UNC, Michigan St. on top again with toughest non-league schedules

Every major-conference team that I'd consider ranking in a preseason top 25 -- well, every team other than Mississippi State -- has made its 2009-10 schedule public, and I spent the last few days poring over them.

This is an effective way to kill time in the slow buildup to Midnight Madness, plot out viewing/travel plans for November and December, and also drive oneself dizzy from staring at too many HTML tables shaded in alternate grays. What did I learn? To begin, that North Carolina, while it won't be No. 1 in any preseason polls, still deserves to be atop one list:

1. NORTH CAROLINA

Biggest Games:
11/19 vs. Ohio State (Coaches vs. Cancer, NYC) 11/20 vs. Cal/Syracuse (Coaches vs. Cancer)
12/1 vs. Michigan State
12/5 at Kentucky
12/19 vs. Texas (at Cowboys Stadium, Arlington)

Last season, when Carolina boasted a starting lineup of three first-round draft picks (Tyler Hansbrough, Ty Lawson and Wayne Ellington) and had a future Lottery Pick stashed on its bench (Ed Davis), it played an atrocious non-league schedule. It may have been unintentionally atrocious, in that it happened to include the worst Kentucky team in almost 20 years, an epically bad Oregon team and a defenseless Notre Dame team in Maui, as well as a non-scary version of Nevada in Reno. But the fact is that it included just one true road game (Nevada) and one NCAA tournament-bound opponent (Michigan State). It was hardly a slate befitting the unanimous preseason No. 1 team.

The Tar Heels seem to be overcompensating in 2009-10: Despite a shaky backcourt situation and no real expectations of repeating as national champs, they have the toughest non-conference schedule in the country. They're the only team that's facing three likely preseason top-five foes (home vs. Michigan State, then a trip to Kentucky, and a faux-neutral date against Texas in Cowboys Stadium's basketball test-run for the 2010 NBA All-Star Game). UNC is also a part of one of the toughest multi-team events, the 2K Sports College Hoops Classic in New York, where it'll face the Big Ten's third-best team, Ohio State, and possibly play Pac-10 favorite Cal. Sophomore Larry Drew II, Lawson's heir at the point, is going to get tested early.

2. MICHIGAN STATE

Biggest Games:
11/17 vs. Gonzaga
11/27 vs. Florida (Legends Classic, Atlantic City)
11/28 vs. UMass/Rutgers (Legends Classic)
12/1 at North Carolina (ACC/Big Ten Challenge)
12/22 at Texas

The Spartans are the only elite team playing two true road games against top-10 teams (UNC and Texas). Their November opponents aren't bad, either: Florida missed the NCAA tournament last season but should get to the dance with its talent infusion of freshman Kenny Boynton and Georgetown transfer Vernon Macklin while Gonzaga will have one of the country's better backcourt trios in Matt Bouldin, Steven Gray and Demetri Goodson

3. TEXAS

Biggest Games:
11/24 vs. Pitt (likely, in CBE Classic final)
12/3 vs. USC (Big 12/Pac-10 Hardwood Series)
12/19 vs. North Carolina (at Cowboys Stadium)
12/22 vs. Michigan State
1/5 at Arkansas
1/23 at UConn