ORU releases men's basketball schedule

[tmh8286]

LOL!!!!!

I get the feeling I should have asked, where can we find the BODY of her work???

[oruvoice]

Let's just say that the publication is loosely related to the mascot of SDSU!

[tmh8286]

Sonny must be proud .

[Mike Minyard]

Let's just say that the publication is loosely related to the mascot of SDSU!

Best post of the day

[oruvoice]

Sonny must be proud .

You didn't know about that?

I thought EVERYONE already knew ALL about this?!?!?

[tmh8286]

Somehow this one slipped past me.  I read COMPUTER magazines, among others  .

[ORU Big Brother]

You didn't know about that?

I thought EVERYONE already knew ALL about this?!?!?

I knew ! I knew!

[Geoff Haxton]

OSU baseball fans always seem to help Sunny not forget come bedlam time.......

[tmh8286]

As a parent I can only imagine the pain that must bring to Sonny.

[theeagleman5]

was this pictorial while he was at ORU or OU?.....inquiring minds want to know.....

[Old Titan]

This is all news to me, too! 

Of course, my interest in this topic is best summed up by the same rationale one of my ORU professors used back in the day, when he was spotted by a couple of my classmates leafing through just such a publication in a Tulsa convenience store:

"Oh, I'm just looking in here to see if there's anybody I know." 

[oruvoice]

Well, I am TRULY sorry.

I thought it was COMMON knowledge. If the moderators feel like it, I have NO PROBLEM having you guys delete my posts on this topic.

[ORU Eli]

wow...I was so lost when it came to this thread...and then the SDSU reference...I'm thinking "San Diego State Aztecs?!? What are they talking about???"

It's all making sense now. One easy Google search certainly cleared up the picture...

[SOLO_Gold]

NDSU releases its schedule

Kevin Schnepf

When he was assigned last fall to fill out the 2008-09 schedule for the North Dakota State men’s basketball team, Dave Richman thought it would take him a few weeks.

Thursday, nearly one year later, NDSU unveiled its schedule.

“I was obviously naive to the whole process,” said Richman, NDSU’s top assistant coach for head coach Saul Phillips. “Saul warned me that scheduling is like bumper cars. Once you think you are in good position, someone comes along and bumps one car. And that one bump puts 16 other cars out of whack.”

Bam. Northern Arizona requested to change a date because it wanted to play in Prescott, not Flagstaff. Bam. Southern California, the high major Richman landed to play this season, wanted to change from Dec. 22 to Dec. 20 because of a national television opportunity with Georgia Tech.

“The hard part is not getting the teams but finding the dates,” said Richman, who since last fall has phoned or e-mailed nearly 100 different coaches.

Richman is not alone.

Only three Summit League teams announced their schedules before August. The 10 league schools, three of whom have yet to announce their schedules, are among the 341 Division I programs who each have different needs for their nonconference schedules – which, for most, must fit the tight window from late November through December.

To make it even harder, the Summit League is one of the few Division I conferences that schedules league games in December.

“It is very, very frustrating,” said Oral Roberts head coach Scott Sutton. “I don’t think people realize how hard it actually is to put a schedule together.”

No more K-States

If you’re a Bison fan, don’t expect a major school like Kansas State to be playing in Fargo any time soon.

“That was a coup,” Phillips said, referring to the 2006 Kansas State game at the Bison Sports Arena.

It was a 2-for-1 deal, in which the Bison agreed to play twice at Kansas State to get the home game.

“Nowadays, 2-for-1’s are very rare,” said Oral Roberts’ Sutton.

At the time, Kansas State was drawing modest crowds for its home games. But now, most high majors sell out at home and can not afford to travel to places like NDSU.

When NDSU was first making its transition to Division I, then head coach Tim Miles offered the University of Iowa $100,000 to play in the Fargodome. The proposal had NDSU playing a game in Iowa City for almost nothing.

“That was dismissed immediately,” said Miles, explaining that it’s not uncommon for a Big Ten Conference team to make $220,000 for every home game.

NDSU does not have that kind of money. But a bigger school does, like Colorado State – where Miles will enter his second season since leaving NDSU.

This upcoming season, Colorado State will have home games with Minnesota, Stanford, Nevada and New Orleans – all part of home-and-away contracts not uncommon among Mountain West Conference teams.

“In our league, most schools have about a half million dollars in their budgets to buy about three home games like that,” Miles said. “At a place like NDSU, that’s virtually impossible.”

Sometimes, it’s who you know. Indiana Purdue-Fort Wayne head coach Dane Fife was able to land a home game with Michigan State – whose head coach, Tom Izzo, has long been a family friend of the Fifes.

