It takes two to tango, so I have been told. Wanting them to come here is only half of the process of getting them to come here.
I'm fully aware of that but that doesn't mean you just give in and play on their terms and their terms only. That's the definition of a self-defeating cycle. If they won't come here then play them on neutral courts in tournaments.
Exactly what leverage do mid majors have to break this cycle? That's not a jack*** question, I'm serious. You want the cycle broken, what leverage do schools like us have to turn that around?
I've been telling people the solution for years, yet nobody has the balls to implement the idea.
If you want a seat at the table, you to have to be ready to walk away from the table. It's the same in football as it is in basketball. The solution is that you do NOT play the games. Your best bargaining chip is always the ability to WALK.
While the Power 5 band together to change the landscape of college athletics, the Group of 5 sits idle. It's pathetic and reeks of lack of fiduciary responsibility (IMO).
If the Group of 5 stuck to their guns and said "we won't continue this cycle of only playing buy-games on the road" - the cycle would end and you would see more scheduling equality and a level playing field.
Think about it. If you had the Group of 5 teams completely cease scheduling P5 teams - you would have an entire new class of P5 "have nots" (Indiana, Vanderbilt, Colorado, Maryland). These new P5 "have nots" could only be supplemented on schedules by FCS schools and the SWAC/MEAC garbage we are forced to play today. Without MAC, AAC, CUSA, etc - the P5 would be forced to schedule more away games with a higher probability of losses, lost home game revenue, etc. Oregon State (or fill in your bottom feeder Big 12/Pac-10/SEC/Big-10/ACC team) is only going to play so many buy games before their fans get restless like we are today. They will demand home and homes.
The elephant in the room is that every Athletic Director and their staff wants to move onto a Power 5 school, so there's absolutely no reason to rock the boat. Ossakow (Maryland), Broders (Oregon), Frazier (Va Tech), etc etc the list goes on and on. Schaus and White are no different. While I love what Schaus has done, he wants bigger and better just like anyone else - so why rock the boat.
We can subsist playing a schedule made up of Texas State, Utah State, Idaho, etc for as many years as we need to. We've come this far doing it - so why not band together and change the status quo. The truth of the matter is that the P5 needs us more then we need them. It's up to our leaders to figure it out and do something about it. Until we demand it from them - nothing will change.