Crafting a basketball schedule may involve risky calculations, particularly as the roster of non-league opponents grows in apparent importance as a determining factor in alloting at-large bids to the NCAA tournament.

Coaches complain that the NCAA Tournament Committee’s criteria for selection keep changing. Is the key factor strength of schedule? Is it number of wins? Number of losses? Is it willingness to play away from home? Is it in-conference success? Does the committee understand how much more difficult it is to win within a power league?

“There’s a lot of us that are perplexed,” said Dino Gaudio, head coach at Wake Forest. “We don’t know what the formula is…You’re hearing different things from different people.”

Coaches readily cite two examples as evidence of flaws in the selection committee’s process. Recalling Virginia Tech’s exclusion from the 2008 field despite a fourth-place ACC finish and a 9-7 league record, Clemson coach Oliver Purnell said, “That’s a joke, as far as I’m concerned.” The Hokies clearly were among the ACC’s better teams come tournament time, as they showed in taking top-ranked North Carolina virtually to the buzzer in the semifinals of the ACC Tournament.

Then there’s Arizona State, coached by Herb Sendek. ASU was left out of the NCAA picture despite a 9-9 record, good for fifth place in the Pac-10. Arizona State swept two games with Arizona, which did get invited to the tournament. “That’s totally, grossly unfair,” Purnell said. “Where I’m from, and we fight, and I beat you, I can beat you.”

But, then, both Virginia Tech and Arizona State were rebuilding. The Hokies replaced their entire backcourt and, like ASU, relied heavily on a passel of freshmen. Both Sendek and Virginia Tech coach Seth Greenberg understandably throttled back the early schedule to buy time to build their teams into cohesive units, and to bolster youngsters’ confidence. The tradeoff was a diminution of the strength of their schedules.

Worse, and totally beyond their control, some well-respected opponents on the schedule had off years, lowering their ratings and those of squads that faced them. “I can’t figure out how good my team’s going to be next year, or two years from now, let alone how somebody else is going to do,” Gaudio said.

“I think he brings up a very good point,” conceded Craig Littlepage, the Virginia athletics director, previously a member of the NCAA Tournament Committee.

Given the conflicting demands, desires, and information that beset ACC coaches, here’s how schedules stack up in 2008-09:

BOSTON COLLEGE: Al Skinner ratcheting back the degree of difficulty after a losing season…18 home games match Maryland and N.C. State for the most in the ACC…UMass the single NCAA entrant BC faces from outside the league…3 opponents from the bottom 100 in the 2008 RPI : USC Upstate, Maine, and Harvard, coached by former Dukie Tommy Amaker…Takes on 7 teams from New England, including Bryant University, located in Smithfield, Rhode Island, and coached by BC alum and former Skinner assistant Tim O’Shea…Harvard only non-league opponent after Jan. 1…Plays UNC and Duke once each, a definite advantage, hosting the Blue Devils six weeks after opening the ACC season at Chapel Hill on Jan. 4...Appears in old Preseason NIT in a field that includes Purdue, Oklahoma, Davidson, Arizona, and Loyolas from Chicago and Maryland…Plays home-and-home against one 2008 NCAA team from ACC, Miami…4 of last 6 games at home…First time in 4 ACC seasons not facing Maryland to start conference race.

CLEMSON: Oliver Purnell has eased off the throttle, with 6 games against bottom 100 teams, second-most in the ACC after 7 for Florida State…Clemson faces East Carolina and Alabama after ACC season begins…Travels to Chapel Hill on Jan. 21, where Tigers have never won…Like BC and Georgia Tech, plays UNC once, and once against Duke…Last won in Durham in 1995 under Rick Barnes, the final game coached by Mike Krzyzewski before sitting out season due to back surgery and exhaustion...Helps Bobby Cremins and College of Charleston inaugurate their new, 5,000-seat Carolina First Center in downtown Charleston, appearing in November’s low-wattage, 8-team Palmetto Classic… Carolina in names of five opponents: NC Charlotte, S.C. State, South Carolina, ECU, UNC…No ’08 NCAA teams outside ACC…Both Duke and UNC games sandwiched by ACC contests, three of four at home…Beyond the ACC, only ventures outside South Carolina to visit UNC Charlotte and Illinois in ACC/Big Ten Challenge.

