Running 2023-24 NCAA Basketball Thread

Sounds like Georgetown during the John Thompson era.

 

Are you going to argue that she doesn’t deserve to be the highest-paid coach in women’s college basketball?

 

Don't forget the USCAA, the bottom rung of the college basketball ladder. There's a school across the river from Harrisburg, Central Penn College, that would land 4-5 Division I road games each year for a short stretch. (They only have one this year -- Appalachian State.) And they aren't even one of the best USCAA programs.

In fact, Mid-Atlantic Christian from the USCAA played Liberty last night. 103-43, if you're keeping score at home.

 

Having covered a pair of low majors (well, Liberty was when I was on the beat, they're probably more mid now with their recent success) ... that's spot on. Certain schools started scheduling for NET purposes as well, which is why VCU would only play home games against sub-200 schools and try to find roadies against teams in the 80-120 range. Their thought was that a loss at home to someone in that 150-200 range would be so damaging to their at-large profile that they didn't want to take any chances. I'm trying to find examples of major programs taking a chance and going on the road against a true mid and it's a struggle. Villanova/Penn at the Palestra doesn't count ... that's a Big 5 game that happens every year.

I found one: Oregon is playing Florida A&M in a true roadie on 11/20. Is that part of the deal where Pac-12 schools played some true HBCU road games? Seem to remember Colorado going to Grambling last year...

 

That was very charitable of the SWAC to throw a bone to an unstable league like that.

 

The part of this that bugs the shit out of me is when coaches have gone from our local mid-major state school to the "big time", and leave with all the warm fuzzy feelings and nice things said about their time at Mid Major U., then when it comes time to maybe throw them a scheduling bone and help them out with a one-off game against Big Time U., they can't be bothered.

 

VCU writes it into a coach's contract that if they leave for a power-conference job, they have to come back with their new school when they leave. That's how Texas and LSU ended up playing in Richmond. Penn State was scheduled to visit anyway during the pandemic year before the game was called off, but I'm sure Rhoades will be bringing the Lions down this way soon.

 

You wouldn't recognize them this year if they didn't have "PENN STATE" on the front. Ten first-year portal transfers out of 15 players.

 

As a longtime Butler fan, it drove me nuts watching them pull up the ladder behind them on all of Indiana's mid- and low-majors after joining the Big East. I always felt like playing ISU, Valpo and Evansville - including with some occasional road games - was a good way to keep fan interest in a market where they're typically the third wheel.

The only one they ever schedule anymore is IUPUI, though they did do a crosstown road game when the Jags moved into the revamped fairgrounds Coliseum, but still.

 

I'm sure there is a part of Kim Mulkey who actually is probably ok with the loss last night if only to get the team to realize last year is last year and doesn't mean squat anymore.

 

North Carolina played at UC Santa Barbara on the road. Thought it was within the past few years, then looked it up and good lord it was in 2008.

As mentioned, some mid-majors whose coaches get poached by a big school will get some sort of agreement from the big fish that they'll get a home game out of it. I think Western Kentucky has done that with a couple of coaches.

There's also the SWAC-Pac-12 series that the Pac-12 might be regretting. The SWAC went 3-3 in that thing last year, with all three of the SWAC's wins in their gyms.