I have been reading a lot on this board lately about the scheduling of Sat-Mon, Sun-Tues, or Thurs-Sat games, that quick, 48-hr turnaround. Point is well taken, but showing my age I am wondering if anyone remembers the way-back-when scheduling, 70s and maybe early 80s, when the B1G scheduled every team to play league games on a particular schedule with the 48 hr turnaround. B1G did it a couple of ways as I recall. There were some seasons that the games were Thursday-Saturday, and some seasons in which games were Saturday-Monday. I understood this scheduling was deemed best for the "student-athletes" in order to minimize time away from campus and classes. Back when the Big Ten was actually 10, there were five groups of "traveling partners." (IU and tO$U, Wisc/Minny, Ill/Iowa, UM/MSU, and PU/NU) Each week, you either had 2 home games or 2 road games, switching with your traveling partner. Example, Thurs IU at Wisc and tO$U at Minny, then Sat games would be IU at Minny and tO$U at Wisc. Exception was when you played your traveling partner, then that was the only game. I don't remember hearing about the quick turn-around, I suppose because it was the same for every team every week. Now, it seems like a big deal.
Scheduling--remember "traveling partners"?
- Thread starter outlawyer
- Start date
I remember when we used to make the NCAA tourney...seems like it was a Thurs-Sat or Fri-Sun format too.
Don’t remember people complaining about making the tournament all those times...
Don’t remember people complaining about making the tournament all those times...
I think the problem today is not simply 2 games in 3 days, but things like 3 games in 5 days or the disparity of one team playing on one days rest vs and opponent who has been off for 5 days. It all stems from the unbalanced schedule, 14 team league, and the B10 playing games almost every night of the week (which allows more televised games).
Exactly. You played 2 games in three days then had four days guaranteed to rest and practice for your next set. Four games every 14 days is a lot less taxing than 5 games in 10 days which is what teams now confront. In addition, the equal rest and equal preparation time kept everyone on a level field. Often today, WHEN you play someone matters more than WHO you play. I thought Purdue's kids looked drained last night. A 9pm start on Wednesday following two very physical games the previous 6 days. If that game had been on the road, Purdue might well have lost to a very weak Maryland team.
I remember those days and it made it easier to remember your schedule. Also I thought UI and PU and NW and UW and Iowa and Minnesota were travel partners. I thought in 87 when we went to 3 ot at UW and the game before was at NW where we barely won. Also that same year we beat both of those teams by over 30 points at home but barely beat each on the road. I could be wrong on that but I thought that was how I remembered it.[/QUOTE]
[/QUOTE]
You could be right, seems UI and PU did travel together, so NW would have to go with Wisc. Much better geography, too.
You could be right, seems UI and PU did travel together, so NW would have to go with Wisc. Much better geography, too.[/QUOTE]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1986–87_Indiana_Hoosiers_men's_basketball_team
Scroll down a little and you will see the 86-87 schedule and results and I was right about the partners. Also the good thing about that schedule was every other week you did not leave home. One week you played both games at home and the next week both games on the road.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1986–87_Indiana_Hoosiers_men's_basketball_team
Scroll down a little and you will see the 86-87 schedule and results and I was right about the partners. Also the good thing about that schedule was every other week you did not leave home. One week you played both games at home and the next week both games on the road.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1986–87_Indiana_Hoosiers_men's_basketball_team
Scroll down a little and you will see the 86-87 schedule and results and I was right about the partners. Also the good thing about that schedule was every other week you did not leave home. One week you played both games at home and the next week both games on the road.[/QUOTE]
That was back when university presidents still had testicles and spines and student-athlete was actually a reality at most schools. In the ensuing years, the NCAA was seized by conference commissioners and athletic directors and became the paper tiger it is today. Television owns college basketball now and for whatever reason, university presidents have waived the white flag on the notion of players actually being students. What a shame.
[/QUOTE]
Not only was it easy to remember your schedule, it was relatively easy to keep track of who everybody else was playing too.
Things started changing with ESPN and "Big Tuesday". My folks lived out in the country and watched all the IU games on CH4 WTTV, and there was no cable out there, so they bought one of the early big monster satellite dishes just for that reason.
It also screwed up their vacation planning, as they planned their Florida trip around the IU bball schedule. Adding Tuesdays to the other playing days introduced another variable.
And it seemed like every time we played one of those games, the broadcast would be pre-empted by the previous game.
Similar threads
