(02-05-2012 11:38 AM)Howl-n-Prowl Wrote:
Just get rid of Divisions in Basketball.
I thought about how to execute a 12 team no division strategy and I've come up a quads idea whereby the schools are divided into 3 groupings for home and home scheduling.
No divisions with a 14 game conference schedule (6 games in quad)
Quad I: Buffalo, Kent State, Akron, Ohio
Quad II: EMU, Toledo, Bowling Green, Miami
Quad III: CMU, WMU, Ball State, N. Illinois
Advantages
-14 conference basketball games down from 16 to allow more customized schedules and less concern of a top flight basketball team being dragged don by the MAC schedule.
-Eastern Michigan and Toledo pick up home-home series with Bowling Green which is great for the fans of all 3 schools. EMU and Toledo only have to expose their RPI to CMU, WMU, BSU, NIU four times a year instead of 8 times as they do currently.
-Ball State and Western Michigan would only have to expose their RPI to CMU, WMU, EMU and Toledo six times a year down from 8 times.
-Buffalo and Northern Illinois on the fringe of the MAC geographic area would have 2 more opportunities to schedule locally to improve fan interest.
-A later start to Mid-American Conference play might be good in terms of building anticipation among the fanbase. To not start MAC play until the second weekend in January when the students are back in town on all campuses would be a nice feature of going to 14 games.