tucson
Arizona basketball season ticket holders are likely unhappy with the seven nonconference home games on the schedule, according to columnist Greg Hansen. The visiting teams to McKale Center include Incarnate Word, Northern Illinois, Tennessee Tech, LSU New Orleans, NAU, Cal Poly, and UConn, the only powerhouse among them.
Making matters worse, only the Tennessee Tech game falls on a Saturday, per Hansen. He notes that this is typical in college basketball, where premium Top-25 matchups are almost exclusively made-for-TV events on neutral courts.
Hansen points out that other Big 12 Top 25 programs have home schedules that are just as unattractive as Arizona's. Kansas will host Fordham, Denver, Villanova, Northern Iowa, Middle Tennessee State, Indiana State, and New Orleans. Houston's home slate features LaSalle, Jackson State, Oakland, Queens, Central Arkansas, Texas State, and Texas-Corpus Christi. Texas Tech will welcome Jackson State, Bethune-Cookman, Stonehill, Omaha, Incarnate Word, Mississippi Valley State, and Top 10 power Illinois. Iowa State's home opponents include Southern Miss, Southern, Niagara, Alcorn State, North Carolina Central, NAU, New Hampshire, and Big Ten power Purdue. Baylor will face Northwestern State, Arkansas Pine-Bluff, Yale, Jackson State, Memphis, Queens, College of the Ozarks, and Mississippi Valley State.
The league's most unappealing nonconference home schedule belongs to Arizona State, which plays 10 walkovers: Hofstra, Northern Colorado, East Tennessee State, Louisiana-Monroe, Oakland, Mercer, Montana, San Diego, Idaho, and Southern Illinois, according to Hansen.
Key Analysis
Hansen's column underscores a growing trend in college basketball: major programs often schedule low-profile nonconference home games to pad their win totals and protect their rankings, while marquee matchups are reserved for neutral-site events that generate television revenue. This approach can leave season ticket holders with less exciting home slates, as Arizona's schedule demonstrates. The Big 12's other top teams face similar criticism, with Arizona State's schedule being the most extreme example. Hansen's warning serves as a reminder that fans should temper expectations for high-profile home games in the nonconference season.
Originally reported by tucson.