I think it's a very sound thought process for Pike to not want to load up the OOC schedule with all tough games
With all these freshman it's likely we are better end of season than the start. If we take too many losses early we might play ourselves out of the tournament before we get a chance to hit our stride
This . Play seton hall at the RAC , Jimmy V againat duke in the garden and 9 layups
The goal in November is to enter December to find a split in the first two big ten games , seton hall and one marquee OOC….and enter January 1-1/11-2.
January is gonna be a roller coaster with a young team trying to mold…and your goal is to leave January 5-5 in confrence, 15-6 overall, with 10 to play and out put it together in February and March by winning 7 or 8 of ten games and be 12-8/22-9 or 13-7/23-8….
Messing around with the OOC and going 7-4 versus 10-1…do you want to be 12-8/19-11 headed into the big ten tourney
we will be ready for the big ten tourney and the ncaa if we develop
With a young group , You play November to get ready for the four game in 10 day stretch in the first third of December to figure out what we have , then have 3 weeks to evaluate , rest , improve and get ready for the big ten season. And you play January for February so be as hot and cohesive as possible for March .
Young teams get burned out . Must stay fresh and not overschedule early