I didn't hear the interview but I agree 100% with the strategy! Plus I don't think people realize how difficult it is for a school like Ohio University to schedule. OU has a reputation as a solid mid major and if you agree to come to the Convo there is a very good chance your going home with a loss. On the flip side I don't want to have to be the sacrificial lamb for all the "major" programs. I would like to see games with UC, UD and O$U but home and homes aren't likely. The WVU 3-2 series was great but there is a less than Zero chance that Huggins will ever make a trip to Athens.

Perhaps playing Dayton, Cincinnati and Xavier at Nationwide Arena would be of interest. Considered and neutral court but there is little doubt that Ohio fans and alumni would show up in big numbers. Especially if it's played while kids are off campus.

Some area home and homes that would be attractive include Morehead State, Wright State, Duqeusne, Marshall, Radford, James Madison, Indiana State and Illinois State. If you could have a couple of these programs mixed with the cupcakes that may work.

Remember the MAC schedule is a grind and the team needs to have a 9-3 type record when entering conference play😝

What makes you think Ohio fans will show up in droves at Nationwide Arena?

They gifted alumni a Saturday in Cleveland and got bupkis.

I'm over hearing about how Ohio needs to take a home game someplace else, because the alumni in those cities have demonstrated time and time again that they care more about Court Street than sport.

This is similar to Solich's philosophy on the football side. When he started here, we played 2-3 road games a year vs "power" conference schools and lost badly nearly every time. That didn't help to create a winning attitude. He immediately limited it to 1-2 games a year, and as a result our OOC record has been much better. But for both football and b-ball our problem is getting "power" schools to come to Athens. We have a couple coming to Peden in the future (Kansas in '17 and Iowa St in '23), but it would be nice to see at least one every other year at the Convo. But if we have to play at Nationwide, The Q or the arena formerly known as Riverfront to get some scheduled, so be it. B-ball games don't have near the impact on the local economy as football games do, so scheduling at a neutral site isn't as problematic for b-ball.

I don't think you can compare football and basketball. Our goal as a basketball program should be to make the NCAA more times than not. It has been proven that a MAC team is not going to make it unless 1) the schedule becomes much more difficult and we actually win a majority of those games, or 2) we win the conference tournament. In the case of the tournament, scheduling tougher opponents and losing doesn't hurt and actually will most likely help prepare the team better as long as we are competitive. My opinion is there is far less downside in basketball than football. Our goal in football is conference championships and making/winning a bowl game. Each loss in football is magnified.

We could probably play Cleveland State and Wright State most years. Don't see OSU giving up a home game. The others already have Miami looking for games. It would be great but I don't see the other schools clamoring for it. If we can get consistently really good we could get to the point where it's worth those teams looking at us maybe but we've got to get to that point.

Right now I would love to see something along the lines of the ACC/Big 10 challenge. Except I would ramp it up. I wouldn't mind including three conferences. Make it a three way challenge between the MAC, Horizon and Summit. Each team gets a home and away game. I know a lot of people are going to want to aim higher and suggest the A-10 or MVC. But unfortunately they aren't our peers. The Horizon and Summit are and it would add some intrigue and interest to the schedule.

I like it.

In years when Nationwide Arena host the NCAA tournament and Ohio State is designated as the host school I'm pretty sure the Buckeyes are required to play at least 1 regular season game at NWA. I think Miami was the opponent the last time around. At this point I would be thrilled to be the OSU opponent in the next go around and I do believe our fan base would have a solid showing.

I like the NUT FREE tourney. THe compact conference footprint would certainly benefit the Olympic sports and the non revenues....and help the bottom line. Would not do much for the marketing end of things. As much as I hate to be like Butler, Creighton, and a multitude of other fanbases I think are too big for their britches I think putting OHIO and Cincy in the same conference as Ytown, CSU, Wright and some of those pulls us down perceptually.....not that the current directionals don't....they just seem to be a cut above the predominantly commuter schools both in stature and academics. My goodness that is hard to type .....everything I hate in fanbases.

Regarding the schedule... When is Purdue coming to the Convo?

With as young as this roster is... The timing there could be perfect...

Go for the top schools in Michigan, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Kentucky--the states that are a doable drive from Athens and our fanbases in Ohio.

I know that a lot of these teams won't come to Athens without a lot of prodding pressure. But start it.

Butler, Penn State, Michigan, Penn...you all know the schools better than I do.

Won't be easy but this just seems the natural place to start.

If Saul gets us rising, regional interest could make this go.

TOSU is plain arrogant and doesn't want to play in-state schools. Xavier is in the Big East and doesn't have time for Athens, Ohio. Dayton has $$$ to pay P5 schools to play them at home. Cincinnati has a footprint in Southern Ohio and playing at OHIO might make sense but not every year. If Schaus is forcing Cleveland St to play on a neutral site for its 1/1 playing WSU/YSU on the road would devalue the leverage. An annual schedule with a preseason tourney, Marietta, Marshall, Cleveland St, 1 P5 home/home, 2 MVC/A10 schools is 9 games plus 3 low major cupcakes in the Convo is a good schedule. If Dayton can get a 2-3 P5 schools for home/home, Ohio should be able to get at least 1 P5 series a year. This year it was 4 low major cupcakes on the schedule (Tenn St, Jackson St, Ark PB, Riverside). FGCU series was signed after their sweet 16 so it was a proxy for a MVC/A10 level series.

with non conference play just about over here's the SOS of the MAC teams-

SOS
58 EMU
77 Buffalo
94 Kent St

177 WMU
197 Miami
223 Ohio
277 CMU

305 Akron
310 Toledo
318 NIU
346 BGSU
349 Ball St

The MAC has 3 good schedules, 4 not good schedules and 5 awful awful awful schedules. 5 teams in the bottom 15%, 2 teams in the bottom 6 out of 351. Ohio's schedule isn't great (I'm in the camp of it could be better but I'm not mad about it) but we've got some programs that are clearly not scheduling well. And this number doesn't include the +20 non-D1 games played with some MAC teams scheduling 3 and 4 non-D1 opponents each.