Mandate ‘Conference Only’ Schedules Now!

(St. Louis, MO) – Dear College Basketball,

Stop this madness! Please stop the MTE freight train! Stop Non-conference games. This is not going to work! Please for the love of James Naismith, if we care about the game and the players, pull the plug on everything but league and in-state only games and March Madness.

Headline after headline tell us that teams are shutting down their facitlities. If the NBA, the NHL, the NFL and NCAA football have taught us anything, it is that unless you’re in a bubble, players on your team are going the catch the coronavirus and you will miss or forfeit games.

Illinois State basketball player tests positive for COVID-19; eight players in quarantine

 

As we wrote on August 8 and August 14 leagues should play in conference, or in-state games only, where protocols can be consistent and bubbles are possible. Instead of going to the Mohegan Sun or Lincoln, Nebraska over Thanksgiving, leagues should be bubbling and playing a third to half of their league games.

League Bubbles versus Non-Conference Games

What good does it do for Illinois State to play in Nebraska or Bradley to play Missouri, when at some point their season will be shut down because a couple of players fail their covid-19 tests?

Over Thanksgiving conferences should divide their league’s in half and play roughly 40% of their conference games. The Ohio Valley, for example should send six teams to Nashville and six teams to Richmond. Over the course of two weeks they could play a minimum of five games, they could play as many as ten. The OVC could use their old East and West Divisions for these games.

Toledo Rockets pause men’s basketball activities after 6 players test positive for COVID-19

Many schools don’t return to school until several days after New Years Day. The OVC could set up ‘pods’ of six teams and play three more games by crossing over three teams from each previous rotation. With thirteen games (potentially) under their belt by January 8, the OVC could then get the rest of their conference games played before ‘Selection Sunday’ or the OVC Tournament.

Every league could conduct a similar process.

What About March Madness?

Already ‘power conference’ fans and media members are hyperventilating over how to get their deserved March Madness invitations. For this one, covid-filled season, there should be no ‘selection committee’. Every conference will send two teams to the Big Dance. The ‘Committee’ could seed the teams anyway they want, but every league receives two bids.

This, would be a true national championship.

Each league would decide its own criteria for entrance. Perhaps, as we wrote previously, the regular season champion and conference tournament winner (if held and different from the regular season title-holder) could go dancing.

This passionate desire to play non-conference games is all about ‘improving your postseason resume’. In other words, ‘power conferences’ are trying to shut out the smaller leagues. Stop this madness!

Marquette pauses men’s, women’s basketball after COVID-19 positives

Under this criteria, last year, the Missouri Valley would have sent Northern Iowa (regular season champs) and Bradley (tournament winners). With no nonconference games to compare NET, RPI, Kenpom, etc., the selections are easy. League’s would settle that issue on the floor.

Player Safety

If the NCAA truly cares about the welfare of the student-athletes, then they should limit travel and exposure. Why not mandate, league only (and perhaps in-state games) so that protocols and procedures and quarantines could be uniformly enforced.

Matchups like Eastern & Western Kentucky or Belmont and Lipscomb could be easily conducted. Southern Illinois and SIUE could renew acquaintances while Loyola and DePaul wouldn’t have to end their prearranged meeting. With uniform ‘in-state’ (or municipality) protocols and very short travel needs these would be naturals and exciting for the local fans.

Valley Commissioner Doug Elgin told me the NCAA didn’t want to mandate how teams make their schedules. I believe this is one time the NCAA should have been heavy handed. While adding a year of eligibility, they are all but signalling they know the regular season will be a disaster. Stop this madness!

Like every other college basketball fan, I want the season to be as normal as possible. As a MVC fan, I want Bradley to go to Columbia and beat Mizzou and Indiana State to travel to Purdue and upset the Boilermakers. I just don’t believe the current plans are sustainable. I hope I’m wrong and that this becomes a laughable article.

They (college power brokers) are literally hell-bent on playing the NCAA Tournament. I’m fine with that, but if the regular season is a train wreck and several power conference blue bloods can’t play in March Madness because it’s ‘their turn’ to have an outbreak, what have they accomplished?

It is time to stop this madness, so that March Madness can occur.

Do Good

 

Editor’s Note: This opinion piece was 90% written before Illinois State’s encounter with covid-19.