DUKE: Krzyzewski dares a tougher schedule than recent years, with road games at Purdue (ACC/Big Ten Challenge), Michigan and against St. John’s at Madison Square Garden…Also should make it to Garden in 2K Sports College Hoops Classic Benefiting Coaches Against Cancer, an early tournament still scrambling to complete the field as September dawned…Opens in 2K against Presbyterian, only bottom-100 RPI opponent…Will face at least 4 NCAA teams from beyond the ACC, a league high: Purdue, Xavier at The Meadowlands, and Georgetown and Davidson at Cameron Indoor Stadium…First time ever, plays UNC-Asheville (at Durham), coached by former Wolfpack star Eddie Biedenbach…Davidson, Georgetown, and Xavier were league champions and Top 25 finishers in the AP poll…Could also face UCLA in Coaches vs. Cancer... Opens ACC hosting Virginia Tech on Jan. 4…Welcomes UNC to Cameron on Wednesday, Feb. 11 in 10th ACC game…Plays BC once, at Chestnut Hill on Feb. 15…3 league opponents met only on the road are BC, Clemson, and Georgia Tech… ACC teams played only at home are Miami, N.C. State, and Virginia…Plays 3 non-league games after opening ACC season…Closes with league-high 5 of 7 contests on the road.

FLORIDA STATE: Leonard Hamilton has reverted to easing the degree of scheduling difficulty. Easy or difficult, FSU’s schedules haven’t helped it make the NCAAs during Hamilton’s first 6 seasons, even in 2006 with a 9-7 ACC record…Plays league-high 7 teams from 2008 bottom 100 in RPI, all but one (Stetson) from outside Florida…Opens at Jacksonville and then LaSalle…Appears in same Las Vegas Tournament UNC won last year, hosting Coastal Carolina and then Western Illinois in first 2 rounds…Plays Duke home and home… ACC opener against Blue Devils on Jan. 10…Gets UNC at Tallahassee on Jan. 28…5 of 6 games before and after playing UNC and Duke against ACC opponents, providing scant breathing room…Top 25 team Pittsburgh visits, as does Florida…Meets NCAA entrant Western Kentucky at BankAmerica Center in Sunrise, Fla., near Miami and Ft. Lauderdale, not to be confused with a neutral site…Plays at BC, N.C. State, and Wake Forest in only meetings with those teams…Georgia Tech, Maryland, North Carolina come to Leon County Civic Center for only meetings of year.

GEORGIA TECH: Paul Hewitt said he’s “over-scheduled” the last several years, and learned his lesson after a slow, confidence-draining start doomed Georgia Tech to a losing record in 2008… 17 of 29 games are at home (58.6 percent)…No non-ACC opponents were champions of their leagues…Faces 4 teams from bottom 100 in RPI, among them in-state foes Mercer and Georgia State…Leads all ACC squads with 5 games against BCS teams: Penn State, Alabama, and ’08 NCAA entrants Vanderbilt, Southern Cal, and Georgia…Never plays more than one ACC game in a row at home or on the road…Opens ACC season with Virginia on Dec. 28… Former SEC member plays SEC members Alabama (at Tuscaloosa) and Georgia after starting ACC season… Plays 7 of first 8 games at Alexander Memorial Coliseum, including 6 straight…Takes on Duke (at home) and UNC (at Chapel Hill) once each, with ACC games before and after…Also plays once against Florida State, Miami, Virginia, and Virginia Tech.

MARYLAND: Gary Williams’ club minimizes risks of slow start, leaving D.C. area a single time during season’s first two months…Shares opponents with other ACC schools in Bryant (BC), Bucknell (Wake), Elon (Virginia Tech), Michigan (Duke), and UNC Charlotte (Clemson)…Michigan and Michigan State, opening round opponent in November’s Old Spice Classic at Orlando, only BCS schools on schedule outside the ACC… Bracing Old Spice field also includes Georgetown, Gonzaga, Oklahoma State, Siena, Tennessee, Wichita State…Plays Charlotte and Morgan State after Jan. 1…Sole ACC school without a contest against a team from the bottom 100…Enjoys league’s longest homestand with 7 in a row from Dec. 12 through Jan. 10, date of ACC opener against Georgia Tech…18 home games ties BC and N.C. State for tops in the conference…American and Michigan State only NCAA participants from outside ACC…Only school that plays Duke and UNC home and away, with both coming to Comcast Center for consecutive late-February games.

In Part III, we’ll conclude a look at the particulars of ACC men’s basketball schedules.