Posted: Jan. 12, 2012 | 2:00 a.m.
Updated: Jan. 12, 2012 | 8:54 a.m.
Coaches always teach players to never look too far ahead and take things one game at a time. Part of Heath Schroyer's job contradicts that cliche.
One of Schroyer's responsibilities as a UNLV assistant coach is to coordinate future basketball schedules, and he's in the midst of lining up nonconference opponents for the 2012-13 season.
"I try to carve out a few hours a week, sitting at the airports and returning calls and popping emails," he said. "We've got some pretty good teams on our schedule.
"We'll always play a very challenging schedule, one that will prepare us for league and put us in a position for NCAA Tournament bids."
The Rebels have agreements in place to play North Carolina, California and Texas-El Paso on the road next season, and they will host Cal State Bakersfield, Canisius, Hawaii and Northern Iowa.
Cincinnati, Iowa State, Oregon, Jacksonville and Northern Arizona will be part of an eight-team field in a Thanksgiving tournament hosted by UNLV at the Thomas & Mack Center.
Few dates are confirmed yet, and Schroyer has a few holes to fill before the schedule is finalized in a few months.
Luring high-profile opponents to Las Vegas -- where the Rebels are 12-0 this season, including three games at Orleans Arena -- is the biggest challenge of putting together a competitive schedule.
"It's harder than you think, especially now, but we're working hard on it," Schroyer said. "The good thing is, we're in tournaments the next two years here in Vegas."
After next season, UNLV has contracts to play Arizona, Illinois and Louisville.
Schroyer, a former head coach at Wyoming and Portland State, has valuable scheduling experience, but he's not flying solo. He gets plenty of input from coach Dave Rice.
"Heath knows how to get things done," Rice said. "He understands scheduling flow. He's persistent, and that's one of the biggest things about scheduling is just persistence.
"Everyone wants a home game, and no one wants to go on the road. How to weed through all that and figure out how to make it work, he's very good at it because he's done it."
The Rebels just wrapped up an 18-game nonconference schedule that was arranged mostly by former coach Lon Kruger and his staff. Two of the games were against non-Division I opponents (Grand Canyon and Cal State San Marcos), but those don't figure into the Ratings Percentage Index, a tool used by the NCAA Tournament selection committee.
UNLV (16-2) is No. 12 in the nation in the RPI and has a strength-of-schedule ranking of 58.
On three consecutive weekends in December, the Rebels hit the road to face Wichita State, Wisconsin and Illinois, and they lost the first two games before beating the Fighting Illini in Chicago.
"The flow of this schedule was a little bit of a problem," Rice said, "but it ended up being very good for us in terms of the quality of the teams that we played."
The changing complexion of the Mountain West Conference makes scheduling trickier. The eight-team league goes to nine next season, when Texas Christian exits and UNR and Fresno State are added.
UNLV opens league play Saturday against its biggest conference rival, San Diego State, but the Aztecs are moving to the Big West for basketball in 2013-14, the same season Boise State departs.
"With the change in the landscape of college basketball and athletics in general," Schroyer said, "the leagues are so crazy."
Contact reporter Matt Youmans at myoumans@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2907.
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