Just over two decades ago, Purdue coach Matt Painter was the young, newly promoted coach of Southern Illinois. His team ripped off a 25-5 record en route to winning the MVC conference title, but lacked in high-major non-conference opponents; the Salukis were seeded ninth and lost to Alabama in the first round.
Miami-Ohio coach Travis Steele, too, was in charge at Xavier in 2019. His Musketeers padded their schedule, for the most part, with shoddy mid-majors—nearby sub-.500 teams like Evansville, Eastern Kentucky and Detroit, to name a few.
The point: many of college basketball’s coaches have seen the eternal problem of whether high-major teams are scheduling enough good mid-majors from both sides. Accordingly, Painter offered an interesting perspective on the quandary after the Boilermakers beat Queens 104–71 in the first round Friday.
“When they say we don’t play mid-majors—we played five mid-majors this year. But if he was in our position, he’d do the same thing we’re doing. I didn’t set the NET [NCAA Evaluation Tool] rankings. The NET rankings set themselves, but I’m going to go by it,” Painter said via Boilers in the Stands. “The coaches who don’t look at the NET rankings and get things figured out how to schedule are bozos.”
“You are going to do what is best for your institution, so you can get in the tournament and help your seed.”
High Point coach Flynn Clayman’s comments thrust scheduling issues into the spotlight
On Thursday, No. 12 High Point upset No. 5 Wisconsin 83–82 in the biggest seeding upset of the tournament so far. After the game, Clayman called out high-majors for avoiding High Point and Miami-Ohio, who beat SMU in the First Four to reach the main draw before being blown out by Tennessee.
“I knew how good of a team we had. But nobody would play us,” Clayman—who, unlike Steele, has yet to work in the high-major ranks—said. “Just like they wouldn’t play Miami (Ohio). But they gotta play us in this tournament.”
Neither the Panthers nor the Redhawks played a high-major out of conference this season. High Point hasn’t played one in the regular season since facing Georgia in Dec. 2023, while Miami-Ohio played Michigan and Indiana last year.
Painter cites three Big Ten teams as scheduling the right way within the current system
Given Painter’s experience on both sides of the debate, he has a solid view of what the scheduling problem looks like from both angles. High-majors playing a few solid mid-major programs can in fact help their seed-line, but no team wants to schedule an extra gauntlet of games into an already grueling schedule.
“We played Akron, alright? We played Kent State,” Painter said (his team beat the Zips and Golden Flashes by 18 and 41, respectively). “We’ve played Oakland. So we’ve played mid-majors—but everybody plays mid-majors. Every high-major plays mid-majors. They’re just saying we’re not playing them.”
The Golden Grizzlies and Boilermakers were tied at the half on Nov. 7 before Purdue—then No. 1—pulled away and won 87–77.
The Spartans regularly schedule Oakland, due in part to a longstanding friendship between Michigan State coach Tom Izzo and longtime Golden Grizzlies coach Greg Kampe.
“Playing those teams help you, but nobody wants to play five or six teams like that,” Painter said. “They’re gonna play two or three. I know Michigan played good people. I know Michigan State played good people.”
The Wolverines played Oakland and McNeese State in 2026, while the Spartans played solid Colgate, Detroit, Toledo and Cornell teams in addition to their annual game against the Golden Grizzlies.
“When you’re a mid-major guy, and you say those things, and now you get a high-major job—you gotta be careful. You’re talking with a forked tongue there,” Painter concluded.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Purdue’s Matt Painter Explains Why There’s No Easy Fix to the Mid-Majors Scheduling Problem.
