20-GAME LEAGUE SCHEDULES WILL CAUSE PROBLEMS FOR CERTAIN CONFERENCES
Times continue to change in college basketball.
FanRag Sports reported last week that Big Ten programs are prepared to go from 18 to 20 league games as early as the 2018-19 season and with the ACC already set to make the transition during the 2019-20 season, one has to wonder when all major leagues will make this change.
What does this mean for conferences that aren’t in the Power 5 with the exception of the Big East?
A major potential problem in terms of how many teams they get in the NCAA Tournament on an annual basis.
This writer has said repeatedly in this space and others that conferences like the Atlantic 10 and the American need to look into doing an early-season challenge to get their NCAA Tournament contenders as many quality games as possible and that sentiment will need to be expedited as more leagues go to 20 conference games.
The American took a major step forward with the addition of Wichita State, but all bets are off for certain leagues and their potential NCAA Tournament representation if power conferences begin playing 20 league games.
Two more conference games against quality competition will completely alter the metrics used to comprise the teams in the field of 68 and there’s no way of getting around it.
The Mountain West has gone through multiple years with only one team in the NCAA Tournament and there’s no guarantee that will be change in 2018.
Coaches in non-power leagues need to address this topic at their next conference meeting — or earlier.
https://www.fanragsports.com/cbb/rot...-rely-defense/
