Mid-major LBSU not taking on light schedule

Being the best means playing the best, and that philosophy is no different at Long Beach State if a glance at some of the teams’ non-conference schedules is any indication.

Despite a 6-25 record last season, the men’s basketball team will challenge itself on the road against the likes of Syracuse and Wisconsin, who qualified for the Sweet 16 in the NCAA Tournament.

The scheduling process isn’t as easy as blindly picking an opponent, however.

“When we schedule, there’s certain kinds of games,” said Eric Brown, an assistant coach on the men’s basketball team. “There’s ‘guaranteed’ games, where schools in the BCS conferences will schedule home games against teams they think they can beat and they’ll pay those schools to come to their place, like Syracuse and Wisconsin, for example.”

The money from the games goes into the athletic department, Brown said, but the opportunity to play against a high-profile team is the only motivation needed for the players.

“[The players] are really excited,” Brown said. “Kids want to be challenged and they want to play [at] the highest level. They want to go to different places and they enjoy that. That’s part of the college experience.

“Our non-conference schedule is pretty challenging this year, but we’ll go out there and see what we need to improve on. We might take some licks early, I don’t know, but our kids will enjoy the challenge and we’ll come back and see what we need to work on.”

There are also “home-and-home series” on the schedule, which allow a team that traveled on the road the previous season to be the home team the following season.

Aside from the financial gain, games against some of the nation’s top teams look attractive on a schedule and may help decide the fate of a team on the bubble for postseason play. The “guaranteed” game isn’t necessarily an automatic loss for a mid-major program like Long Beach State, either, and a win can make the game that much more valuable in the eyes of a selection committee.

“So every year, there’s no set number in terms of ‘guaranteed’ games, but we need to schedule one or two — whatever the number is,” Brown said. “At the same time it’s attractive on the schedule and it helps with recruiting. So, if you can go play a ‘guaranteed’ game and win it and still get paid, it’s a win-win.”

Last season, the LBSU softball team upset an unbeaten No. 5-ranked Florida team, and the Gators even agreed to travel and play the game at the 49er Softball Complex. To put that win in perspective, Florida finished the regular season 62-2 and entered the NCAA Tournament with the overall No. 1 seed.

Last fall, the 49er women’s volleyball team defeated No. 8-ranked Florida (27-1 record at the time) in a five-game thriller at The Walter Pyramid in a late-November tournament. In the upcoming season, head coach Brian Gimmillaro’s team will encounter a three-day, three-match road trip to the Sunshine State to face Florida State, Florida A&M and Florida in early September.

There can be setbacks in the scheduling process, however.

“You have to schedule around holidays, final exams — the dates need to match for both teams,” Brown said. “Another thing is you don’t want to play consecutive games. If you play on the road on Tuesday, you’re not going to play on the road on Wednesday. Like BYU and Wisconsin [on our schedule], for example, there’s a day in between so we travel and get acclimated.

“We talk about it as a staff, talk about the pros and cons of playing those kind of games. Is this particular team with this group of kids ready for that challenge? Is this group of kids up to that? With different sports, there’s different philosophies.”

The ultimate goal of playing a tough non-conference schedule still reverts back to the Big West Conference play that follows, though.

“The coaches’ philosophy is we want to schedule tough in the non-conference,” Brown said. “See the type of teams we might see in the NCAA Tournament, but really get us ready for the Big West — challenge us early, get us ready for conference play.”