Eric Musselman shares frustration over quick turnaround on scheduling

Towards the end of his press conference following Arkansas‘ 29-point loss to Tennessee, Eric Musselman had enough of talk about the game and pivoted to pick a bone with the SEC over how the league scheduled games this season.

His complaints didn’t have much to do with the Tennessee game, but rather, the game after Tennessee this coming weekend, when the Razorbacks will head to Starkville to play Mississippi State. But here’s the kicker: MSU just had their bye week and haven’t played since last Saturday, and will be staying home to welcome an Arkansas team that played in the latest possible weekday slate (9 p.m. ET / 8 p.m. CT on Wednesday) but will now hit the road for a very quick turnaround.

The same situation bit Auburn last weekend, as they played Alabama Wednesday night and then had to travel to face Florida in Gainesville on Saturday after the Gators enjoyed that week off. The result was a blowout in the home team’s favor. Per Musselman, he and Pearl are on the same page with how cruel that sort of rest/travel disadvantage is.

“I think Bruce Pearl said something to the effect of, if you’re playing a team that has a bye and you’ve played twice (in the last week), that second game you should get at home. In other words, you you should get to play at home,” he told reporters.

At least, if Arkansas played at home rather than having to travel for their next game, perhaps that turnaround vs. the opponent’s extended rest wouldn’t be such an advantage one way. But this isn’t the first time it’s happened, either, as the Hogs faced LSU on the road in an early Saturday tip-off after the Tigers had that whole week off.

“I don’t want to get fined,” Musselman said. “Like I just said, twice it’s happened to us, like, to turn around when you have the last game and then you play at 11:00 am in Baton Rouge and then you play a game at, I don’t know what it is, 1:00 p.m. Like, unless you play the game or coach the game, an extra four hours does matter when you have a short turnaround.”

Whether it’s letting the rest-disadvantaged team play at home, or moving such games up to Wednesday, Eric Musselman believes this is an issue the SEC can and should address.

“So, you know, I wish we would have played Tuesday night,” Musselman said. “Look at the numbers on what’s happened around the league. It’s a hard game and we got to go get ready for a team that’s been prepping for us for a week. You know, this will be our second time doing it. Maybe it should come up at the at the coach’s meetings.”

Don’t take Musselman’s comments as him trying to avoid the primary reasons Arkansas is losing games. Because, in his words: “You get the schedule that people give you, it’s not an excuse. We got to go play the game.”