2020 OOC Schedule?

[shizzle787]

This feels good. We are the biggest draw in the tournament.

 

[nadav]

It's that you seem to imply you have sat at the table with the AD while scheduling discussions were being held. If that is the case, it's an annoying humble brag. If it's a lie, it's obvious why that is annoying.

So pleased I have no idea what you are talking about. The ignore feature is a beautiful thing.

 

[navery12]

The seeming lack of ability by the decision makers to differentiate between a good schedule and a good home schedule is disconcerting to this season ticket holder. They need to start applying that home filter in both football and MBB. When Benedict discusses scheduling he rarely if ever brings up the home schedule filter.

It seems you've forgotten there's going to be 8-10 good Big East games every year instead of East Carolina and Tulane

 

[nadav]

It seems you've forgotten there's going to be 8-10 good Big East games every year instead of East Carolina and Tulane

Yes and Monmouth’s NET ranking will be better than that of ECU. Imagine they were similar this year.

 

[Chief00]

It seems you've forgotten there's going to be 8-10 good Big East games every year instead of East Carolina and Tulane

Who are the 8-10 good Big East home games?
Who are the good OOC good home games? We use to have a good OOC game each year at Gampel and XL.

 

[Storrs South]

Who are the 8-10 good Big East home games?
Who are the good OOC good home games? We use to have a good OOC game each year at Gampel and XL.

In the Calhoun days, you had a soft OOC schedule with only one good OOC home game (the last time they had two marquee OOC opponents at home in the OBE was 2004-2005 Indiana/UNC). I would expect a similar setup this season assuming a Big 10 opponent comes to Connecticut as part of Gavitt Games.

The AAC you had to schedule a better OOC because you have so many dregs in that conference and towards the end they could only get 1 each season because every P5 is going to 20 game league schedules so there are not many takers. Sadly, in today's CBB climate, it is extremely difficult to get good opponents to come to your gym OOC. They will play you in NYC, Chicago, Miami, wherever as long as it isn't on your home court.

As far as the Big East: Villanova, Georgetown, a top 25 ranked Creighton, Providence are likely the biggest draws on the schedule. Seton Hall will be bigger than it was in the OBE days because of Hurley and they have been much better in recent years. St. John's, Xavier, Butler are all projected to be tourney or bubble teams so there really isn't a night off. There are no Tulanes, ECUs, USFs, Tulsas, UCFs (really anyone not named UH, Cincy, Memphis and WSU) that have zero name recognition in this part of the country and are bad teams.

Every team in this conference is going to put up a fight (even DePaul now!). There are no pushovers, which is why the conference is consistently ranked top 2-3 in CBB from an analytics perspective.

I do think saying 8-10 marquee Big East home games is a stretch, but certainly 4-5 big time games, 2-3 good games, 1-3 solid opponents, then DePaul. Compared to what we just had to endure the last 7 years, this is a massive improvement.

 

[Chief00]

In the Calhoun days, you had a soft OOC schedule with only one good OOC home game (the last time they had two marquee OOC opponents at home in the OBE was 2004-2005 Indiana/UNC). I would expect a similar setup this season assuming a Big 10 opponent comes to Connecticut as part of Gavitt Games.

The AAC you had to schedule a better OOC because you have so many dregs in that conference and towards the end they could only get 1 each season because every P5 is going to 20 game league schedules so there are not many takers. Sadly, in today's CBB climate, it is extremely difficult to get good opponents to come to your gym OOC. They will play you in NYC, Chicago, Miami, wherever as long as it isn't on your home court.

As far as the Big East: Villanova, Georgetown, a top 25 ranked Creighton, Providence are likely the biggest draws on the schedule. Seton Hall will be bigger than it was in the OBE days because of Hurley and they have been much better in recent years. St. John's, Xavier, Butler are all projected to be tourney or bubble teams so there really isn't a night off. There are no Tulanes, ECUs, USFs, Tulsas, UCFs (really anyone not named UH, Cincy, Memphis and WSU) that have zero name recognition in this part of the country and are bad teams.

Every team in this conference is going to put up a fight (even DePaul now!). There are no pushovers, which is why the conference is consistently ranked top 2-3 in CBB from an analytics perspective.

