(06-30-2021 09:19 AM)Boca Rocket Wrote:  

(06-30-2021 08:16 AM)IamN2daRockets! Wrote:  Why is it always almost the exact same mid major OOC schools? Travel distance? AD relationships? Tradition? All of the above?

I remember when we had a home and home with South Carolina and Frank McGuire. It seems we are limited to one Big Ten team a year. Very unclear how these schedules are created. I’m sure it’s a lot of calls and juggling to fill compatible dates.

Go Rockets

How about some of Nick's old schedules?
One year was Michigan, Indiana, Northwestern, Washington, FSU, and Dayton.

back in the day UT regularly brought in major names to Toledo. I think a few things have changed. power type schools play fewer true away games in general and specifically against lower profile opponents. Back in the 70s-80s UT was a bigger name and had a lot of fan support. We could probably afford the cost of bigger opponents more so than these days. We also had the Blade Classic which enticed 1 or 2 big names each year. Now, those teams play at televised neutral court tourneys instead.

the whole deal is mostly about connections and finances. personally, i think the ncaa would do well to mandate a certain amount of regional true road contests between D1 programs. it strengthens local and regional interest in college basketball and is good for the long term health of the sport. obviously, the Bigs influence everything, but it having OSU and Cincy play 2 road games within 200 miles would help their brand, give alumni and fans in places like Toledo and Dayton more chances to see them play and would be exciting for Ohio basketball. plus, with the quad system for NCAA selection there's an advantage to playing a good, but not great, lower profile team on the road. @ UT would have been a quad 1 game last year and @ BG, Ohio, Buffalo, Akron, Kent would have been quad 2 games. getting those teams at home doesn't help your NCAA resume much.