Teague says he'd like to schedule more meaningful non-conf games

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After the football debacle, what did you think he'd say?
 

He and Tubby will talk about it, and then that'll be the end of that.

If he allowed Kill to back out of the North Carolina series, do you really think he's going to convince Tubby to schedule a couple notable home-and-homes every season?
 

Maybe we can play basketball against the North Carolina football team. I hear they have an opening on their schedule.
 

So Norwood can't stand up to Jerry Kill but he's going to stand up to Tubby Smith?
 


Doesn't he have to say this? If he said "Well, we like bringing in teams we are expected to beat by 20 so build our record and get into a post-season tournament" then he'd be telling the truth but its not politically correct. He is pretty much saying what everyone wants him to or what he thinks he should. If I was a season ticket holder (which I will be eventually, when I have money) I would LOVE to see a couple of notable games. Teams like USC, Iowa St., Marquette, etc would be a great game to go to.
 

I love how some posters always want marquee matchups, but they are usually the same posters that rip the team after they lose to a marquee team. I'm just fine having cupcakes as long as we have a marquee non-conf tourney. When we play in a weaker non-conf tourney then it may be time to schedule a decent non-conf game.

You'd have to be crazy to think we needed more marquee games on this year's non-conference schedule. The goal is to make the tournament, not schedule the hardest schedule in the country.
 

MadtownGopher said:
I love how some posters always want marquee matchups, but they are usually the same posters that rip the team after they lose to a marquee team.
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Examples?

Speaking for myself, have never asked for "the hardest schedule in the country." In fact, don't think I've ever seen anyone here make that request. Ask for a couple notable home games every season prior to the Big Ten season? Yep, I'm in that camp, as I think quite a few other season-ticket holders are.

I haven't seen anyone complain about the tournaments the Gophers have been in (other than the NABC "Classic" at The Barn in 2008-09) since Tubby took over. They'd be fools to complain about the Anaheim Classic, Puerto Rico Tip-Off, Old Spice Classic, and Battle 4 Atlantis. Respectfully, that's not the issue. It's the home schedule's consistent lack of a marquee game or two. Huge difference.

At what point do you at least bring an occasional quality/interesting opponent to your loyal fans (Williams Arena), as opposed to making the fans travel to the quality/interesting opponent (neutral-site tournaments)?
 

MadtownGopher said:
I love how some posters always want marquee matchups, but they are usually the same posters that rip the team after they lose to a marquee team. I'm just fine having cupcakes as long as we have a marquee non-conf tourney. When we play in a weaker non-conf tourney then it may be time to schedule a decent non-conf game.

You'd have to be crazy to think we needed more marquee games on this year's non-conference schedule. The goal is to make the tournament, not schedule the hardest schedule in the country.
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One marquee game is not crazy, it is good business. It's crazy to think the fan base will show up to a series of cupcake games...over and over and over.
 



I think when the Gophs are in a good pre-season tourney then the schedule is good. This year they will have played Duke, Memphis, Stanford, FSU, and USC in the pre-season. Still stinks that none of those games are at home though. I would think that home and home series with either Marquette, Missouri, Kansas, or someone else in the MId-WEst would be great for fans and recruiting every year. But as long as they play a couple good teams in the ACC/BIG challenge and in tournaments, I dont have too much of a problem with the schedule, just the home part of it when the challenge is on the road...
 

SelectionSunday said:
He and Tubby will talk about it, and then that'll be the end of that.

If he allowed Kill to back out of the North Carolina series, do you really think he's going to convince Tubby to schedule a couple notable home-and-homes every season?
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Apples and oranges in the fact that Kill is trying to build up from near the ground floor. Tubby's rather established, and challenging yourself in non-conference makes more sense in his situation, especially since the margin for error in basketball is far greater than the margin for error in football when it comes to bowl games or NCAA berths.
 

Monty519 said:
. ... the margin for error in basketball is far greater than the margin for error in football when it comes to bowl games or NCAA berths.
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Good point. All the more reason our lack of decent home games in hoops doesn't make any sense.
 

