(06-16-2022 01:19 PM)herdfan129 Wrote:  Great series of articles. Couple of things that stood out to me.

- New TV deal will pay $1.5-$2 million per year.

- All schools are encouraged to add an additional two home games by paying other teams to play us at home.

- Push to only show broadcasts of home teams with actual fans in the arena to help change the perception of SBC basketball.

This is what happened with the Texas State vs. Troy basketball game on ESPN2 this past February. Not sure if it was the SBC who pushed that game, but Troy heavily promoted the game after finding out it would be on ESPN2, and it brought in a big crowd. SBC showed great attendance to a national audience that night.

Both teams had good records of 16-7 going into the matchup, so it made for a more interesting matchup for passer-by viewers.

Here's what it looked like (without the ESPN commentary and crowd mics):

That’s a good crowd and atmosphere from the Troy fan base. Can’t wait to see more of that.

For more TV I'd like to see us not be firm on the Thursday-Saturday rotation.

Do Friday night, Sunday afternoon, whenever they want.

I think part of the MBB issues over the years includes some other facts.

1) Karl Benson, as much credit as he deserves for helping the Sun Belt get on stable footing and later to thrive, was a pushover when it came to basketball teams pinching pennies. The sub-D1 limit of games went away and they populated schedules for several years.

2) There was a lot of parity in the league for a time. I remember in the mid 2010s in a 3 year period, 10 of the 12 Sun Belt teams won 20 games at least once, the only exceptions being App and South Alabama. Little Rock won 30 games with Beard and he left, GSU kinda ran off Ron Hunter, UTA fired Cross after winning 25 games for some insane reason, GaSo wouldn't financially commit to the pay-for-play postseason tourneys with some decently good sides (the Sun Belt has actually done well in these tourneys), Louisiana was close at times but never got over the hump, etc.

3) The schedule model has changed multiple times. One year it would be equitable to try to give everyone equal travel and everyone hated it as it would lead to some weird quirks, such as one time where App played in Jonesboro and then had to come home to play Louisiana two days later, but the Cajuns actually got to Boone before App (despite their bus breaking down 15 miles out) because Louisiana hadn't played two days before. Then travel partners with constant WBB doubleheaders and that wasn't liked because it was too cheap. Then mirror scheduling with MBB/WBB. There was one model pre-Coastal where all 11 teams had a travel buddy except App. So every weekend, App would play a team on Thursday who wouldn't play Saturday and then play a team on Saturday who didn't play Thursday. Every. Single. Week. There was no consistency with the scheduling because there was no clear MBB vision.

(06-16-2022 08:33 PM)T-Dog Wrote:  I think part of the MBB issues over the years includes some other facts.

1) Karl Benson, as much credit as he deserves for helping the Sun Belt get on stable footing and later to thrive, was a pushover when it came to basketball teams pinching pennies. The sub-D1 limit of games went away and they populated schedules for several years.

2) There was a lot of parity in the league for a time. I remember in the mid 2010s in a 3 year period, 10 of the 12 Sun Belt teams won 20 games at least once, the only exceptions being App and South Alabama. Little Rock won 30 games with Beard and he left, GSU kinda ran off Ron Hunter, UTA fired Cross after winning 25 games for some insane reason, GaSo wouldn't financially commit to the pay-for-play postseason tourneys with some decently good sides (the Sun Belt has actually done well in these tourneys), Louisiana was close at times but never got over the hump, etc.

3) The schedule model has changed multiple times. One year it would be equitable to try to give everyone equal travel and everyone hated it as it would lead to some weird quirks, such as one time where App played in Jonesboro and then had to come home to play Louisiana two days later, but the Cajuns actually got to Boone before App (despite their bus breaking down 15 miles out) because Louisiana hadn't played two days before. Then travel partners with constant WBB doubleheaders and that wasn't liked because it was too cheap. Then mirror scheduling with MBB/WBB. There was one model pre-Coastal where all 11 teams had a travel buddy except App. So every weekend, App would play a team on Thursday who wouldn't play Saturday and then play a team on Saturday who didn't play Thursday. Every. Single. Week. There was no consistency with the scheduling because there was no clear MBB vision.

Looks like the SBC will now have a vision for basketball going forward.

It'll be interesting to see how things change as we move forward. I'm expecting the scheduling to look much different.

It would be ideal if every SBC basketball OOC game (and in conference too!) could replicate this environment.

https://youtu.be/-RHPwwjao-Y

(06-16-2022 11:59 AM)CardinalBlackTrojan Wrote:  

(06-16-2022 08:48 AM)GreenDaddy Wrote:  

(06-16-2022 08:43 AM)MUsince96 Wrote:  I made a list of splash hires in another thread. Pitino, Greg Marshall, John Brannen. Throw Tom Crean to that list as well.

Absolutely! While it maybe controversial to hire some of those guys, it may also come with big results that end up pushing the conferences basketball identity forward.

Does Scott Cross count as a splash hire for Troy?

Splashy as a name brand? Sorta.

Splashy as far as the WL? Absolutely.

(06-16-2022 11:38 PM)Longhorn Wrote:  It would be ideal if every SBC basketball OOC game (and in conference too!) could replicate this environment.

https://youtu.be/-RHPwwjao-Y

A picture of Tak taking that shot with 22.1 left should go up on a wall somewhere in AUBC.

Man I could write an epistle on basketball.

1. If you thought conference scheduling was crazy in the past, wait until you see this year. There's going to be a lot of split weekends (where you play home on Thursday but on the road Saturday and vice versa.) I'm hearing it's even worse for the women, but we'll see.

2. Fans hate the multiple non D-1 teams on the schedule. Some schools played as many as four of them last year. But AD's love it. Why? Because it doesn't cost them. You can guarantee four non D-1's for less than buying a D-1 game.

3. Coaches hate guarantee games for the most part because it usually winds up in the loss column and losses don't sit well with fans. But here's reality. You aren't going to move the needle with the NET by buying games against lesser competition, especially if you are playing at home. The ONLY way to move the needle is to go on the road and WIN SOME OF THOSE GAMES. You don't help your strength of schedule by buying teams from the ASUN, SWAC, MEAC or the Patriot League. And, God forbid you lose one of those games. Your fan base REALLY craps themselves when that happens.

4. You see in these articles (very well written, by the way), that coaches want more money to buy games. They want more money to travel better. They want more money for salaries. You know what coaches aren't willing to do? Raise money. You see great success in other sports in this league because coaches go out and raise money to help their program.

5. There are no bigger egos in sport than men's basketball coaches. They play their silly games about not scheduling a good opponent home and home because they want the series to start at home. You'd be amazed at how many schools pass on games because they can't put their egos in their pocket.

6. One of the solutions (and it wasn't talked about because coaches would have to get off their butts) is to do a better job in sport specific fundraising. Everyone has a "club" for their sports. Quarterback club, rebounders, assist club, dugout club, diamond club, etc. Those organizations can do wonders for boosting budgets in specific sports. But coaches in basketball don't work very hard to grow those. They have a point person who handles a lot of the organizational stuff. But if they would take a more hands on approach to boost that membership, they'd have the money they want for travel, etc. It's harder to say no to the coaches than it is the point person.

There is no quick fix to this. But it's time basketball coaches become part of the solution rather than just sit with their beaks open like a baby bird waiting for mama to drop a worm.