Criticism of Kansas University’s basketball schedule rubs coach Roy Williams the wrong way.
“It is sort of a source of irritation. People say and write things about our schedule not looking at the big picture,” Williams said Wednesday.
Tonight’s game against Illinois State completes a five-game homestand against North Dakota, Boise State, Washburn, Middle Tennessee State and ISU.
“This five-game stretch, I’m not saying everybody should get excited and skip breakfast and lunch because they know they’re gonna be so hungry when they get to the game,” Williams said. “It’s college basketball. Over the course of the year, it’s a good schedule.”
Before the nonconference slate is over, KU will have also played UCLA, St. John’s, Wake Forest, DePaul, Ohio State and Tulsa.
On Wednesday, Williams pulled out an index card with current strength of schedule rankings for Big 12 teams as reported by USA Today. Texas has the 29th toughest schedule in the country, followed by Colorado 90, KU 98, Nebraska 176, Oklahoma 189, Missouri 197, Kansas State 208, Texas A&M 260, Iowa State 274, Texas Tech 282, Oklahoma State 294 and Baylor 322.
“Our strength of schedule is going to improve drastically in the next two to three weeks, who we are playing and where,” Williams said.
The Jayhawks will be playing at Wake Forest, DePaul and Ohio State.
“Everybody wants you to play the San Antonio Spurs and Los Angeles Lakers, but it’s really false. They don’t want you to play those teams, they want you to beat them. Numbers don’t lie. Last year we had the 18th most difficult schedule. It will be somewhere near that this year.”
Williams said he wishes there was a better balance between home and road, but said TV and other schools’ wishes must be taken into consideration. Next year, KU will travel to UCLA and Arizona. The following year, those teams will be playing at Allen Fieldhouse, to the fans’ delight.
“Nobody can say we haven’t played a good schedule,” Williams said. “It’s something we’re very proud of. We’ve played at UCLA, at Kentucky, at Florida, at Duke. We’ve played about every place you can play. We played Washburn to assist an in-state school with their budget and North Dakota for Jeff Boschee. I have no problem defending those types of things.”
Tom Richardson’s first year as a college head basketball coach is one he’s trying to forget.
“It was miserable. It truly was. It was ugly,” says Richardson, who debuted with a 10-20 record last season at Illinois State.
Richardson, lead assistant to former Kansas aide Kevin Stallings for six seasons at ISU, was promoted when Stallings left for Vanderbilt.
“The transition has been rough,” said Richardson, who coached former KU forward Sean Pearson at Nazareth Academy in LaGrange, Ill., prior to joining the college ranks with Stallings.
“Our whole front line was decimated with injuries. We had a kid we were counting on leave the first week of school. We were outmanned in most of our games.”
Richardson brings a new-look Illinois State team to Allen Fieldhouse for tonight’s 7:05 p.m. game against Kansas.
The Redbirds, 1-0 after slamming Chicago State, 88-46, have six new players, including starters Shedrick Ford and Randy Rice, who played at Neosho County CC and Wabash Valley CC, respectively, a year ago.
Top returnee is Tarise Bryson, a 6-foot-1 senior, who averaged 19.3 points last year, exploding for 40 against Miami of Florida.
“Anytime you go to Kansas, what everyone fears is Kansas hits you with one of their 16-0 runs and it’s all over,” Richardson said. “They are so talented, they keep coming at you; those runs almost seem inevitable.”
Pearson, who works for the Boys and Girls Club of Lawrence, was married Saturday in LaGrange, Ill., and is on his honeymoon. He won’t attend tonight.
Roy Williams’ back has been bothering him of late. Like Kenny Gregory, Williams has had serious pain off and on for years.
“All I’ve got to be able to do is bend over and throw towels,” Williams said, making light of his discomfort.
Williams was hoping new North Carolina coach Matt Doherty could claim a big victory against Michigan State Wednesday night. The Tar Heels lost, 77-64. “I spoke to him yesterday. I’ll be pulling for him to say the least,” Williams said of his former KU assistant. “Other than Walter and Mary (Doherty’s mom and dad) I don’t know anybody who will pull harder than I will.”
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