2020-21 College Basketball thread

Mountain West announces 2020-21 conference schedules. Full round-robin with a twist: Schools will meet twice at the same place with a rest day in between. For example, it'll been New Mexico at Boise State and Colorado State at San Diego State Dec. 3 (a Thursday), Friday off, and the teams playing again on Saturday.

Mountain West Announces Updated 2020-21 Men's Basketball Conference Slate

 

And more news out west: New Mexico State's teams to set up base in Arizona due to the pandemic (Las Cruces isn't that far from El Paso). Men in the Phoenix area, the women in Tucson.

 

A lot of league are doing this, especially mid/low major leagues like the Big South/ASun/CAA, etc. It's a smart play. Minimize travel. And for people who argue that the lack of home and home will affect the competitive balance, college baseball does this all the time, a three-game series at one school.

 

On the other hand, the happy souls who won the ticket lottery and rejoiced at getting tickets to nearby regionals are just screwed. Happy 2020.

 

Especially as spread out as the MW is geographically. I could see San Jose State and Fresno State, San Diego State and UNLV (or UNLV and Nevada) and Wyoming, Colorado State and Air Force doing some home-and-home arrangements, but since the question of spectators is up to local officials, there's no real home court advantage.

Worth noting too: Conference tournament is still on in mid-March in Las Vegas.

 

Gregg Marshall officially out, Isaac Brown the first black head mbb coach at Wichita State:

 

Lobos get hosed there as they lose the epic advantage of playing at home in the Pit at 5.5k elevation. Coming on the heels of their best signee in a decade getting shot and killed before enrolling, and the school being flat-out broke, things are shitty for the cherry and silver.

 

My team played at The Pit when I was an SID. The walk up that damn ramp leading from the court to the media room and locker rooms just sucked. It didn't help that I wasn't in great shape and, like you said, it's at 5.5K elevation. Still...

 

I've been there and don't really remember the long, uphill walk. Just remember driving up to a one-story building, wondering what the hype was, then going inside and being amazed how big it was dug into the ground and realizing it was going to be very loud.
There is a similar uphill ramp at Utah's Huntsman Center, connecting to another gym that was used as a media room for the NCAAs. Hated having to walk up there after the game, then having to walk back down to the locker rooms, then having to walk back up to write.

 

Remember both those walks.