By Mark Schmetzer
Enquirer contributor

Miami men's basketball coach Charlie Coles admits that the first two games on the RedHawks' schedule occasionally give him cause to wonder: "What have I done?"

Coles points out, though, that tough schedules are a Miami tradition. The RedHawks' strength of schedule after non-conference play has been among the nation's top 15 each of the past two seasons.

Their 2002-2003 slate is no exception.

Miami opens its season tonight at Purdue. The RedHawks follow that up by helping Maryland, the defending NCAA national champion, open its new arena, the 17,100-seat Comcast Center, on Sunday.

"It's tough, but we love upsets," said Coles, whose next win will be the 200th of his 13-year coaching career. "I think they're great. Over the past few years, we've been able to steal a few victories in these games, but it does cause some sleepless nights.

"I don't know if these players know the challenge that our schedules bring."

"I think tough schedules are good for us," said 6-foot-6 senior forward Bryan Reed, who is a projected starter tonight. "It's good to play talented teams. That's the tradition here - to play the best.

"Everybody's excited. There will be no problem getting motivated."

Five of Miami's non-conference opponents participated in postseason play last season. Besides the Terrapins, Xavier (Dec.9) and Cincinnati (Dec.28) also played in the NCAA Tournament. The RedHawks play both of those teams on the road. Dayton (Dec.4) and Butler (Dec.14) played in the National Invitation Tournament, and Miami plays them at Millett Hall.

Coles developed an appreciation for challenging schedules by playing under Dick Shrider at Miami in the 1960s and working with former MU coach Darrell Hedric.

"I consider coach Hedric my coaching mentor," Coles said. "They played horrendous schedules. Coach Shrider always insisted on doing everything first-class."

Last season, Miami beat Boston College in the first round of the Rainbow Classic tournament in Hawaii. That was the RedHawks' first game after barely missing upsets of Notre Dame, which squeezed out a one-point win at Millett Hall, and Southern California, which won by four points at home.

Miami followed up its win over BC with a five-point loss to Georgia. All four of those opponents were among the six on the RedHawks' non-conference schedule that went on to the NCAA Tournament.

"We beat BC, but we just ran out of steam against those other teams," Coles said.

While Coles likes to characterize this year's Miami team as one of the "contradictions" - experienced with four returning starters, youthful with none of them being seniors - Purdue is definitely experience-challenged.

Gene Keady's Boilermakers have two returning starters in senior guard Willie Deane, the Big Ten's leading scorer last season (17.3 points per game), and junior guard Austin Parkinson, who led the conference in assists. But sophomore Brandon McKnight beat out Parkinson for the starting point position - at least for the season opener.

Purdue, which is trying to bounce back from a 13-18 season, its first losing record in 13 years, split its exhibition games with the Harlem Globetrotters, an 83-64 loss, and Team Nike, a 79-62 win.

Visiting West Lafayette, Ind., holds no special distinction for Reed, who will be making just the second start of his career and first since the 1999-2000 season. The Boilermakers didn't recruit him out of Terre Haute (Ind.) High School, and he had no particular interest in attending Purdue or any Hoosier State school, he said.

"I wanted to get out of Indiana," he said, adding, "It is nice to go back to my home state."