More conference games

[njm8845]

I hate how unbalanced the schedules are. What's the downside of playing 20, or even 26 conference games? That would mean start playing them in late November. It'd help our rpi, help attendance, increase B10 visibility.

 

[BoilerDaddy]

I hate how unbalanced the schedules are. What's the downside of playing 20, or even 26 conference games? That would mean start playing them in late November. It'd help our rpi, help attendance, increase B10 visibility.

20 games is really as unbalanced as the current schedules. 26 games would mean that each team could only play in a holiday tournament (which would include one or two home games), plus one other game, in addition to the conference schedule. I would like it, but I don't see it being considered.

 

[lbodel]

I hate how unbalanced the schedules are. What's the downside of playing 20, or even 26 conference games? That would mean start playing them in late November. It'd help our rpi, help attendance, increase B10 visibility.

What they should fix first is protecting the rivalry games. Playing once is BS.

 

[Purdue Grad in Texas]

What they should fix first is protecting the rivalry games. Playing once is BS.

Don't know/understand the logic in doing it for football but not basketball, but it must ultimately come down to $$$$$$. It's inevitable when a "ten" team conference has 14 members. Over a long enough cycle, the imbalance ends up working out, but in any particular season......not so much. Wisconsin last year was clearly the best team in the conference, but they also had one of the better conference schedule draws as well.

 

[lbodel]

Don't know/understand the logic in doing it for football but not basketball, but it must ultimately come down to $$$$$$. It's inevitable when a "ten" team conference has 14 members. Over a long enough cycle, the imbalance ends up working out, but in any particular season......not so much. Wisconsin last year was clearly the best team in the conference, but they also had one of the better conference schedule draws as well.

Well, I understand it would complicate things. Obviously we have natural rivals, Ohio State, Michigan, etc. do as well - but teams Maryland don't. But like you said, they do it for football still.

This is one major downside to expansion. I guess it partially puts more emphasis on a conference tournament, but again - totally depends on a draw.

 

[FiveWeight]

I think inter-conference games have value. They draw attention beyond the usual footprint. The pre-season tournaments are fun, and challenges like Big-ACC are huge early-season draws. But the most important benefit of inter-conference games is they help compare the relative strength of conferences.The latter is especially important because of the disparity in quality between conferences, which varies from year to year. More data points like this help poll voters, computers, and NCAA selection committees draw better informed rankings.

I agree more conference games would be better than playing a bunch of tune-up games. We could eliminate 2-3 of the weakest opponents (keeping the pre-season tourney-drawn cupcakes) and add another quality non-conference opponent and another couple conference games - and I'd be a happy guy.