New college basketball flex scheduling model - Article

[aburks41]

The bold, new college basketball flex scheduling model that would bring big nonconference games into February

An ambitious, groundbreaking idea is being mulled in college hoops that could significantly upgrade the regular season

www.cbssports.com

"Here's how the first-of-its-kind concept would work: For one week in February, a slew of leagues would pause their conference schedules and instead have all their members play two nonconference opponents. The model would have every team involved play one home game and one away game, with the majority of those games happening three days apart — many on Wednesday and Saturday — with the window commencing after Valentine's Day.

The matchups would be decided by an algorithm that would ensure the best teams play the best teams. The games wouldn't be determined until the end of January. Think of it like a mini-Selection Sunday within the regular season. You could even build a television show around it. How fun would that be?"

I love this idea. This would be really good for the sport too. If it's agreed to, the first year it's implemented would be 2023-2024 season

 

[bendm]

given our recent track record i'd love if 1 preseason tourney, 2 conference challenges, and these 2 games could pretty much take care of our OOC scheduling for us. thats 6 or 7 high profile games automatically.

 

[gsmooth]

without reading the article and just that snippet, aburks41, I like the idea. It would provide more accuracy for strength of schedule in terms of comparing conferences against each other. Too much weight is put into those early November and December non-conference games. There definitely needs to be weight put on those said games, how much, I don't know, but just less than what it is now. Teams get better or sometimes get worse as the season goes along. Teams are never the same as they were early in the season. And those early out of conference games really skew the conference strength metrics.

 

[aburks41]

without reading the article and just that snippet, aburks41, I like the idea. It would provide more accuracy for strength of schedule in terms of comparing conferences against each other. Too much weight is put into those early November and December non-conference games. There definitely needs to be weight put on those said games, how much, I don't know, but just less than what it is now. Teams get better or sometimes get worse as the season goes along. Teams are never the same as they were early in the season. And those early out of conference games really skew the conference strength metrics.

That's exactly why this is being proposed for the middle of February. It's designed to give the committee another look at how conferences stack up against each other beyond early November/December. Plus it helps determine seed lines and bubble teams get another chance to add to their resume.

 

[shizzle787]

YES! Reduce the cupcake games as much as possible.

 

[Get a Job]

According to the article, the top 6 conferences are not expected to be part of this.

 

[Tenspro2002]

Love it.

This would also accomplish something I think we should be intentionally doing in our scheduling: building in a marquee OOC game in January or February to break up the slog of BE games and give the team a different look ahead of March.

 

[shizzle787]

None of us read the article: it is for teams outside the major conferences.

 

[UConNick]

None of us read the article: it is for teams outside the major conferences.

So, Bracket Busters redux basically?

 

[businesslawyer]

without reading the article and just that snippet, aburks41, I like the idea. It would provide more accuracy for strength of schedule in terms of comparing conferences against each other. Too much weight is put into those early November and December non-conference games. There definitely needs to be weight put on those said games, how much, I don't know, but just less than what it is now. Teams get better or sometimes get worse as the season goes along. Teams are never the same as they were early in the season. And those early out of conference games really skew the conference strength metrics.

They don't "skew" the conference strength metrics. They are the conference strength metrics. Intra-conference games do close to nothing in determining conference RPI for obvious reasons, so it's all on OOC play. Which does in fact mean that relative conference strength is measured overwhelmingly by November and December.

So yes, having meaningful OOC games in February would let conferences whose teams have improved since January started improve their relative strength.

 

[CL82]

I like it, but I’m not sure if I like it just because it’s new and different. It really would seem to help schools that have week in conference RPI.

 

[alphasigko]

The article notes that the P5 Conferences and the BIG East would probably not participate in this event because of their scheduled 20 in-conference schedules.

 

[husky429]

If it helps cut down on the 300+ ranked teams we play in November, I'm all for it. Sick of us blowing out Central Utah Valley State Tech by 50 points and barely playing the freshman because the tournament committees somehow count a 50 point win and a 20 point win differently.

 

[navery12]

I wish the Big East wanted to be involved in this, would be fun. Although it certainly makes sense they're not interested since there's little upside given the teams rumored to be involved