Road Games (or lack thereof)

[xubrew]

No one in the Big East has played a true road game yet, and of the two neutral floor games that have been played, both were losses.

Of the ten teams in the league, there are only a total of 18 true out of conference road games.

Sheesh. We're more Big East than the old Big East ever was.

[xsteve1]

The season is young. Stop reading the UD board.

[xubrew]

Actually, I noticed it on Warren Nolan's site, and even when the season isn't young it's not going to change the fact that there are only 18 total road games. I think the league has limited its ability to establish itself, and as a result it will make it difficult to get four or five or six teams in. DePaul is playing three of them, and they sure as hell aren't going to do anything once they get into conference play.

What are the big wins going to be?? Marquette has Ohio State, Wisconsin and New Mexico. All those are big.

Nova is going to Syracuse. That may be winnable, but it's going to be tough.

Providence is going to Kentucky (but that's probably not winnable).

Georgetown is going to Kansas (that's not going to be easy).

We're playing Tennessee, Cincinnati and the games in the Bahamas.

That's basically it in regards to games against solid tournament teams. How many of those is the league going to win?? Is it going to be enough to establish the league as a strong league?? Maybe, but I don't think so. The other power conferences seem to have a lot more big OOC games than we do.

[MADXSTER]

Agree Brew. My big beef with the old BE was that they never played true road games. Especially Syracuse. Will give Xavier a pass this season since we're coming off a tough season last year and entering a new conference, but I hope we see a tougher OOC schedule next year.

[xubrew]

Syracuse never played a tough schedule, but the rest of the league typically did.

The year the Big East sent 11 teams to the NCAA Tournament, they collectively played the fourth toughest overall out of conference schedule. The only leagues that played tougher schedules were the SWAC, the Southland (I think) and two other weak leagues that schedule nothing but the receiving end of buy games. No other major conference was even close to them.

There is a significant correlation between how strong a conferences OOC schedule collectively is (and how well they do against it) and how many teams they send to the NCAA Tournament. The Big East's is very weak. Eseentially, all but a few teams are taking a pass on making a case for themselves out of conference, which means they'll have to make a case for themselves in conference. Since every league always goes .500 against itself, there are only so many teams that will be able to do that.

...and yes, road wins are a HUGE point of emphasis. It seems to me like the league would have done itself a huge favor by giving itself more than just 18 chances to win on the road.

[paulxu]

The other power conferences seem to have a lot more big OOC games than we do.

I have no idea if this chart is dynamic as the season progresses, or just a one time.
But the strength of our OOC schedule is 9th. Other than the ACC at 4th, no other "power conference" is better. The B1G is 25th.

http://statsheet.com/mcb/conferences/stats/?season=2013-2014

Note: I can't even find the AAAAAC on that list.

[ballyhoohoo]

Actually, I noticed it on Warren Nolan's site, and even when the season isn't young it's not going to change the fact that there are only 18 total road games. I think the league has limited its ability to establish itself, and as a result it will make it difficult to get four or five or six teams in. DePaul is playing three of them, and they sure as hell aren't going to do anything once they get into conference play.

What are the big wins going to be?? Marquette has Ohio State, Wisconsin and New Mexico. All those are big.

Nova is going to Syracuse. That may be winnable, but it's going to be tough.

Providence is going to Kentucky (but that's probably not winnable).

Georgetown is going to Kansas (that's not going to be easy).

We're playing Tennessee, Cincinnati and the games in the Bahamas.

That's basically it in regards to games against solid tournament teams. How many of those is the league going to win?? Is it going to be enough to establish the league as a strong league?? Maybe, but I don't think so. The other power conferences seem to have a lot more big OOC games than we do.

We play at bama

[LA Muskie]

We play at bama

True. But in basketball.

[usfldan]

Looking at the other five "Power Conferences" along with two "friends" I threw in, it looks like the Big East is just fitting in with their brethren. I took this off the schedules listed on CBSSports.com (which has the Butler/Purdue game as a Purdue home game, which may be the reason for the 19th Big East road game):


Conf. Rd Gms Tms Gms/Tm
ACC 29 15 1.93
Big East 19 10 1.90
Pac 12 22 12 1.83
SEC 24 14 1.71
Big Ten 20 12 1.67
Big XII 13 10 1.30
AAC 21 10 2.10
A-10 53 13 4.08

[xubrew]

Well when you look at that it's kind of hard to say that we have more cupcakes than anyone else.

Up until a few years ago, I would always count the total number of games away from home, the total number of true road games, and the total number of road/neutral games against non power conference teams. The average was over four games away from home, close to three true road games, and between two and three road/neutral games against non-power teams.

I guess that trend has changed.

[bobbiemcgee]

We got UC, Iowa, Tennessee (maybe twice), @Alabama. The Battle for Atlantis and the toughest conf. schedule ever. We need to get the new pieces involved and confident with the team, so I like the schedule a lot.

[bjf123]

Aren't we the "home" team against UC?


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[xubrew]

Aren't we the "home" team against UC?


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Yeah, but it's a neutral site as far as the committee is concerned.

[xubrew]

We got UC, Iowa, Tennessee (maybe twice), @Alabama. The Battle for Atlantis and the toughest conf. schedule ever. We need to get the new pieces involved and confident with the team, so I like the schedule a lot.

I like Xavier's schedule. It's the rest of the league that kind of lacks for showcase games.

[waggy]

That table is really interesting. If that were to be used as a guide I'd like to see the BE collectively schedule roughly one more game on the road per team. Not schedule as many on the road as the A10, but not as few as they have this year.

I disagree with the philosophy that there is nothing to be gained by playing at places like Miami.

[xubrew]

That table is really interesting. If that were to be used as a guide I'd like to see the BE collectively schedule roughly one more game on the road per team. Not schedule as many on the road as the A10, but not as few as they have this year.

I disagree with the philosophy that there is nothing to be gained by playing at places like Miami.

Agree. I like the idea of a home and home with a regional opponent. I just don't think it should ALWAYS be Miami, but since you mentioned teams "like" Miami, I like the idea of playing Wright State (who was supposed to be good this year, but hasn't been so far), or Ohio, or Akron, or Kent.

[waggy]

I was thinking of NKU, but looked at their record and saw 0-3, so maybe when they get a little better.

[xubrew]

I wouldn't mind playing NKU once they're not a transitional team.