Secret Scrimmages

[CTGoonie]

I was reading about how Maryland had a "secret" scrimmage with Nova over the weekend and I guess this is a growing trend in D-1 hoops.The NCAA allows it as long as there are no stats and no fans. Anyone hear of what Ollie's take is on this? I can see the advantages but what are the disadvantages besides risk of injury?

 

[HooperScooper]

I think that's a better question for Warde. Calhoun wanted to do this instead of exhibitions against DII teams but Hathaway wasn't willing to give up the ticket revenue from the exhibitions. You can only have a combination of 2 exhibitions and scrimmages. If you have one of these scrimmages then that takes away an exhibition game.

 

[CTGoonie]

Thanks Hoop. As always it comes down to money. I'm glad they are having the exhibitions though. I'm taking the wife and three kids to the XL game for a grand total of $22.

 

[Fishy]

Villanova has done it each of the past three years - in previous years, they've gone George Washington and Fordham.

It's not uncommon - Georgetown and UNC scrimmaged each other a few years back.

In our area, UMass, Hartford, Central, Fairfield and CCSU all seemed to have opted for scrimmages instead of exhibitions.

 

[Gurleyman]

This dates back a ways. Became more common once they banned the AAU exhibition Pump Brothers sham. Since then, you can only use your exhibition games to play a DII or DIII school or do a closed scrimmage with another DI. Most do one of each - some do two DII or DIII exhibitions for extra revenue.

But a lot of coaches see more value in the closed scrimmage - which often isn't even played like a regular game. They'll play four separate 10-minute games playing only man-to-man for the first one, or then only 2-3 zone, then just the benches, etc. and even spend time just working on end-game situations or inbounds plays. Even if a fan snuck in, they wouldn't find it fan-friendly.

 

[HooperScooper]

In our area, UMass, Hartford, Central, Fairfield and CCSU all seemed to have opted for scrimmages instead of exhibitions.

Well obviously none of those schools are giving away the ticket revenue that UConn would. So I don't think that's a good comparison. Obviously UNC or Georgetown is a good comparison.

High majors having secret scrimmages this year include UNC vs. Vanderbilt, Villanova at Maryland, San Diego St. at Stanford, Georgetown at Virginia, Kansas St. at Iowa, Baylor, WVU at Ohio St., Florida at Georgia Tech, Wisconsin at DePaul, Virginia at Marquette and Arizona at St. Mary's.
There's a whole list of them here - http://insider.espn.go.com/blog/jeff-goodman/post?id=1941 (ESPN Insider's article).

 

[Palatine]

Given our conference situation, I can't the university passing on any money making opportunity.

 

[UConn Dan]

I was reading about how Maryland had a "secret" scrimmage with Nova over the weekend and I guess this is a growing trend in D-1 hoops.The NCAA allows it as long as there are no stats and no fans. Anyone hear of what Ollie's take is on this? I can see the advantages but what are the disadvantages besides risk of injury?

Ollie was quoted somewhere recently as stating they wouldn't be doing any scrimmages against other teams. Not sure if it's his policy or the reasoning, but not doing it (at least this year...).

 

[whaler11]

Central has played Stony Brook a bunch of times.

 

[whaler11]

I'll still never understand why they don't just play two more games that count.

I also can't believe how shortsighted UConn is to charge the season ticket holders full freight for exhibitions and then sell the tickets for $5 for others. Talk about biting the hand that feeds you.

 

[FriarJ]

PC has been doing it for a few years now. They will be scrimmaging Harvard before their exhibition. What is the attendance at UConn's exhibitions outside of season tickets?