CSNbbs

http://www.bigten.org/sports/m-baskbl/sp...17aab.html

Quote:The Big Ten Conference Administrators Council approved a change to the format of future men’s and women’s basketball schedules at its annual meeting last week. Beginning with the 2018-19 season, the men’s basketball schedule will increase to 20 conference games and the women’s basketball schedule will feature 18 conference games.

Under the new men’s format, teams will play seven opponents twice and six teams once (three home, three away) in a given season. The three in-state rivalries – Illinois/Northwestern, Indiana/Purdue and Michigan/Michigan State – will be played twice annually, while the new schedule will also include a regional component to increase the frequency of games among teams in similar areas. Over the course of a six-year cycle (12 playing opportunities), in-state rivals will play each other 12 times, regional opponents will play 10 times, and all other teams will play nine times.

The updated women’s format will feature 18 conference games that will allow teams to play five opponents twice and eight teams once (four home, four away) each season. A similar model that emphasizes in-state rivalries and competition between regional opponents will also be implemented for the new women’s schedule.

More details, including each team’s list of single- and double-play opponents for 2018-19, will be released at a later date.

Tried to figure out how this would work and think I got it. The "regional opponents" are almost certainly going to be:
Ohio State, Penn State, Maryland, and Rutgers.
Wisconsin, Nebraska, Iowa, Minnesota

-That makes sense for everyone except Ohio State who doesn't identify as an east coast school and has stronger history elsewhere, but I can see how they came to it even if not a fan of the grouping (OSU was simply odd man out).

So the schedules look like this:
Michigan/Michigan State/Illinois/Northwestern/Indiana/Purdue:
-Home and home every year vs. instate team
-Play home and home with other 12 schools every other year (with 6 extra games)

Other 8 schools:
-Start with a schedule of playing everyone home and home every other year outside of your "regional opponents" (10 teams, 15 games a year)
-Will play 5 games vs. your "regional opponents" every year meaning a home and home with 2 of the 3 each year on a rotation basis (hence the 6 year cycle).

On a personal level, I don't really like the regional grouping from an Ohio State fan perspective (I personally get most excited playing Michigan followed by Wisconsin and Indiana), but I like the 20 games a year in conference and think it works out well for everyone else there. It also still only amounts to one extra game vs. each of the 3 eastern schools over 6 year vs. anyone else and we still at least get everyone else more too. In short, not exactly what I was looking for, but I'll take it given how it makes sense for the other 13 schools and the 20 game schedule.