Fair and balanced came to mind when I took a look at Pitt’s home-away split and the home-and-homes.
Obviously WVU is one of the home-and-homes. In addition Pitt has a home-and-home with Villanova. Not a surprise since Pitt and ‘Nova are the really early picks to win the conference this coming season. The third is USF. Not a cupcake, but not a complete toss-up either. Dominique Jones is gone, so it will be interesting to see what JUCOs Stan Heath can develop this year.
HOME: Cinci, UConn, Syracuse, Seton Hall, Marquette, Notre Dame
AWAY: Rutgers, Louisville, St. John’s, Georgetown, Providence
HOME-AND-HOME: WVU, Villanova, USF
Eyeballing that, the toughest road games will be Louisville and Georgetown. I think St. John’s could be a lot tougher under their new coach. The Johnnies have a lot of veteran talent going for their final chance.
It’s kind of hard to be exactly sure who got the hardest or easiest schedule at this point. If you assume that Pitt, ‘Nova, Syracuse and Georgetown will be the top teams. Plus WVU, Marquette, UConn, ND and Louisville will all be in the mix, it isn’t easy to really give any team a true cupcake schedule.
A lot will depend on which teams beat expectations and which flop. The wildcard teams (teams that could be surprisingly good or disappointing) appear to be Seton Hall, St. John’s, Cinci and USF.
Based on home-and-homes I would guess USF caught the biggest break. While they have Pitt, they also have Providence and DePaul on the home-and-home.
Georgetown could well end up with the easiest schedule depending on the wildcards. Somehow they ended up with St. John’s and Cinci as home-and-homes — along with Syracuse. Plus they get WVU, Louisville, Marquette and Pitt at home. They do have road games at UConn, ND and ‘Nova
I think Marquette and Louisville seem to have the toughest roads. They have home-and-homes with UConn. Louisville does get Providence twice but also WVU. They also have road games at ND, Georgetown and ‘Nova.
Marquette has UConn along with ND and the possibly dangerous Seton Hall in the home-and-home. Their road schedule has G-town, Louisville, Pitt and ‘Nova.
Syracuse also has a good case for tough schedule. Home-and-homes with Seton Hall, G-town and ‘Nova. They also have to go to UConn, Louisville, Marquette and Pitt. Plus St. John’s and USF are on the road.
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