MVC games in non-con part of season.

by **acecard1** » August 23rd, 2021, 11:07 am

It's just been announced that the Aces will play an MVC opponent on Dec. 1st. It has something to do with the conference wanting to get everybody a game in the non-con part of the season, so look for it on your schedules. I think it's stupid, but what do I know. The Aces will need all the experience they can get before taking on Valley teams.

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by **BCPanther** » August 23rd, 2021, 1:08 pm

acecard1 wrote:It's just been announced that the Aces will play an MVC opponent on Dec. 1st. It has something to do with the conference wanting to get everybody a game in the non-con part of the season, so look for it on your schedules. I think it's stupid, but what do I know. The Aces will need all the experience they can get before taking on Valley teams.

They're doing it on a trial basis this year to get that game out of the week between Christmas and New Year's. It's not a terrible idea and a lot of other leagues are doing December league games too. Hell, the Valley used to do it in the late 90s and early 00s.

I've heard it's going to be 'travel partners' which I kind of hate because you're wasting a UNI/Drake and a MSU/SIU game early. If the goal is maximizing tourney bids, you should have the perceived Top 5 play at the perceived Bottom 5. Get those games out of the way before a team that's awful in the preseason or young or totally new roster figures it out and might beat one of your top teams in February.

This year, I'd set it up as:
UNI at Bradley
Drake at Illinois State
Loyola at Valpo
MSU at Indiana State
SIU at Evansville

by **Kyle_Saluki_17** » August 23rd, 2021, 1:21 pm

BCPanther wrote:
acecard1 wrote:It's just been announced that the Aces will play an MVC opponent on Dec. 1st. It has something to do with the conference wanting to get everybody a game in the non-con part of the season, so look for it on your schedules. I think it's stupid, but what do I know. The Aces will need all the experience they can get before taking on Valley teams.

They're doing it on a trial basis this year to get that game out of the week between Christmas and New Year's. It's not a terrible idea and a lot of other leagues are doing December league games too. Hell, the Valley used to do it in the late 90s and early 00s.

I've heard it's going to be 'travel partners' which I kind of hate because you're wasting a UNI/Drake and a MSU/SIU game early. If the goal is maximizing tourney bids, you should have the perceived Top 5 play at the perceived Bottom 5. Get those games out of the way before a team that's awful in the preseason or young or totally new roster figures it out and might beat one of your top teams in February.

This year, I'd set it up as:
UNI at Bradley
Drake at Illinois State
Loyola at Valpo
MSU at Indiana State
SIU at Evansville

I heard that SIU will be on the road in their matchup. If travel partners is what they do, I don't like the fact that SIU will be playing at Missouri State early. Personally, in my biased opinion, I'd rather see SIU play a team like Missouri State late in the season. I like your idea of having the perceived top play the perceived bottom.

by **squirrel** » August 24th, 2021, 9:37 am

Early December might be a little awkward, but it makes some sense. That tends to be about the time many teams are playing their toughest non-conference games.

But then you have the Finals period, where for a couple weeks teams slow things down/play softball games to minimize the damage from rust.

I never did like league having games on NYE/NYD. And with the NCAA now mandating a 3-day layoff period on either side of Christmas, you potentially have teams playing their first league game after a longer layoff, perhaps returning from a holiday tournament, etc, and then a few days later play their second league game over New Year's. . .I'm sure they have heard a lot of rumblings from coaches over the years on those things.

So it makes sense to try and get teams when they are at their non-conference peak before things get disruptive in December.

by **BCPanther** » August 24th, 2021, 10:02 am

squirrel wrote:Early December might be a little awkward, but it makes some sense. That tends to be about the time many teams are playing their toughest non-conference games.

But then you have the Finals period, where for a couple weeks teams slow things down/play softball games to minimize the damage from rust.

I never did like league having games on NYE/NYD. And with the NCAA now mandating a 3-day layoff period on either side of Christmas, you potentially have teams playing their first league game after a longer layoff, perhaps returning from a holiday tournament, etc, and then a few days later play their second league game over New Year's. . .I'm sure they have heard a lot of rumblings from coaches over the years on those things.

So it makes sense to try and get teams when they are at their non-conference peak before things get disruptive in December.

The NYE/NYD games aren't going anywhere, it's that awkward one that fell from Dec 27-29 that's gone.

by **squirrel** » August 24th, 2021, 10:15 am

Understood, but it's 2 crummy dates back-to-back to open league. Splitting them up is progress, at least.

by **BCPanther** » August 24th, 2021, 10:22 am

squirrel wrote:Understood, but it's 2 crummy dates back-to-back to open league. Splitting them up is progress, at least.

Completely agree. I'd be totally open to playing two league games in December to get off of NYD.