I do think saying 8-10 marquee Big East home games is a stretch, but certainly 4-5 big time games, 2-3 good games, 1-3 solid opponents, then DePaul. Compared to what we just had to endure the last 7 years, this is a massive improvement.

Some good points, but you are not serious or you? You are comparing the current Big East to when we had good teams with Syracuse, Pitt, Louisville, ND, WV, Cincy, which filled up our home schedule.

 

[Storrs South]

Some good points, but you are not serious or you? You are comparing the current Big East to when we had good teams with Syracuse, Pitt, Louisville, ND, WV, Cincy, which filled up our home schedule.

Nope, no one is doing that. I'm saying UConn has never had the stacked home OOC schedule you originally claimed (at least not in 15 years), if UConn wanted to have multiple marquee home OOC games it would be next to impossible, the new Big East is a very good conference, and subsequently this is a massive improvement over the AAC from the last 7 years. The OBE will never be replicated.

 

[Chief00]

Nope, no one is doing that. I'm saying UConn has never had the stacked home OOC schedule you originally claimed (at least not in 15 years), if UConn wanted to have multiple marquee home OOC games it would be next to impossible, the new Big East is a very good conference, and subsequently this is a massive improvement over the AAC from the last 7 years. The OBE will never be replicated.

What I am saying is comparing the strength of the Big East then to now is no comparison. Therefore, to get a similar schedule to when we use to sellout games or come close to it - we need to do better than 0 to 1 good OOC home games per year. It’s no more complicated than that.

 

[bendm]

we need to do better than 0 to 1 good OOC home games per year

if we arent playing in a MTE then yes, but i'd be surprised if Hurley wanted to play a harder schedule than this going forward:
2-3 MTE games (neutral)
2 conference challenge games (1 home 1 away)
1 P5 H/H game (home or away)

that schedule gives you 1.5 good OOC home games per year, but overall 5 or 6 of the 11 OOC games would be really strong. i doubt Hurley wants any more of the OOC games to be against P5 teams before getting to the 20 Big East Games...

 

[Chief00]

if we arent playing in a MTE then yes, but i'd be surprised if Hurley wanted to play a harder schedule than this going forward:
2-3 MTE games (neutral)
2 conference challenge games (1 home 1 away)
1 P5 H/H game (home or away)

that schedule gives you 1.5 good OOC home games per year, but overall 5 or 6 of the 11 OOC games would be really strong. i doubt Hurley wants any more of the OOC games to be against P5 teams before getting to the 20 Big East Games...

Again, I think they need a home game filter applied. If the neutral court games make it impossible to play quality opponents at home - play one or two less of them. When you are charging $1,600 for seat donations in the two combined home buildings for one seat, a schedule of OOC High Points fails the season ticket holders.

 

[navery12]

Who are the 8-10 good Big East home games?
Who are the good OOC good home games? We use to have a good OOC game each year at Gampel and XL.

We play every team in the Big East at home every year. Just go read StorrsSouth post again and that's what I'm saying. And that's besides the point that the good OOC game you've been asking for should come from the BE/Big Ten challenge.

 

[Storrs South]

What I am saying is comparing the strength of the Big East then to now is no comparison. Therefore, to get a similar schedule to when we use to sellout games or come close to it - we need to do better than 0 to 1 good OOC home games per year. It’s no more complicated than that.

Every P5 conference is moving to a 20 game schedule, so fewer Home and Home opportunities are available. In addition, programs are becoming more and more reluctant to schedule Home and Homes. Even if Hurley wanted to schedule more home and homes OOC (he doesn't given uptick in competition in Big East, plus MTE, plus Big 12 challenge and/or Gavitt Games), it isn't likely they could.

Comparing the schedule going forward to the old Big East is silly. No one in the country plays a gauntlet like that. If the team is good, fans will show up, we just saw this not 2 months ago.

They sold out a crappy USF team, an OK Memphis team, and a solid Cincy team all in the month of February followed by a sellout for Houston. The last 4 home games of the season, which coincides with when the team was playing its best basketball. It doesn't need to be 2009 Pitt walking through the door every week.

 

[Chief00]

Every P5 conference is moving to a 20 game schedule, so fewer Home and Home opportunities are available. In addition, programs are becoming more and more reluctant to schedule Home and Homes. Even if Hurley wanted to schedule more home and homes OOC (he doesn't given uptick in competition in Big East, plus MTE, plus Big 12 challenge and/or Gavitt Games), it isn't likely they could.

