Early Conference Games?

[runsoastowin]

Much has been made of the SEC's decision to play some of its conference games earlier in the year. 

 

For example, South Carolina and Texas A&M played the opening match-up for football this year. The game was talked about for weeks, got lots of attention from all sorts of media, and probably contributed to each team’s remaining in the top 25 well after they deserved it (of course part of this last bit was due to misperceptions about the strength of each program… but part of this misperception might be due to this attention.)

 

Many have already mentioned that the Big Ten should think about doing the same in College Football. I think this is probably for the best. Though it is risky in a way, since you are playing a big game before your team has had lots of preparation, it provides exposure and attention on weekends where other teams are playing crap teams.

 

I am wondering whether we (i.e. the Big Ten) shouldn’t consider doing this for basketball as well. Of course, there is a bit of a distinction with scheduling in basketball, since there are a few more marquee non-conference games in basketball than there are in football.

 

Nonetheless, a Nebraska-Ohio State match-up in early December would get a fair bit of attention. Even a Nebraska-Penn State match-up would get way more attention in early December than it would in mid-to-late January.

 

My suggestion would be to have just a few conference games earlier on. The idea would be to pay the guaranteed teams (those we pay to come play us) to play later in the year. Since the guarantees are important to the success of their programs, they would probably be willing to adjust their own schedules to play.

 

Of course, it has its risks. Arguably, Nebraska would not have made it to the tourney last year if it had to play some of those conference games earlier in the year (when we were not yet playing at our best). However, I think in the long run, recruiting-wise and attention-wise, this would do a lot to maintaining and establishing the Big Ten as the basketball league (like the SEC is currently the football league).

 

Thoughts?

 

P.s. sorry if someone’s already mentioned this idea before. I don’t think I've seen it though and would be interested to hear other’s thoughts on it.

[TheKamdyMan]

The only reason I dont think they should in basketball is because its football season.  Most people wont even start to follow their schools team until football season is over because: A. football season is over and theres nothing else to watch and B. The non-conference slate for most schools outside of 1-2 games is pedestrian at best and not worth paying much attention to.  Obviously thats for the majority, and for none of the people on here, but I think for the sake of attention feel it stay right where it is as far as scheduling is concerned.

[Norm Peterson]

Not sure what the advantage would be for us as a program but one disadvantage would be that we would likely be shifting RPI killers to the back half of our schedule at a point in time where we really are wanting to make a run.

 

Contrast that with the "Bracket Buster" challenge played late in the year, the purpose of which was to allow mid-majors to strengthen their schedules as they approached Selection Sunday.

 

So, if we move Ohio State to December, are we going to be playing Incarnate Word in February?

[hhcmatt]

Not sure what the advantage would be for us as a program but one disadvantage would be that we would likely be shifting RPI killers to the back half of our schedule at a point in time where we really are wanting to make a run.

 

For the purposes of calculating our RPI at the end of the year, it wouldn't matter if we played Incarnate Word in November or March.  

[TheKamdyMan]

 

Not sure what the advantage would be for us as a program but one disadvantage would be that we would likely be shifting RPI killers to the back half of our schedule at a point in time where we really are wanting to make a run.

 

For the purposes of calculating our RPI at the end of the year, it wouldn't matter if we played Incarnate Word in November or March.  

 

 

I'd rather have the RPI get better as the season goes on then see it drop, especially as much as it would playing Incarnate later in the year rather than sooner.

[hhcmatt]

 

 

Not sure what the advantage would be for us as a program but one disadvantage would be that we would likely be shifting RPI killers to the back half of our schedule at a point in time where we really are wanting to make a run.

 

For the purposes of calculating our RPI at the end of the year, it wouldn't matter if we played Incarnate Word in November or March.  

 

 

I'd rather have the RPI get better as the season goes on then see it drop, especially as much as it would playing Incarnate later in the year rather than sooner.

 

 

I'm not trying to state a personal preference...I'm trying to relay the fact that RPI calculation doesn't factor in the order of games played.

[runsoastowin]

The only reason I dont think they should in basketball is because its football season.  Most people wont even start to follow their schools team until football season is over because: A. football season is over and theres nothing else to watch and B. The non-conference slate for most schools outside of 1-2 games is pedestrian at best and not worth paying much attention to.  Obviously thats for the majority, and for none of the people on here, but I think for the sake of attention feel it stay right where it is as far as scheduling is concerned.

 

The point about football is a good one, I think. Perhaps, then, these games could fill the couple week gap between the end of football regular season and the start of bowl game season? I know part of that is dead-week, but if you could look at the mid-December range, it might fill that gap. (Though, this might overlap with the Big Ten-ACC challenge).

 

Ad B, perhaps moving up a game or two would help to shake that non-attentive relation that many fans have. I'm not sure.

 

What I do know is that coaches will do a fair bit to get their teams national attention and games on ESPN (didn't Miles change our tournament scheduling around for similar reasons?) I suspect the reason for getting this attention has way more to do with recruiting than it does with fan support or interest. I think the benefits of doing it would be similar to one of the benefits of the B10-ACC Challenge--it will bring a lot of attention to our league which is ultimately quite good for recruiting.

 

And Dimes is right re: RPI. If we are worried that Incarnate Word is an RPI killer, best not to schedule them at all. They will hurt our RPI at the beginning of the season just as much as at the end of the season (the only difference might be perceptually, which might be worth paying attention to). 

 

Ultimately, the pragmatic difficulties might be too much to get this going (as has been noted above), but I think it has been a good decision for football and is worth consideration in basketball.

