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Post by Commissioner on Aug 30, 2017 13:19:13 GMT -5
I read today that the MAAC and Atlantic Sun will be starting their own "challenge" in Orlando in 2019, just like the Power conferences do. I always hoped the Horizon would consider doing the same. I think for this season we have the Big 10/ACC; Big 12/SEC; MVC/Mountain West. How about the Horizon/A10 or AAC or Colonial. At this point the more likely scenario would be the Horizon/MAC or Ohio Valley. FYI: I would have mentioned the Summit League, but it appears that both leagues are merging to become one on their own already! Horizon fans have kicked the "challenge" idea around for a long time, usually focused, up until the MWC/MVC Challenge began, on the MVC. I don't know if the Horizon has ever looked into it or approached another conference. In a way, it doesn't make sense for mid-majors. Fans care about high majors--people argue about who is better, the ACC or the Big 10. I don't know that there is any sense of rivalry between the Horizon and the Colonial or OVC. OTOH, in another way it does make sense for mid-majors: it simply makes scheduling non-conference games a bit easier. Also, the leagues can pair up their expected best teams, giving them a chance for another quality win (but also assuring that one will absorb another loss). My guess is that the AAC and A10 would view themselves above the Horizon--indeed, the natural challenge would be A10/AAC. The MAC doesn't really make sense because Horizon teams already play about 20 games a year against the MAC. (Last year the Horizon was 9-11 against the MAC. The MAC has won that "series" for 4 or 5 years now, after a long period of Horizon dominance. This year I already count 17 MAC-Horizon matchups, with about 20 as yet unscheduled or unannounced non-conference games). I had thought that the MAAC itself would make sense as a challenge partner, but I guess not for a while, now. If we went for a challenge now, I'd try ideally to get the WCC. Lot's of travel, but it's the highest profile conference available that might conceivably be interested. After that, I'd look at the Colonial, and then the OVC and perhaps the Summit. (Last year there were 12 OVC/Horizon non-conference matchups. I don't know, but I suspect that is a higher than usual total, although there are already 10 known OVC/HL match-ups this year, so maybe not. Like the MAC, an OVC challenge may not make sense for that reason. There were, somewhat surprisingly, just 4 Horizon/Summit games last year, and just 5 scheduled so far this year.) I suppose the Sunbelt and Big West would also be possibilities. Quick exercise: if you just matched CAA and Horizon teams based on last year's order of finish, you'd have: Oakland @ UNC Wilmington Charleston @ Green Bay Northern Kentucky @ Towson Elon @ Wright State UIC @ William & Mary Northeastern @ Detroit Youngstown State @ Hofstra James Madison @ Cleveland State Milwaukee @ Delaware Drexel @ IUPUI
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Post by Commissioner on Sept 7, 2017 8:53:07 GMT -5
Kent State got a home game with Oregon State this year. Wonder how that came about.
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Post by Commissioner on Sept 14, 2017 8:11:06 GMT -5
Non-Conference Schedule of the Year Award Goes to Texas Southern:
Nov. 11 @ Gonzaga Nov. 13 @ Washington State Nov. 16 @ Ohio State Nov. 18 @ Syracuse Nov. 21 @ Kansas Nov. 24 @ Clemson Nov. 30 @ Oakland Dec. 2 @ Toledo Dec. 11 @ Oregon Dec. 14 @ Baylor Dec. 16 @ Wyoming Dec. 18 @ TCU Dec. 23 @ BYU
They also played all their non-conference games on the road last year, going 4-9. But that was a softer schedule, including Delaware and Rice, among others. They then went 16-2 in conference and won the conference tournament before falling to North Carolina in the NCAAs.
In fact, their last home non-conference game was in November, 2014, against Lamar (they're only home non-conference game that year).
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Post by Commissioner on Oct 5, 2017 19:31:09 GMT -5
Liberty University, which has some money to play with, saw an opportunity and they took it. The Paradise Jam, originally scheduled in November for St. Thomas in the USVI, will relocate to Liberty's campus. For Liberty, that means 3 neutral court games are now 3 home games, with opportunities to play a couple of high majors--the field includes Colorado, Houston, and Wake Forest, plus Liberty and 4 other mid-majors, the best-known of which may be the MVC's Drake.
Liberty will donate all gate receipts to relief efforts for the USVI.
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Post by Commissioner on Oct 10, 2017 7:41:26 GMT -5
I didn't want to start a new thread, and this seems vaguely relevant here: ESPN is ending it's season opening "24 hours of hoops" this year, after 9 seasons, citing the difficult logistics of the scheme. That had seemed like a neat kickoff to the college hoops season.
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Post by motorcitysam on Oct 10, 2017 12:34:40 GMT -5
I didn't want to start a new thread, and this seems vaguely relevant here: ESPN is ending it's season opening "24 hours of hoops" this year, after 9 seasons, citing the difficult logistics of the scheme. That had seemed like a neat kickoff to the college hoops season. I hate to see this. That was one of my favorite TV events. Usually was a boost for some mid major programs, too.
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Post by motorcitysam on Oct 18, 2017 6:21:58 GMT -5
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Post by motorcitysam on May 8, 2019 11:48:16 GMT -5
Tweet today from Jon Rothstein, which ironically relates to the topic of the last post in this thread. "Power Conferences going to 20 league games have inhibited many programs from adequately scheduling during November and December. The issues are real outside power leagues. And they're not going away."
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Post by motorcitysam on Jul 30, 2019 12:25:42 GMT -5
Couple of more Jon Rothstein Tweets about the difficulty for mid majors in scheduling.
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Post by motorcitysam on Jul 30, 2019 12:28:13 GMT -5
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Post by Deleted on Jul 30, 2019 16:07:50 GMT -5
Couple of more Jon Rothstein Tweets about the difficulty for mid majors in scheduling. I'd love to have Dayton on the schedule. It could be promoted as the "battle of the U of D's"
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Post by Deleted on Aug 12, 2019 16:14:59 GMT -5
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Post by Rogobob77 on Aug 21, 2019 21:56:13 GMT -5
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Post by Deleted on Apr 4, 2020 8:39:28 GMT -5
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Post by calihanmole on Apr 4, 2020 12:24:23 GMT -5
I think the NCAA tournament pretty much has been dominated by the P5 and Big East already - with the few obvious exceptions of Gonzaga and the zags occasionally pulling a couple WCC teams with them each year, and A-10 and Valley sometimes doing ok. The big problem with the lack of non-con scheduling is NOT how it might marginally influence the NCAA tournament but rather how small programs will make up for the lost revenue of the buy games. I don’t see the big programs being very generous with home and home opportunities either. We are going to have to play a bunch of MAC and Summit schools in 2020. Traveling will not net us any cash, and hosting games is possibly even a bigger loser after we have to pay the bills for electricity, security, refs.
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