Doubtful he scheduled it. It's a Big East game.
And I doubt Geno minds -- this team has gotta be able to win 2 games within ~48 hours in the NCAAs.
As mentioned, the league schedules the Big East games and TV dictates the national games. But the schools do have some influence on preferences and Geno has said that he likes this general pattern of a Saturday – Monday pair, or a Sunday – Tuesday pair because that is exactly how the NCAA tournament schedules the games, and he likes to get the team used to that pattern. At the beginning of the season the schedule is always a little irregular with out-of-conference games, invitational tournaments, exams, holidays etc. But once the Big East season gets started, there is a rhythm; since the Christmas holiday, UConn has played:
Saturday – Monday (Stanford, Oregon)
Saturday – Wednesday (Notre Dame, Georgetown)
Saturday – Tuesday (Marquette, Louisville)
Saturday – Monday (Syracuse, Duke)
Saturday – Tuesday (Cincinnati, Villanova)
Saturday – Tuesday (St. Johns, Marquette)
Sunday – Tuesday (DePaul, Providence)
Saturday – Monday (Rutgers, Baylor)
Sunday – Tuesday (Seton Hall, Pittsburgh)
Saturday – Monday (USF, Notre Dame)
Six weeks involve games played two days apart, three weeks have games played three days apart, and there was the one odd week with the second game four days later. And regardless of how Monday’s game plays out, if UConn sees Baylor again it will likely be on the second day after playing a more difficult opponent than this week’s game with Rutgers. If UConn is going to beat Baylor, they’re going to have to do it on one day’s rest, just like this week.
Besides, Baylor also plays on Saturday (TCU) before traveling up north. And for those that are curious, since Christmas Baylor has been generally in a three or four day spacing – a weekend game and a Wednesday game. Last week Baylor shifted to a Tuesday game (still maintaining three or four days between games); the Big Monday game with UConn will be their first on a two day spacing all season (not counting the tournament in Hawaii) so if anything the scheduling would be more familiar to UConn than Baylor.
For the remainder of the regular season, Baylor will play Saturdays and Mondays, essentially on an NCAA tournament rhythm.
UConn has played closer to the NCAA pacing (2.3 & 4.6 days between games not counting the one odd week) while Baylor has played a more even pacing (3.1 & 3.8 days between games). But both teams finish the season's final three weeks in essentially a 2 & 5 day rhythm.
