Scheduling for Men’s Basketball has changed a lot over the last 10 plus years. Multi-team events (MTEs) have become vogue and have helped some schools form their schedules. These exempt tournaments are good things if you end up in a good MTE with potential good wins on your schedule, but if you end up having a bad three games in four days, you could find it difficult to be in the at-large conversation. At least, if you aren’t in a Big 6 conference (Power 5 + Big East). MTEs have shifted how Big 6 Conference teams plan the rest of their non-conference schedules, as they lose the need to go on the road for home and home matchups against non-regional, non-Big 6 teams. This has hurt teams in the non-Big 6, because the home games against Big 6 schools are uncommon and really only come into fruition if you are in a great recruiting location (Las Vegas, San Diego, and similar locations) or if you have a local player that went to a Big 6 school and their coach wants their player to have a homecoming game of sorts.
One school that has been affected by scheduling in recent years is UNM, who has been especially affected this year when their MTE fell through with both the Alaskan Shootout ending and the planned event with Saint Mary’s changing scope. Beyond that, they want to schedule good teams for home games and want to have a couple of home and homes with Big 6 schools each year. But that has become more difficult as well.
Over the course of the last ten years, UNM has been limited in the teams that they have been able to have home and homes with. There are a couple of constants: the Lobos will have the home and home with NMSU every year and likely to have UTEP on the schedule most years. Recently, the Lobos finished a home and home this last year with Arizona, which was a huge get for Coach Neal but was driven by being a regional team with a past rivalry. Colorado finishes the home and home between the two schools this year with a return game to The PIT, but it’s unclear if that will continue or be a one-off deal like Arizona. Creativity and thinking outside the box is something the coaches at UNM and similar schools have to do to put themselves in the best position for an at-large come March, which can lead to a lack of consistency in the quality of the schedule year-to-year depending on how things shake out.
Overall, to understand why we have strong schedules one year and weak schedules the next, we need to understand how scheduling has changed over the last ten years. We’ll do this by looking at the home and homes UNM has had with non-regional teams, and with regional teams:
Year by Year Non-Regional Home and Homes
2017-2018: 0
2016-2017: 0
2015-2016: 0, but did have a road game at Purdue
2014-2015: 1, at Valparaiso
2013-2014: 1, Cincinnati also Neutral against Marquette (Las Vegas) and Neutral Road game at Kansas (Kansas City)
2012-2013: 3, at Cincinnati, at St. Louis, and Valparaiso
2011-2012: 1, St. Louis
2010-2011: 2, at California, at Dayton
2009-2010: 2, Creighton, and Dayton
20008-2009: 2, at Creighton, and Ole Miss
Lobos haven’t had a home and home with a non-regional team since the 2014-2015 season, when they finished the home and home with Valparaiso. As we can see, the Lobos haven’t had a marquee home and home since they played Cincinnati in back to back years, Southern Cal was after this, but both programs weren’t great those two seasons. This is a trend that feels likely to continue in the near future, with very few Big 6 schools wanting to take a trip to the PIT. However, I think trying to get Valparaiso and Dayton back on the schedule could be something that would benefit each program.
Year by Year Home and Home (and Neutral) with Regional Teams:
2017-2018: 5, H/H NMSU, at UTEP, Arizona, at Colorado
2016-2017: 4, H/H NMSU, UTEP, at Arizona
2015-2016: 3, H/H NMSU, at USC
2014-2015: 4, H/H NMSU, at GCU, USC
2013-2014: 3, H/H NMSU, GCU
2012-2013: 3, H/H NMSU, USC
2011-2012: 5, H/H NMSU, at Arizona State, Neutral Oklahoma State, Neutral USC
2010-2011: 4, H/H NMSU, Arizona State, at Texas Tech
2009-2010: 4, H/H NMSU, Neutral Texas A&M, Texas Tech
2008-2009: 3, H/H NMSU, at Texas Tech
As we can see the Lobos are between 1 and 3 regional games that aren’t the NMSU home and home each year. One thing that has been frustrating is that the Texas Tech series hasn’t happened since the 2010-2011 season. Ideally, the Lobos and the regional teams would find ways to schedule each other on a somewhat regular basis, but that just hasn’t been happening recently. My guess is that it’s not from a lack of effort on the Lobos’ side.
(Note that I included the GCU home and home series in 2013-2014 and 2014-2015 but they were in transition to Division 1 when the series happened, so feel free to not count those games if you want).
Some Potential Home and Homes:
Nebraska: I would call it the Avery Strong Home and Home, in honor of Coach Harriman’s son. In this series, I’d like to see both games center around raising money for local children’s hospitals. It would be an awesome series to start and would have a bigger purpose than just two schools playing a basketball game.
BYU: It has been way too long since BYU and UNM have had a regular season game, we were given a treat last year when the two play an exhibition/charity game last year in Albuquerque. It appeared that the two were going to start a series this year, but things fell apart at the last moment. I would expect this series to start back up in the next year or two.
Dayton: One of my favorite series that the Lobos have had in recent memory, as both schools play in historic arenas with fan bases that are very similar. This series would be towards the top of my own personal wish list.