It isn't a matter of Norwood Teague not standing up to Jerry Kill over the North Carolina series. He didn’t want or need to from his perspective. Those two are on the same page over the matter which to them, whether you agree or not, is a matter of greasing the skids towards six wins and a bowl bid in 2013 and 2014 in order to get the extra game and practice time along with momentum. They feel the Gophers, right now and in the near future, are closer to the team that Nebraska and Michigan destroyed rather than the one that beat Syracuse and Purdue and cannot afford to risk accomplishing that goal by playing a team of UNC’s quality. I’d rather they play the Tar Heels, but that’s their stance.

The situation with basketball is quite different. The Battle for Atlantis and the tourney a couple of years ago that paired the Gophers up with North Carolina show there's no reluctance to play good teams. The issue is not playing major non conference foes at home. This is due in part to Tubby’s reluctance and also to a hangover from Maturi who felt it was better to play Southland or Big Sky teams at home and keep all the revenue than do a home and home with a Big 12 team and have the home schedule, and revenue, reduced.

This was not the year to have no power conference teams on the non Big Ten home slate given the implementation of Gopher Points and its related trauma for some. I shared that opinion with the athletic department. In return came an answer to the effect that the weak home schedule was a mistake given the circumstances, but they were somewhat hamstrung by a desire to not overload the schedule with strong teams due to already having the Battle of Atlantis and the FSU and USC games on the slate. They said they were committed to improving things as soon as next season and I’m willing to give them the benefit of the doubt. If we get a repeat of the 2012-13 schedule in 2013-14, then it’ll be a different story.
 



Sports_Realist said:
This was not the year to have no power conference teams on the non Big Ten home slate given the implementation of Gopher Points and its related trauma for some. I shared that opinion with the athletic department. In return came an answer to the effect that the weak home schedule was a mistake given the circumstances, but they were somewhat hamstrung by a desire to not overload the schedule with strong teams due to already having the Battle of Atlantis and the FSU and USC games on the slate. They said they were committed to improving things as soon as next season and I’m willing to give them the benefit of the doubt. If we get a repeat of the 2012-13 schedule in 2013-14, then it’ll be a different story.
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Excellent post & well said. I'm just not convinced we won't hear the same excuse next year when we play in the Maui Invitational. The field won't be quite as strong as the Battle 4 Atlantis, but the combo of Syracuse, Gonzaga, Baylor, Cal, Arkansas, and Dayton won't exactly be chopped liver. We'll also have the road game @ Richmond.

I think you have the right idea, I'll give 'em the benefit of the doubt, but given Tubby's (home) scheduling history I'll be surprised if we have a power-conference team on our home schedule other than the expected ACC opponent.
 

a home and home with Iowa State would be interesting. If the Big 10/ACC challenge is pre-set far enough in advance so the away game vs Iowa State would be a year we have a home game in the challenge it would balance.

someone like Northern Iowa would probably take a 3 to 1 schedule too-- 3 years of games at Williams and then we go there for 1. I think the Badgers do something similar to that with UW-GB and UW-Milwaukee.
 

Why is this even an issue? We have plenty of "marquee" games in the Big Ten, which is by far the best conference in the country. Our overall SOS will end up being very high, and if you're just talking about home games, well, as of now we have home games against the #1, #3, #13, and #21 teams in the country. I wonder how many other teams can say something like that. Probably not many. Not to mention, it always seems like a couple of those so-called "cupcake" teams we play at the beginning of the year ends up winning their conference and making it to the dance.

The goal of non-conference play should be to get us ready for Big Ten play -- i.e., gain confidence, test ourselves (which we've done in Atlantis and at FSU), AND HAVE MINUTES FOR THE RESERVES/BENCH TO DEVELOP. I for one look forward to this coming "easy" stretch of games so we can give some more minutes to guys like Welch, Osienicks, and Walker to try and get them going.
 

