Strength of Schedule

A couple of days ago, over on the shiny, happy, blue board, a little "he said/she said" broke out over whether or not KD's had to play a tough schedule.  In both of his seasons, the Bruins have faced the #1 team in the country; Oklahoma in '03, and USC last year.  Well, okay, but that's only two losses.  And KD's not 23-2.  Well, maybe the rest of the schedule was tough too...

In true reality based style, we will look at the numbers. (I apologize here for not being able to format this for html)

Here is a listing for the last 30 seasons that shows what percentage of games were played against teams that ended the year with a winning record.
Year - Winning Teams / Total Games = Percentage of Winning Teams Played

1975 - 7/12 = .583
1976 - 4/12 = .333
1977 - 7/11 = .636
1978 - 5/12 = .417
1979 - 6/11 = .545
1980 - 6/11 = .545
1981 - 8/12 = .667
1982 - 9/12 = .750
1983 - 8/12 = .667
1984 - 5/12 = .417
1985 - 6/12 = .500
1986 - 9/12 = .750
1987 - 6/12 = .500
1988 - 6/12 = .500
1989 - 8/11 = .727
1990 - 8/11 = .727
1991 - 6/12 = .500
1992 - 6/11 = .545
1993 - 7/12 = .583
1994 - 6/11 = .545
1995 - 9/12 = .750
1996 - 6/11 = .545
1997 - 7/12 = .583
1998 - 6/12 = .500
1999 - 6/11 = .545
2000 - 6/12 = .500
2001 - 6/11 = .545
2002 - 9/13 = .692
2003 - 6/13 = .462
2004 - 5/12 = .417

There have been only five seasons when a majority of opponents weren't winners; '76, '78, '84, '03, & '04.
KD coached the last two.

Further, there have been five different 2 year periods where a majority of the opponents (over two years) weren't winners.
The percentages are:
1976/1977 & 1978/1979 - 11/23 = 47.8%
1975/1976 & 1984/1985 - 11/24 = 45.8%
2003/2004 - 11/25 = 44.0%

It sure doesn't look like KD has had a tough schedule.  Actually, KD has  presided over the two year period where the Bruins played the lowest percentage of winning teams in 30 years.