Comparing the schedule going forward to the old Big East is silly. No one in the country plays a gauntlet like that. If the team is good, fans will show up, we just saw this not 2 months ago.

They sold out a crappy USF team, an OK Memphis team, and a solid Cincy team all in the month of February followed by a sellout for Houston. The last 4 home games of the season, which coincides with when the team was playing its best basketball. It doesn't need to be 2009 Pitt walking through the door every week.

You must not pay a seat donation - so you are fine with watching subpar basketball. I would rather lose in a great game against a good team than beat High Point by 39.

 

[gampelcrazies]

You must not pay a seat donation - so you are fine with watching subpar basketball. I would rather lose in a great game against a good team than beat High Point by 39.

No one is forcing you to buy the seat donation. The schedule is 1000x better than it was last year.

 

[brasssbonanzaa]

What irked me about some of Calhoun's schedules and definitely the way some recent schedules went is the cupcake games would be horribly uninteresting matchups against RPI 300+ teams. The games weren't productive for the team and fans hated them. One in November as a tune up, fine. But it'd be great to replace those with more appealing low and mid majors that wouldn't tank our RPI and would appeal more to fans. Not to mention, the players wouldn't have to get themselves jacked up to play NJIT or Maine for the 7th time in a row.

 

[Chief00]

No one is forcing you to buy the seat donation.

True, and that’s my point and attendance has dropped the last 10 years. Not everyone is as loyal as I am. I still have football season tickets.

 

[BFieldHusky]

Anyone hear any rumors about a B10 opponent or home/home?

The rumor I just heard from my guy is that UConn will be hosting a Big Ten team in the Gavitt Games.

I believe we are out of the Never Forget Classic. Not sure if that will be just a buy game, or a potential game against an American team as part of the exit deal. Wouldn't mind hosting Houston or Memphis this year.

 

[Storrs South]

True, and that’s my point and attendance has dropped the last 10 years. Not everyone is as loyal as I am. I still have football season tickets.

Attendance this season was the highest it has been since 2016. Why? Because the team was respectable for the first time since 2016. The schedule matters some, but it's more correlated to team performance than anything.

 

[BFieldHusky]

The whole scheduling philopshy has to change. Think of next year (2021). 3 games in Atlantis. 20 BE games. A potential game or two in Gavitt/Big 12 games. Right there you have 25 games. The rest of the schedule may be light after that. We don't need to kill ourselves OOC like we used to. It's built in with Atlantis, and BE/Big 12 challenges.

 

[gampelcrazies]

True, and that’s my point and attendance has dropped the last 10 years. Not everyone is as loyal as I am. I still have football season tickets.

I'm just saying. If you bought tickets last year why wouldn't you buy them this year (unless the current situation has hurt you financially)?

This is going to be one of the best teams they've had in the last 5 years and the schedule is going to be strong.

 

[Chief00]

The rumor I just heard from my guy is that UConn will be hosting a Big Ten team in the Gavitt Games.

I believe we are out of the Never Forget Classic. Not sure if that will be just a buy game, or a potential game against an American team as part of the exit deal. Wouldn't mind hosting Houston or Memphis this year.

Maybe they still listen to Chief after-all - we will see?

 

[Chief00]

I'm just saying. If you bought tickets last year why wouldn't you buy them this year (unless the current situation has hurt you financially)?

This is going to be one of the best teams they've had in the last 5 years and the schedule is going to be strong.

Any business needs consistency to built customer loyalty. It’s not, we have a good or bad team next year thing. Home and Home series takes planning over a few years usually. We need to get in a regular cycle of having at least two good OOC homes games each season.

 

[Chief00]

The whole scheduling philopshy has to change. Think of next year (2021). 3 games in Atlantis. 20 BE games. A potential game or two in Gavitt/Big 12 games. Right there you have 25 games. The rest of the schedule may be light after that. We don't need to kill ourselves OOC like we used to. It's built in with Atlantis, and BE/Big 12 challenges.

I don’t care what they call the games - I just want to see a minimum of 2 good OOC home games a year. Those intersectional games gave our program national exposure - let’s keep that trait and not become a regional program.