The Craigslist Of College Basketball Scheduling Is Absolutely Fascinating
By Chris Bains
While perusing Twitter this afternoon I came across a link to a website that had me intrigued from the get-go.
Now, this post might not interest most of you. I understand that. It really has nothing to do with the happenings at Cincinnati’s training camp or the basketball team’s practices in the Bahamas. But for those of you who want a glimpse into how things are accomplished at an athletic department, feel free to keep reading.
The site I linked at the top of this post is an open board on which scheduling requests can be made from Division I basketball schools. It’s essentially a Craigslist where any program can see the advertisement and respond if they’re interested.
Apparently how it works is a member of the athletic department, in UC’s case Director of Basketball Operations Andrew Seidenberger, is given direction on the team’s open dates during a specified season and some preferences on the makeup of the opponents. Usually that involves a top-200 RPI team and an incentive such as a “guaranteed payment” is thrown in there. Seidenberger provides these details along with his contact information and waits.
I’m sure many complex arrangements with major programs are worked out at the highest levels between athletic directors and their immediate subordinates. But this appears to be a more grassroots strategy to rake in lesser known non-conference opponents on the cheap.
Here are some of Cincinnati’s schedule postings that I found particularly interesting.
- Posting Date: June 24th, 2014
- Season: 2015-16
- Details: Cincinnati is looking to start a home & home in Cincinnati in 2015-16. We already have two series on the road so there is no flexibility to start on the road.
That’s going to be tough with just a year of lead time but best of luck to them.
- Posting Date: April 4th, 2014
- Season: 2014-15
- Details: Cincinnati is offering a guarantee on 12/23.
Well apparently Wagner filled that request, who will visit Fifth Third Arena on December 23rd for an unknown sum of blood money. Tip time has yet to be announced.
- Posting Date: April 1st, 2014
- Season: 2014-15
- Details: Cincinnati is looking to host a guarantee game on 11/14. We offer a competitive guarantee but do not offer rooms or ground transportation.
Hi, Saint Francis (PA)!
- Posting Date: March 24th, 2014
- Season: 2014-15
- Details: Cincinnati is looking to buy a game on opening weekend against a Top-200 RPI team.
I guess that’s Bellarmine, who UC opens up with on November 3rd.
- Posting Date: September 26th, 2013
- Season: 2014-15
- Details: Cincinnati is looking to play a game at a neutral site against a BCS opponent in 2014-15.
Could this be how UC worked their way into the Emerald Coast Classic? The Bearcats’ participation in the tournament was revealed two months after this schedule posting so perhaps. But, as mentioned above, events like these are usually coordinated from the higher ups in the athletic department.
- Posting Date: September 26th, 2013
- Season: 2014-15
- Details: Cincinnati is looking to start a home/home series in Cincinnati for 2014-15 with a BCS opponent. We can not start one on the road.
I’d be curious if this was VCU, who will visit Fifth Third Arena on December 20th. What Seidenberg means by “BCS” opponent is any power basketball conference, which doesn’t necessarily correlate with how we see things on the football side (sorry, PAC-12). The Atlantic-10, even without Xavier, is absolutely an above-average conference with quality teams.
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The postings go on and on all the way back to the fall of 2011 and if you have a few hours to kill I encourage you to scroll through it. Going outside and enjoying the beautiful Summer weather is totally overrated.