The full schedule is finally released...

BIG EAST Announces 2010-11 Men's Basketball Schedule

(09-17-2010 03:46 PM)bitcruncher Wrote:  The full schedule is finally released...

BIG EAST Announces 2010-11 Men's Basketball Schedule

Once again awful...you cannot put Georgetown at Syracuse as a mid-week game. Just stupid. Give us a weekend so that we can put 30,000 in the dome. At least we have Notre Dame and Villanova on the weekend.

Anytime the girls from Georgetown come to SYR it's a week long gang bang anyway.

Interesting that one of the Big East/SEC Double-Headers taking place will be in Louisville....but the 2 Big East Teams will not include UL.

One would have thought that the Big East (and UL) would have wanted to "show up" their new downtown arena with a showcase event like this.

SEC/BIG EAST Invitational – The fourth annual meeting between the two conferences will be carried by ESPN and ESPN2. On Dec. 8 at Freedom Hall in Louisville, Seton Hall battles Arkansas on ESPN2 followed by Notre Dame and Kentucky on ESPN.

(09-18-2010 08:23 AM)KnightLight Wrote:  Interesting that one of the Big East/SEC Double-Headers taking place will be in Louisville....but the 2 Big East Teams will not include UL.

I'm not really surprised to be honest. Look at UofL's home basketball schedule and consider the fact that they have two very larger athletic projects to pay off. UofL could play in the tournament at Freedom Hall or they could play at home (they actually do on the same day) and make significantly more money. When you have a brand new $250+ million dollar arena to help pay for, you better be using the heck out of it.

(09-18-2010 08:23 AM)KnightLight Wrote:  One would have thought that the Big East (and UL) would have wanted to "show up" their new downtown arena with a showcase event like this.

After years of having UK schedule a game in Freedom Hall (usually right before our match up), I'm honestly kind of glad to see that the event won't be held in the YUM center. UofL finally has scheduling priority and they can lock UK out of playing on their home court. Considering UK plays @UofL later in the month, I wouldn't be surprised if UofL told the Big East that the event would not be permitted to be held at the Yum Center just to re-enforce to UK that it is UofL's arena and that any pull they use to have in scheduling is now gone.

The funny part about the whole thing was when it final came out that UK wouldn't not be allowed to play in the YUM center without UofL's approval. You should have seen some of the reactions from the local bluenecks.

(09-18-2010 08:23 AM)KnightLight Wrote:  SEC/BIG EAST Invitational – The fourth annual meeting between the two conferences will be carried by ESPN and ESPN2. On Dec. 8 at Freedom Hall in Louisville, Seton Hall battles Arkansas on ESPN2 followed by Notre Dame and Kentucky on ESPN.

I actually think one event that would be great for the city of Louisville would be to host a Big 12 v. Big East Invitational in the YUM Center. Louisville is centrally located between each of the conferences and I think a Saturday/Sunday event featuring some of the top teams from each conference would draw particularly well. For example:

Saturday

12:00 p.m. - Kansas State v. Cincinnati
3:30 p.m. - Oklahoma v. Pitt
7:00 p.m. - Texas v. WVU


Sunday

12:00 p.m. - Missouri v. UConn
3:30 p.m. - Kansas v. Louisville

Best out of 5 wins the invitational (no ties possible).

(09-18-2010 08:23 AM)KnightLight Wrote:  Interesting that one of the Big East/SEC Double-Headers taking place will be in Louisville....but the 2 Big East Teams will not include UL.

One would have thought that the Big East (and UL) would have wanted to "show up" their new downtown arena with a showcase event like this.

SEC/BIG EAST Invitational – The fourth annual meeting between the two conferences will be carried by ESPN and ESPN2. On Dec. 8 at Freedom Hall in Louisville, Seton Hall battles Arkansas on ESPN2 followed by Notre Dame and Kentucky on ESPN.

The SEC and Kentucky will be hosting this event. No reason to hold it in a larger arena when it won't sell-out Freedom Hall. UK hasn't sold out Freedom Hall in a game not involving UofL or Indiana in almost 20 years. It's possible UofL fans might buy tickets to root for The Big East but I doubt it.
CJ

UofL07,
Off-Topic question:
Have you heard if Jurich has changed his position on hosting early rounds of the NCAA Men's basketball tournament? In the past he said UofL had no interest in hosting because they felt like they needed a break after the conference tourney. I also heard he refused to host because he didn't want to chance giving UK an opportunity to play in the new arena and give them a home court advantage like Duke or UNC enjoys when they play in a North Carolina arena in the first or second round.
CJ

(09-18-2010 09:15 AM)CardinalJim Wrote:  UofL07,
Off-Topic question:
Have you heard if Jurich has changed his position on hosting early rounds of the NCAA Men's basketball tournament? In the past he said UofL had no interest in hosting because they felt like they needed a break after the conference tourney. I also heard he refused to host because he didn't want to chance giving UK an opportunity to play in the new arena and give them a home court advantage like Duke or UNC enjoys when they play in a North Carolina arena in the first or second round.
CJ

Haven't heard anything on that front. I wouldn't be surprised though if Jurich relents on that issue given the current state of the economy. I imagine that both the state and the city will be putting a lot of pressure on him to open up the arena for first round NCAA games (generate more revenue for the city and help pay off the arena debt).