RE: A Future UC Schedule

[Michael Ryan]

Jon, thanks for the "Damn Good" comment, but in my opinion "Damn Good"
would better describe Shinkle's analysis below. 

I've added it as an Article on BearcatNews.com

Mike Ryan


-----Original Message-----
From: Shinkle, Randy [mailto:address@hidden 
Sent: Wednesday, November 05, 2003 5:12 PM
To: Bearcat Forum (E-mail)
Subject: [UC Basketball] A Future UC Schedule


It appears the new Big East will likely have everyone play each other in
basketball every year, which I strongly prefer.  Assuming that's true,
what might UC's schedule look like in 2 years?  Well, let's take a look
....

We'll start by determining "travel partners" in the new Big East.  This
is an important step (IMO) because it helps control travel costs.  For
example, in some cases a team could fly into a major airport on Friday,
bus to a nearby school for a Saturday game, return to the major city for
a cultural activity on Sunday, play a Monday night game (perhaps a "Big
Monday" national telecast), and then fly home from the same airport.
This allows the school to purchase round-trip tickets with Saturday
stay-overs.

Some of the travel pairings are fairly obvious, due to rivalries and/or
the proximity of the schools, such as:

    Cincinnati & Louisville (fly into either, bus to/from the other)
    DePaul & Marquette (ditto)
    Pittsburgh & West Virginia (fly into Pittsburgh, bus to/from
Morgantown)
    Connecticut & Providence (fly into Providence, bus to/from Storrs)

The rest isn't quite as obvious, with 5 schools fairly close between New
York City and Washington, and the final 3 being "outliers" to varying
degrees.  Here's where other considerations may enter the picture, such
as Notre Dame and Syracuse being the only private schools in the new Big
East with 1A football teams.  Several possibilities exist, so for sake
of argument let's pick this one:

    Georgetown & Villanova (again, fly into either, bus to/from the
other)
    St. John's & Seton Hall (fly into any of the NY metro airports)
    Notre Dame & Syracuse (all air travel)
    Rutgers & South Florida (ditto, but what can you do with South
Florida?)

If the conference schedule is the popular 16 games, then you play your
travel partner twice and everyone else once.  However, to balance the
number of home and away games, you have to pick one of the other travel
pairs to play one at home and one on the road, so proximity becomes a
factor again.  With this in mind, consider these 4 "quads" for
scheduling purposes:

    Cincinnati & Louisville / DePaul & Marquette
    Pittsburgh & West Virginia / Georgetown & Villanova
    Connecticut & Providence / Notre Dame & Syracuse
    St. John's & Seton Hall / Rutgers & South Florida

There are several points in support of this breakdown:
    - Bus travel is possible within the quads in several cases.
    - Notre Dame is grouped with 2 schools (Connecticut and Syracuse)
that they have expressed a particular preference for competing against
in various sports.
    - UC is grouped with their familiar C-USA rivals, and some other
natural rivalries (e.g., Rutgers and Seton Hall) are preserved as well.
    - The schedule is such that Rutgers and South Florida aren't more
overwhelmed than necessary.
    - Each quad happens to contain 2 football schools and 2 non-football
schools, which "integrates" the league in a way many seem to prefer.

But the biggest point is that this becomes the basis for an 18 game
schedule, which I also strongly prefer.  The TV folks will have multiple
games between UC, Louisville and Marquette, and between UConn, Notre
Dame and Syracuse, to choose from, and every possible matchup will be
available for those years when, say, DePaul or Seton Hall look to be
especially strong.

OK, so now let's look at UC's potential 16 game conference schedule:

    Home:  Louisville, DePaul, Pittsburgh, West Virginia, Notre Dame,
Syracuse, St. John's, Seton Hall
    Away:  Louisville, Marquette, Georgetown, Villanova, Connecticut,
Providence, Rutgers, South Florida

If it's an 18 game schedule, add Marquette at home and DePaul on the
road.  Clearly, there's a *lot* to like here.  Now let's add some
non-conference games:

    Home:  Memphis, Dayton, 4 "guarantee" games
    Away:  Xavier, Wake Forest, a neutral court game or "exempt"
tournament

The following year, all the home and away games switch.  Memphis and
Xavier would remain on the schedule every year, but the others may not.
This calls for 15 home games, one short of what UC has scheduled the
last few years, but maybe that's OK given the strength of this schedule.
The only way I can see this improving is if Kentucky and/or Ohio State
could be added somehow.

The bad news is, UC will easily be able to raise their ticket prices and
UCATS fees.  But I doubt you'll hear much complaining.

Randy '78