[49r]

 

The only reason I dont think they should in basketball is because its football season.  Most people wont even start to follow their schools team until football season is over because: A. football season is over and theres nothing else to watch and B. The non-conference slate for most schools outside of 1-2 games is pedestrian at best and not worth paying much attention to.  Obviously thats for the majority, and for none of the people on here, but I think for the sake of attention feel it stay right where it is as far as scheduling is concerned.

 

The point about football is a good one, I think. Perhaps, then, these games could fill the couple week gap between the end of football regular season and the start of bowl game season? I know part of that is dead-week, but if you could look at the mid-December range, it might fill that gap. (Though, this might overlap with the Big Ten-ACC challenge).

 

Ad B, perhaps moving up a game or two would help to shake that non-attentive relation that many fans have. I'm not sure.

 

What I do know is that coaches will do a fair bit to get their teams national attention and games on ESPN (didn't Miles change our tournament scheduling around for similar reasons?) I suspect the reason for getting this attention has way more to do with recruiting than it does with fan support or interest. I think the benefits of doing it would be similar to one of the benefits of the B10-ACC Challenge--it will bring a lot of attention to our league which is ultimately quite good for recruiting.

 

And Dimes is right re: RPI. If we are worried that Incarnate Word is an RPI killer, best not to schedule them at all. They will hurt our RPI at the beginning of the season just as much as at the end of the season (the only difference might be perceptually, which might be worth paying attention to). 

 

Ultimately, the pragmatic difficulties might be too much to get this going (as has been noted above), but I think it has been a good decision for football and is worth consideration in basketball.

 

 

It's only about one week, really.  Army-Navy is on the 13th of December (the week after all the conference championship games).  So are some of the lower division playoff games.

 

Then the first 5 bowl games start on the 20th.  So, in reality, there is basically no gap in college football games until the first of January.

[Jadler]

I just want to see the conference games that are played between semesters changed. Play games like Incarnate Word during that time when no students are around and families are having holidays. Moving them to early December might be the closest option but would still overlap with Football Championship games and the beginning of Bowl Games.

[TheKamdyMan]

I just want to see the conference games that are played between semesters changed. Play games like Incarnate Word during that time when no students are around and families are having holidays. Moving them to early December might be the closest option but would still overlap with Football Championship games and the beginning of Bowl Games.

 

The only problem with that is only the students are the ones on break.  the other 95% of the crowd will be there regardless of when the game is being played.  Thats why this will not change.  You don't make a change to affect the small minority.

[Jadler]

 

I just want to see the conference games that are played between semesters changed. Play games like Incarnate Word during that time when no students are around and families are having holidays. Moving them to early December might be the closest option but would still overlap with Football Championship games and the beginning of Bowl Games.

 

The only problem with that is only the students are the ones on break.  the other 95% of the crowd will be there regardless of when the game is being played.  Thats why this will not change.  You don't make a change to affect the small minority.

 

 

You don't think people other than students leave town on the holidays? The Indiana game on New Year's Eve terrifies me.

[HuskerActuary]

 

 

I just want to see the conference games that are played between semesters changed. Play games like Incarnate Word during that time when no students are around and families are having holidays. Moving them to early December might be the closest option but would still overlap with Football Championship games and the beginning of Bowl Games.

 

The only problem with that is only the students are the ones on break.  the other 95% of the crowd will be there regardless of when the game is being played.  Thats why this will not change.  You don't make a change to affect the small minority.

 

 

You don't think people other than students leave town on the holidays? The Indiana game on New Year's Eve terrifies me.

 

Fans of big-time programs make their plans around games; they don't attend games based on their plans. Nebraska football is this way. Nebraska basketball should, too.

[Jadler]

 

 

 

I just want to see the conference games that are played between semesters changed. Play games like Incarnate Word during that time when no students are around and families are having holidays. Moving them to early December might be the closest option but would still overlap with Football Championship games and the beginning of Bowl Games.

 

The only problem with that is only the students are the ones on break.  the other 95% of the crowd will be there regardless of when the game is being played.  Thats why this will not change.  You don't make a change to affect the small minority.

 

 

You don't think people other than students leave town on the holidays? The Indiana game on New Year's Eve terrifies me.

 

Fans of big-time programs make their plans around games; they don't attend games based on their plans. Nebraska football is this way. Nebraska basketball should, too.

 

 

We're still talking about the same fanbase that was playing at the Devaney Center 3 years ago, right? Yes, things are better now, but this fanbase is still in infant form. 

[uneblinstu]

 

 

 

I just want to see the conference games that are played between semesters changed. Play games like Incarnate Word during that time when no students are around and families are having holidays. Moving them to early December might be the closest option but would still overlap with Football Championship games and the beginning of Bowl Games.

 

The only problem with that is only the students are the ones on break.  the other 95% of the crowd will be there regardless of when the game is being played.  Thats why this will not change.  You don't make a change to affect the small minority.

 

 

You don't think people other than students leave town on the holidays? The Indiana game on New Year's Eve terrifies me.

 

Fans of big-time programs make their plans around games; they don't attend games based on their plans. Nebraska football is this way. Nebraska basketball should, too.

 

We're not a big time program yet. And student section attendance absolutely suffers in Lincoln when football game days fall on a holiday or long weekend. It's not a secret that the student section often sets the tone for the atmosphere in the building. The fewer conference games you can get in that time frame the better.

[49r]

AFAIK, Indiana is the only home game over the break...that's actually quite an improvement over past years.

[uneblinstu]

Spring semester begins Jan 13, which would mean Rutgers and Illinois would fall during the semester break as well, though I'd expect the Illinois game to have just about all of the students back for.

[tuxino]

If not a ranked conference foe, then how about that always ranked school to the south of us? tux