WanderingGopher said:
The goal of non-conference play should be to get us ready for Big Ten play -- i.e., gain confidence, test ourselves (which we've done in Atlantis and at FSU), AND HAVE MINUTES FOR THE RESERVES/BENCH TO DEVELOP. I for one look forward to this coming "easy" stretch of games so we can give some more minutes to guys like Welch, Osienicks, and Walker to try and get them going.
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I think that a equally important goal of non-conference play should also be to entertain and enthuse the Gopher season ticket holders. I go to the non-conference games to watch challenging basketball. There is almost no challenging home non-conference games, and it is a travesty for the people who hold season tickets.

If the Gophers sold separate ticket packages for non-conference and conference games, i would be fine with your assumption. But forcing me to buy tickets to 10 games where the Gophers win by 25 points every time would be much more palatable if there was at least one quality opponent that i don't see every year, from one of the power conferences.
 

TC-Monkey said:
But forcing me to buy tickets to 10 games where the Gophers win by 25 points every time
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Since we can safely assume that a gun wasn't being held to your head, nobody "forced" you to do anything. Don't buy the tickets if you don't enjoy the product.
 

dpodoll68 said:
Since we can safely assume that a gun wasn't being held to your head, nobody "forced" you to do anything. Don't buy the tickets if you don't enjoy the product.
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I buy Ford trucks, and i still tell Ford how to improve the product. What in my season ticket contract tells me that i can't explain my frustration with the level of competition in the non-conference home schedule? I know people who have surrendered their season tickets because of this.
 

TC-Monkey said:
I buy Ford trucks, and i still tell Ford how to improve the product. What in my season ticket contract tells me that i can't explain my frustration with the level of competition in the non-conference home schedule? I know people who have surrendered their season tickets because of this.
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No one's saying you can't do any of these things. That doesn't mean anyone has "forced" you to do anything. This is a common refrain on the football side lately as well, particularly since the cancellation of the UNC series. People want to pretend that they are owed something. All they owe you is scheduling the games and having the team there ready to play. Again, as I said, if you don't like the quality of opponents, don't buy the tickets. Simple. Don't pretend you're being "forced".
 

dpodoll68 said:
No one's saying you can't do any of these things. That doesn't mean anyone has "forced" you to do anything. This is a common refrain on the football side lately as well, particularly since the cancellation of the UNC series. People want to pretend that they are owed something. All they owe you is scheduling the games and having the team there ready to play. Again, as I said, if you don't like the quality of opponents, don't buy the tickets. Simple. Don't pretend you're being "forced".
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Fine. Replace the word "forced" with "required" - that make it better?
 


gopherbadgerman said:
I think when the Gophs are in a good pre-season tourney then the schedule is good. This year they will have played Duke, Memphis, Stanford, FSU, and USC in the pre-season. Still stinks that none of those games are at home though. I would think that home and home series with either Marquette, Missouri, Kansas, or someone else in the MId-WEst would be great for fans and recruiting every year. But as long as they play a couple good teams in the ACC/BIG challenge and in tournaments, I dont have too much of a problem with the schedule, just the home part of it when the challenge is on the road...
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+1. I like this statement.

Does stink that none of them are at home, but like you said, maybe schedule some Midwest teams in the non-con. I wouldn't mind even seeing a Texas or Oklahoma thrown in with the teams you named. But, I doubt we will ever see it happen.
 

TC-Monkey said:
If the Gophers sold separate ticket packages for non-conference and conference games, i would be fine with your assumption. But forcing me to buy tickets to 10 games where the Gophers win by 25 points every time would be much more palatable if there was at least one quality opponent that i don't see every year, from one of the power conferences.
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Well, the NFL forces season ticket holders to pay for exhibition games. The tickets will be sold according to market demand. If season tix holders stopped buying them because of a lame non-conf schedule, maybe they'd have to rethink it. If they separated conf and non-conf, though, my guess is they'd be charging you a lot more (on a per game avg) for a conf-only season ticket package.
 


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