Houston: In recent years, the Lobos have hosted Rice a few times and other Houston area teams, but UNM hasn’t played a game in Houston since the 2009-2010 when they played Texas A&M at the Toyota Center. Maybe Houston has horrible memories of playing in The PIT, but this would be an awesome home and home series to see.
TCU: The former MW school makes the list and for good reason: they are a regional team and they are on the rise. TCU and UNM would be a great series to see again and could be mutually beneficial. I don’t know if this would actually happen now that TCU is a Big 6 team, but it would be fun to see, especially after the great game last year in the MTE.
SMU: Another former conference-mate of UNM, SMU is a regional team that brings a lot of value to UNM (Dallas), and SMU could benefit from playing a game against this UNM program. While I don’t think it is a sure thing that SMU would do a home and home with UNM, it is worth the shot.
Memphis: While I wouldn’t include this in here if it weren’t for the Miller Connection (TCU assistant Ryan Miller coaching here in the past and current Memphis Assistant Mike Miller being teammates with UNM’s Athletic Director Nunez), it would be a great series for the Lobos to get. With the new hire of Penny Hardaway and all the talent he will be adding to the roster these next few years, there’s a shot that it will be a quality matchup soon. I don’t think it would be possible if there wasn’t the Miller Connection, but this would also be a school that I would do a true road game with.
Very Unlikely (But Non-Zero Chance) Home and Homes:
Gonzaga: As much as anyone would love a home and home with Gonzaga, the two schools last played in the 2001-02 season. That was before McKay, Alford, Neal, and Weir, which might as well be a lifetime ago. I just can’t see a game in The PIT happening against Gonzaga if it isn’t an MW game. Besides, I would play Gonzaga in a road game or a neutral court game in Seattle without a return game, and I’m sure Gonzaga knows that.
Texas and Texas A&M: The two flagship schools in Texas would be a dream scenario for UNM to start a home and home with, but neither of the two would consider doing a home and home with UNM given their current positions in the basketball landscape. Quite frankly, they just aren’t looking for risky road games. These are two schools that I would do a true road game or a neutral court game in Dallas or Houston given the opportunity.
Non-Regional Big 6 School (Mid-Tier or better): I would love to see a team similar to the Patrick Ewing Georgetown team, or the Chris Paul Wake Forest team come to Albuquerque, but expecting to get a home and home with almost any Big Ten Team besides Nebraska, Rutgers, Penn State, and maybe Northwestern are not going to happen. There are chances to get neutral-court games against these type of schools in Chicago or Indianapolis, but that’s not as appealing as either a home and home or a regional neutral court game.
Possible Solutions:
True Road Games: While some fans may not be happy without getting a return game, playing true road games against Blue Bloods (Kentucky, Kansas, Duke, Michigan State, North Carolina, etc…) is something that can be huge for your future scheduling. Also, playing more games against the next tier of programs without expecting a return game can get you huge road wins. There are about 25 programs where getting a return game isn’t likely, but playing those teams in a true road game or a neutral court game can lead to recruits and spreading the program’s brand.
Finding Similar Programs for Home and Homes: As we saw with Nevada’s schedule last year, getting Rhode Island was a great get for the program. UNM, in the same way, should look to schedule home and homes with schools like Dayton, Valparaiso, Rhode Island, Tulsa, Davidson, and other MVC teams with the MW/MVC Challenge ending this year.
Getting Regional Teams for Home and Homes: UNM needs to find a way to have a couple of home and home series going each year with non-NMSU/UTEP schools. Last year was great having Arizona and Colorado on the schedule at the same time, but I’m afraid that will be the exception rather than the norm. UNM needs to find a way to get Utah, BYU, Texas Tech, Arizona, Arizona State, GCU, and Colorado on their schedule most years. While you won’t be able to get more than a couple of those teams on your schedule for a given year, you need to have at least two of those series going every year.
Playing Neutral-Court Games: UNM is going to play Saint Mary’s at the Staples Center this year in a true non-conference, neutral-site game, which is, by all means, a good thing. The Lobos haven’t played in a neutral-site game since the Marquette game in Las Vegas during Coach Neal’s first season. The Lobos should be looking to find neutral-court games in Southern Cal, Las Vegas, Phoenix, Denver, Salt Lake, Dallas, Houston and Oklahoma City. This could open some doors for games in cities that you are trying to recruit players from.
Limit Buy Games: While it is a given that UNM will be playing home games that are considered buy games, they need to limit the amount of these games they play each year. Also, these games should all be regionally based, so teams such as NAU, Denver, Utah Valley, Abilene Christian, Texas Southern, and Rice should have priority in these type of games.
Possible Yearly Schedule:
Home and Home NMSU
Home or Road UTEP
Two or Three Home or Road: Arizona, Arizona State, GCU, Texas Tech, Colorado, Utah, BYU, USC.
MTE (3 or 4 games)
Two or Three regional buy games
Road or Neutral against a Big 6 School.
The schedule would change from year to year but would give a nice balance of good regional teams. While there isn’t a perfect solution to the scheduling problem for UNM, it would be nice to see a regionally-focused schedule. It will be interesting to see what schools like UNM do with their schedules these upcoming years, but focusing on teams that make sense regionally might be a good solution.