So are we really going to have 17 teams in the Big East Basketball Conference? If that's the case, I guess we can fight it or we can work with it. There's a very specific issue that need to be considered. The scheduling. In any given season, Syracuse may play Georgetown, Villanova or UConn once. That's as many times as we play Colgate and 1/3 of the amount of times we play UMass. That's unacceptable on a conference, tradition and American level. I know we want everyone in the conference to get a fair shake but there are certain truths that need to be recognized. Certain teams must play each other more often than others. We shouldn't play South Florida twice and Villanova once. Sorry, just not right.
So we need to assure that traditional and regional opponents and ties are honored. Even as we continue to expand the conference, we can't forget our roots. And so, I give you my plan.
#1, we split the conference into two divisions based on traditional membership and geography.
#2, we weight the schedules based on those divisions so that you are almost always playing the teams that make the most sense for you.
#3, once the BET begins, the divisions mean nothing and we're back to just being one conference.
The Dave Gavitt Division (9 teams)
Syracuse
Georgetown
UConn
Villanova
Pittsburgh
Seton Hall
Providence
St. John's
Rutgers
The Mike Tranghese Division (8 teams)
Notre Dame
Louisville
Memphis
Marquette
Cincinnati
DePaul
South Florida
West Virginia (sorry, odd man out and the one that makes the most sense geographically)
We need 18 conference games, right? So here's how we do it.
Gavitt Division teams play every other team in the division one time. Also, in a rotating fashion, they will play six of the eight teams a second time. It's not perfect but it's the best we can do to ensure twice-a-year rivalry. We can try to build in guaranteed two-a-years like SU-G'town but if you like. This gives us fourteen (14) conference games.
Tranghese Division teams play every other team in the division twice. That's fourteen (14) games as well.
Gavitt and Tranghese teams then play four teams from the other division based on a rotating basis to complete the schedule and spread around the exposure for each team. You will never go two seasons without playing every team in the conference during the regular season. And you have an eighteen (18) game conference schedule.
In a nutshell, here's a Syracuse schedule example:
Georgetown (H,A)
UConn (H,A)
Villanova (H,A)
Rutgers (H)
Pittsburgh (H,A)
Seton Hall (A)
Providence (H,A)
St. John's (H,A)
Notre Dame (H)
Louisville (A)
DePaul (H)
South Florida (A)
The following season we'd play Memphis, Marquette, Cincy and West Virginia. How easy was that?
Everybody clear on this? Good. Okay Memphis, we're officially ready for you now.