Non-Conference Games Are Better Than Conference Games (Right Now) - Here’s how to fix it | The Boneyard
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Non-Conference Games Are Better Than Conference Games (Right Now) - Here’s how to fix it

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Dogammit

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Proposal: In NCAA Men’s Basketball, introduce a one-week break in mid-conference play (late January) that allows teams to either schedule a non-conference opponent or opt not to play. This would give teams a meaningful additional evaluation point closer to tournament selection, provide fans with high-quality, compelling matchups, and create a clear revenue opportunity through neutral-site, one-game events for conferences and television networks. Given how strong and entertaining non-conference games have been this season, uninterrupted conference play risks feeling comparatively stagnant. A mid-season non-conference window would restore competitive energy while benefiting teams, fans, and media partners alike.
 
Dogammit said:
Proposal: In NCAA Men’s Basketball, introduce a one-week break in mid-conference play (late January) that allows teams to either schedule a non-conference opponent or opt not to play. This would give teams a meaningful additional evaluation point closer to tournament selection, provide fans with high-quality, compelling matchups, and create a clear revenue opportunity through neutral-site, one-game events for conferences and television networks. Given how strong and entertaining non-conference games have been this season, uninterrupted conference play risks feeling comparatively stagnant. A mid-season non-conference window would restore competitive energy while benefiting teams, fans, and media partners alike.
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This was already proposed and ultimately shot down.
 
Let’s not make decisions in the moment as it were. The Big East will get better.

And it’s not like the women’s team cares if theres 2 bids…just go win a natty.
 
Was it always regimented to be all OOC games first followed by uninterrupted in-conference play? The women (UConn and their select opponents, anyway) don’t schedule like that and it never stood out so much to me as it has since we came to the new Big East.
 
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Lafayette said:
Let’s not make decisions in the moment as it were. The Big East will get better.

And it’s not like the women’s team cares if theres 2 bids…just go win a natty.
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How exactly is that going to happen?? All the football $$??
 
Dogammit said:
Proposal: In NCAA Men’s Basketball, introduce a one-week break in mid-conference play (late January) that allows teams to either schedule a non-conference opponent or opt not to play. This would give teams a meaningful additional evaluation point closer to tournament selection, provide fans with high-quality, compelling matchups, and create a clear revenue opportunity through neutral-site, one-game events for conferences and television networks. Given how strong and entertaining non-conference games have been this season, uninterrupted conference play risks feeling comparatively stagnant. A mid-season non-conference window would restore competitive energy while benefiting teams, fans, and media partners alike.
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I like the idea - seems like a win win win for everyone (cept for the teams that lose). You could easily schedule 2 high quality opponents. Even name the events - MLK Week (like Feast week). You could probably even do some 4 team tourneys on Monday/Thursday. Just because it was ignored once doesn't mean it's not a good idea. Even mid majors could schedule other OOC mid majors to see where they stand. Certainly seems like it could be a payday for everyone - Media, Teams, maybe even some NIL.
B1GEast said:
I saw somewhere that Hurley is pushing the BE to remove two games from the schedule so we can schedule more out of conference games

I think the Big 12 is at 18 conference games and the Big East at 20
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Well right now, it's balanced to play everyone twice. This is the Boneyard and if you took two games off the schedule, you would get two reactions: 1) If we dropped two easy games, the board would complain that we got the tougher schedule and it hurts us for seeding. 2) We got the weaker schedule and it hurts us for seeding.
uconngb said:
Here’s a better idea…,,get out of this awful conference
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Yeah - we've heard it. If that was an option we would take it. It's not currently an option. I'm sure they are monitoring opportunities, but they don't exist right now.

Repeating the same thing over and over does not make it happen.
 
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thekollieman said:
Was it always regimented to be all OOC games first followed by uninterrupted in-conference play? The women (UConn and their select opponents, anyway) don’t schedule like that and it never stood out so much to me as it has since we came to the new Big East.
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It was not like that. Calhoun regularly scheduled major opponents mid-season. I don’t know that there is requirement to only play league games after December. You just need cooperation from the league offices to make it work. That is probably the biggest obstacle
 
freescooter said:
It was not like that. Calhoun regularly scheduled major opponents mid-season. I don’t know that there is requirement to only play league games after December. You just need cooperation from the league offices to make it work. That is probably the biggest obstacle
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Yep, there's no rule against late season ooc. Duke did a game vs Illinois in Feb last year and this year their doing Michigan
 
freescooter said:
It was not like that. Calhoun regularly scheduled major opponents mid-season. I don’t know that there is requirement to only play league games after December. You just need cooperation from the league offices to make it work. That is probably the biggest obstacle
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With 11 teams in the Big East there are 2 weeks during the conference schedule with only 1 game.

This season there are no games between January 17 and 24 and then again between February 28 and March 7. Same thing last season.

So switch one of those bookend Saturday games to midweek and let teams play an out of conference marquee game on a Saturday or Sunday. But you also need to find a willing partner. So as you said you need cooperation from league offices. And what other conferences want their best teams playing outside the conference during the middle of league play?

You're right that UConn used to play an out of conference game during league play, usually mid-January I remember. So how did they get that to work? Probably with less conference games there were more gaps in the schedule with time to play out of conference games.
 
freescooter said:
It was not like that. Calhoun regularly scheduled major opponents mid-season. I don’t know that there is requirement to only play league games after December. You just need cooperation from the league offices to make it work. That is probably the biggest obstacle
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I’d love to see Hurley bring that back. Gauntlet early season OOC like this year plus 1-2 more classic matchups mid-season. Duke would be ideal for the best competition and big time viewership, but honestly even Syracuse would be awesome for the history we share - I feel like both fanbases would go nuts for that.
 
I think 20 league games is too much. Give the coaches a chance to adjust their schedule for the team they have rather than rolling the dice on how easy or tough the league is that season.
 
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