about this years schedule since the summer. I complained about last year’s non-con as well. It’s mainly two things: 1. It’s embarrassing for a team and a program that has been in the Big East Tournament Championship game for 4 straight years, to play such a weak schedule; 2. It means people like me who live outside of the Pittsburgh region don’t get to see Pitt very much until sometime in January. Everyone talks recruiting as the big thing in college. How do you help recruiting? By winning and being seen on national TV. Pitt is doing one but not the other.

I’ve mentioned that Seth Davis of Sports Illustrated has blasted the non-con regularly. He leads with his mailbag on the issue again.

We’ll begin with Patrick from Pittsburgh, who is one of many Panthers fans who took umbrage with my criticism of their team’s weak non-conference schedule:

I just don’t get where all the anti-Pitt venom comes from. Certainly Pitt doesn’t play a tough non-conference schedule. But looking at today’s Sagarin ratings, Pitt plays three top-50 non-conference opponents in December. UConn, the defending national champion, plays a grand total of zero before February. I know that people do mention that UConn and teams like them are playing weak schedules, but there seems to be a special hatred for Pitt.

First of all, Patrick, hate is a strong word. Not only do I not hate Pitt, I think it’s very possible the Panthers will end up as the best team (and Carl Krauser the best player) in the Big East. But Pitt fans are constantly carping about a lack of respect from the national media, yet the team plays a non-conference slate that wouldn’t even test a Division III team. And to make matters worse, Pitt left the state of Pennsylvania just once (for the Jimmy V Classic at MSG) before the start of Big East play. Its only true non-conference road game was at Penn State on Dec. 11. Patrick cites the Sagarin ratings, but I can also direct you to the latest RPI numbers from Jerry Palm, which indicate that Pitt’s strength-of-schedule ranking of 260 is lowest among the top 70 teams in the RPI.

Yes, UConn isn’t much better in November and December (140th in strength of schedule), but at least the Huskies are playing at Oklahoma on Jan. 10 and at home against North Carolina on Feb. 13. You also said it yourself — UConn is the defending national champion. The Huskies hardly need to maximize their national TV exposure. Pitt, however, does. Given how good this team appears to be, it’s a shame the school is denying its fans and players the pleasure of playing more meaningful games this time of year.

[I don’t think it was the same Patrick who blogs here occasionally (we are expecting a full posted report on the Fiesta Bowl, BTW).]

Not to mention making it a question mark as to how good the team is or will be; and where it really needs to work on improving. Some things will be obvious, but other things don’t get exposed until late. Kind of like when Syracuse beat Pitt last February. The ‘Cuse went to a collapsing defense, that forced Pitt to make outside shots. Pitt couldn’t, and it cost them that game and was the blueprint followed by opponents in the NCAA Tournament.