Pepto Bismol? Analyzing the ACC Schedule

            Rick Pitino recently called for some Pepto Bismol when discussing his Louisville team’s schedule for the 2016-17 season. The Cardinals do have a tough schedule--nonconference trips to the Bahamas for the Battle 4 Atlantis and Phoenix to play Grand Canyon mean that the team will spend a lot of time traveling before they even take their first semester finals. Scheduling a trip to Indiana so late in the season (December 31^st) also means that they will play an ACC game before they finish their nonconference slate. Is Louisville’s schedule really as bad as Pitino seems to think? To find out, let’s take a look at how their schedule compares to those of the rest of the ACC teams by distance between games and average days of rest between games.

            As far as the nonconference schedule goes, Louisville certainly didn’t do themselves any favors as they have the third-most total miles between their games of any team in the ACC, trailing only Duke and North Carolina. Traveling over 5500 miles seems like a lot, but when compared to North Carolina’s nearly 16000, it doesn’t appear too bad. Making trips to New Orleans, Hawaii, and then Las Vegas means that UNC will be spending lots of time on planes in November and December. They did give themselves more time to rest, however, getting an average of 3.71 days between trips compared to Louisville’s 3.20. Duke, despite traveling just over 6000 miles between games, has the shortest rest of the top three with an average of just 3 days between trips. While Louisville falls third in total and average distance between games, they are in the middle of the pack in average rest days and overall their nonconference schedule doesn’t seem as bad as some other teams’.

            By and large, Pitino and his staff have control over their nonconference schedule as they schedule who they want to play and when. How does the part of their schedule that they can’t control, the conference schedule, stack up amongst the rest of the conference? Once again, Louisville falls in the top third in miles traversed, falling fifth in both total and average distance between games. Additionally, they have the fourth shortest average days off between games. The only other team to come in the top five in distance traveled and shortest rest is Boston College (second and third respectively) who had a very easy nonconference schedule travel-wise with the shortest total distance traveled. On top of a tough nonconference schedule, Louisville was handed one of the most difficult conference schedules to boot.

            Overall, Louisville does have one of the most difficult schedules to travel in the ACC. With the second-most overall miles between games and the fourth-least average rest days between games, they certainly weren’t done any favors by the ACC or their staff.  Only Miami and the Cardinals are in the top five in both overall. Perhaps when all is said and done, Pitino will schedule an easier nonconference slate next year. Until then, he may want to pass the Pepto Bismol around to the likes of Roy Williams, Jim Christian, and Jim Larrañaga.