“It’s almost impossible to get a home schedule that your fans and your administration want to see,” Oral Roberts’ Sutton said. “All the schools our size are looking for home games. That’s the life of a mid-major team.”

Location, location

Oakland, another small Division I school in the Summit League, takes full advantage of being located in the north suburbs of Detroit.

Last season, Oakland played Oregon in what was considered a home game in the nearby Palace of Auburn Hills, Mich.

“The reason a school like Oregon wants to go in there is they can recruit there,” said South Dakota State head coach Scott Nagy. “That’s where schools like us and North Dakota State are at a big disadvantage. We have nothing that will draw these bigger schools here.”

Richman hears that over and over from high major coaches: “We don’t recruit in North Dakota or the Upper Midwest.”

While Minnesota is the closest high major for NDSU and SDSU to schedule, Oakland can schedule nearby majors like Michigan and Michigan State – similar to what mid-major Northern Iowa has with high majors Iowa State and Iowa.

Those are two guaranteed nonconference home games every other season.

“That is a luxury,” said former Northern Iowa assistant Rich Glas, now head coach at Concordia. “It was a big moneymaker for us.”

This season, Oakland will play home games against Michigan and Michigan State in the 22,000-seat Palace – rather than in its on-campus 4,000-seat arena.

“That’s a heck of a lot more money for us,” said Oakland head coach Greg Kampe, who says 2-for-1 – even 3-for-1 – deals are becoming easier for him to schedule.

“But then again, we are not located in Fargo, North Dakota,” Kampe said.

Where’s the money?

While finding dates and home games are difficult, finding road games with big paychecks are not.

NDSU will reach its goal of $130,000 guaranteed money by playing in the Drake Regency Challenge, at Southern Cal ($65,000) and at Minnesota ($45,000).

“The big schools need the home games and we need the guarantee games,” Richman said, adding that some big schools will call him while others never return a message.

Oral Roberts’ Sutton has scheduled games at North Carolina, Missouri, Creighton, New Mexico and Southern Cal this season.

And according to Oakland’s Kampe, the word is out among high majors that Oakland will play anybody – for a price. With games at Oregon, Syracuse, Iowa and Kansas State this year, Oakland will reach its annual goal of $200,000 guarantee money.

“I like to wait,” Kampe said. “That $75,000 could turn into $100,000. It’s like the stock market man … buy low and sell high. I don’t want to call it prostitution, but the big boys will pay you a heck of a lot more money when they need a game.”

That need can be found on a Web site owned by a Washington-based company called Basketball Travelers Inc.

Big timers like Duke, Kansas, Stanford, Purdue and Georgetown advertise for home guarantee games. Summit League members IUPUI and Missouri-Kansas City were advertising for home-and-home series.

Ads have even been posted by Division I newcomers like South Dakota and North Dakota – programs that face the daunting task of filling out a schedule during the five-year probationary period.

“At least we’re not in that position anymore,” said SDSU’s Nagy – who like NDSU’s Phillips – have not yet been given the go-ahead from school adminstrators to schedule their in-state rivals.

Meanwhile, Nagy and Richman – whose schools are now done with their probationary period – continue to learn more about the scheduling game.

Nagy has learned to specify dates when scheduling a home-and-away series. Four years ago, SDSU played at Tennessee State.

“They still owe us a home date, but we haven’t found a date that will work,” Nagy said. “Dates are tough. Wisconsin-Milwaukee is supposed to come to our place this year, but they are not in any hurry to get back to us until they work out their other dates.”

Richman has learned to work on what coaches call triangles – in which a high major will find a mid to low major in their area to schedule on the same trip.

“With the idea that low major can come to our place the next year,” Richman said. “You’re working all the angles.”

Richman also learned that scheduling seemed a bit easier after last year’s 16-13 season compared to the previous 20-8 season.

“Some schools just look at records and do little research,” Richman said.

Then again, some schools are highly aware that NDSU has knocked off the likes of Marquette and Wisconsin in the last three years. Will it be easier to schedule next year after NDSU’s talented senior foursome graduates?

“It’s hard to say, but I wouldn’t be surprised,” Richman said. “That will be real intriguing for me to find out. Either way, you just keep plugging away at it.”

Either way, Richman has already started to work on the 2009-10 schedule.

[ORUTerry]

That is a well written and informative article - thanks for posting it.

[tmh8286]

Great article on the challenges of scheduling.  Very informative.  Nice find, senior.

[darrenj]

It is truly a nightmare for good low to mid major teams like ORU to put together their schedules every year.

You basically have to have the attitude that you will play anyone anywhere.

It is great that they got New Mexico and Missouri to return games!

[wakeflip1]

Great article.

Lets just hope New Mexico and Missouri return our phone calls next year.