Last home/home series played against an opponent in each Power-5 league (had to be in the league at the time we played them):
Code:
LEAGUE YEARS OPPONENT
ACC 1987/1987 Virginia
PAC 12 2012/2013 Southern Cal*
BIG 10 1997/1998 Northwestern
BIG 12 1987/1988 Iowa State
SEC 2018/ Auburn
* Only PAC 12 school we have ever had a series with
LEAGUE YEARS OPPONENT
IND 1994/1995 Notre Dame
BIG EAST 2004/2005 DePaul
CUSA 2001/2003 Marquette
Had to throw out the Ga Tech series because that was a coaching contract requirement. Obviously, I also threw out single games, buys, UDIT/Merrill Lynch, etc.
In short, 3 of the 5 Power-5 leagues haven't agreed to a home/home in over 20 years, while the fourth is from a league where we've only scheduled that league in a home/home one time in over 100 years. The 5th league -- the SEC -- is the only Power-5 league with any repeated interest in playing Dayton in a series.
Of the Great Independents, Notre Dame has never played us since they have been a member of a league (seriously - think about that), DePaul last played us when they were in their last season in CUSA and first season in the BIG EAST, and Marquette has not played us since they were in CUSA.
Keep in mind most of this concrete was in place
before the last 5 years of Conference Realignment 2.0 and 20-game league schedules. What used to be improbable with scheduling is now approaching the impossible.
One universal truth must be in place for a series to get inked: the opponent must want and need the game at least as bad as you want or need it. Basketball scheduling is not a charity because there is too much at stake. If they don't see enough value in the series to reach their own program goals -- either financial, competitive, or otherwise -- its not in their best interest to schedule Dayton no matter how much Dayton wants the game to be played.
The only realistic way to get these teams on the schedule is one-off neutral site games and exempt tournaments. That we've convinced schools in the SEC is a byproduct of:
a) the SEC being relatively weak in past seasons (top heavy);
b) their 16-game scheduling model;
c) being far enough outside their geographic footprint to not steal thunder, but close enough to be week-night game on the road to offer more potential game dates
Its all going byebye sooner or later.