There is an article in The Blade today about the difficulty of non-conference scheduling for UT men's basketball. The link is below, but a few interesting things:

-UT contacted 61 power conference and mid major schools about scheduling a home and home or 2 for 1. Richmond was the only school that agreed to a deal.

-TK contacted 3 coaches in the Midwest that he has friendly relations with about a 2 for 1. None of them even responded.

-A coach of a top 50 program responded to TK's inquiry about a home and home with this: "Have you lost your [expletive] mind?"

https://www.toledoblade.com/sports/ut/20...0210821120

(08-22-2021 11:12 AM)RocketBBallFan Wrote:  There is an article in The Blade today about the difficulty of non-conference scheduling for UT men's basketball. The link is below, but a few interesting things:

-UT contacted 61 power conference and mid major schools about scheduling a home and home or 2 for 1. Richmond was the only school that agreed to a deal.

-TK contacted 3 coaches in the Midwest that he has friendly relations with about a 2 for 1. None of them even responded.

-A coach of a top 50 program responded to TK's inquiry about a home and home with this: "Have you lost your [expletive] mind?"

https://www.toledoblade.com/sports/ut/20...0210821120

Not sure I understand why any top 5o school would be afraid of visiting UT. It is not like we have knocked off a power program in a long time. At least that I can remember. You would think it would a lot tougher to get a P5 program to visit the Glass Bowl... We do have history in Football of knocking off P5 teams.

Curious what UMass said and don't know why basketball games are not scheduled with football.

We played the Zips at their house first amd will be returning the game this year. Ironically, no football game.

This article highlights my #1 issue with college D1 basketball. Come tournament time all mid majors get knocked because of strength of schedule. This article hits it on the head. If the P5 schools don't return calls, the mid majors get screwed.

There has to be a way where the nation gets divided geography and P5 schools would be required to play at least one regional mid major school home and home and one out side the region school. Or maybe sign a partnership that doesn't force a mid major to play a 2 for one or 3 for one with the P5 schools. Maybe the B10 agrees to play a rotating schedule with the MAC? Same with the Pac12 and mountain west. Etc. There has to be a way to help schools level out the playing field and not rely on the good graces of a school to throw us a bone once every 10 years. Or hope that an early season off campus tournament provides enough populatity points to help at the end of the year. Not having the opportunity to play P5 schools on your home court really does the whole tournament an injustice.

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Based on the article and what has been previously reported about this mid Major Scheduling issue, the only other way for Toledo to get Power 5 Teams to play them is at a neutral site Preseason Tournament that features Power 5 Teams. And to get invited to one of those Preseason Tournaments, it would serve them well to get into the NCAA or NIT Tournament and win a game or two. The following are some of the Preseason type Tournaments that Toledo could realistically get invited to with a good performance in the post season:

Shriners Children’s Charleston Classic
Nov. 18, 19 and 2
• Boise State
• Clemson
• Elon
• Marquette
• Ole Miss
• St. Bonaventure
• Temple
• West Virginia

Myrtle Beach Invitational
Nov. 18, 19 and 21
• Davidson
• East Carolina
• Indiana State
• New Mexico State
• Oklahoma
• Old Dominion
• Penn
• Utah State

ESPN Events Invitational
Nov. 25, 26 and 28
• Alabama
• Belmont
• Dayton
• Drake
• Iona
• Kansas
• Miami
• North Texas

Paycom Wooden Legacy
Nov. 25 and 26
• Georgetown
• Saint Joseph’s
• San Diego State
• USC

Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic
Dec. 22, 23 and 25
• BYU
• Hawaii
• Liberty
• Northern Iowa
• South Florida
• Stanford
• Vanderbilt
• Wyoming

The tournaments are good for fair neutral court competition but don’t address the core issue for that mid major programs need some interesting home games to sustain local interest. You get a few of those in conference but need to supplement it out of conference. It hurts college basketball in general that local fan bases outside the P6 no longer get a home game or two against big name u.