2015 Back-to-Back Matches in the B1G

[#skoskers]

Playing on consecutive nights/days is grueling but provides tremendous experience for the NCAA tourney. Initially I thought there would be equity in scheduling these conference matches, but after looking up each school's conference schedule, I was shocked to find that some teams have significantly more back-to-back matches than others--and sometimes more or different match series than their travel partners. Take a look:


MARYLAND
9/25-9/26 - Illinois & Northwestern
10/2-10/3 - @ Indiana & @ Purdue
10/9-10/10 - Minnesota & Wisconsin
10/14-10/15 - @ Michigan State & @ Michigan
10/30-10/31 - @ Iowa & @ Nebraska
11/5-11/6 - PSU & tOSU

RUTGERS
9/25-9/26 - Northwestern & Illinois
10/2-10/3 - @ Purdue & @ Indiana
10/30-10/31 - @ Nebraska & @ Iowa
11/5-11/6 - tOSU & PSU

NEBRASKA
10/2-10/3 - @ PSU & @ tOSU
10/16-10/17 - @ Northwestern & @ Illinois
10/23-10/24 - Minnesota & Wisconsin
10/30-10/31 - Rutgers & Maryland

ILLINOIS
9/25-9/26 - @ Maryland & @ Rutgers
10/9-10/10 - PSU & tOSU
10/16-10/17 - Iowa & Nebraska
10/30-10/31 - Michigan State & Michigan

MICHIGAN
9/25-9/26 - Purdue & Indiana
10/14-10/15 - Rutgers & Maryland
10/30-10/31 - @ Northwestern & @ Illinois
11/6-11/7 - @ Wisconsin & @ Minnesota

NORTHWESTERN
9/25-9/26 - @ Rutgers & @ Maryland
10/9-10/10 - tOSU & PSU
10/23-10/24 - Purdue & Indiana
10/30-10/31 - Michigan & Michigan State

PURDUE
9/25-9/26 - @ Michigan & @ Michigan State
10/2-10/3 - Rutgers & Maryland
10/16-10/17 - @ tOSU & @ PSU

PENN STATE
10/2-10/3 - Nebraska & Iowa
10/9-10/10 - @ Illinois & @ Northwestern
11/5-11/6 - @ Maryland & @ Rutgers

OHIO STATE
10/2-10/3 - Iowa & Nebraska
10/9-10/10 - @ Northwestern & @ Illinois
11/6-11/7 - @ Maryland & @ Rutgers

IOWA
10/2-10/3 - @ tOSU & @ PSU
10/23-10/24 - Wisconsin & Minnesota
10/30-10/31 - Maryland & Rutgers

INDIANA
9/25-9/26 - @ Michigan State & @ Michigan
10/2-10/3 - Maryland & Rutgers
10/23-10/24 - Illinois & Northwestern

MINNESOTA
10/23-10/24 - @ Nebraska & @ Iowa
11/6-11/7 - @ Michigan State & @ Michigan

MICHIGAN STATE
9/25-9/26 - Indiana & Purdue
10/30-10/31 - @ Illinois & @ Northwestern

WISCONSIN
10/9-10/10 - @ Rutgers & @ Maryland
10/23-10/24 - @ Iowa & @ Nebraska


When it comes to fairness in scheduling, it seems uncharitable to the teams that get significantly less time to rest and prepare in between matches than others, especially with a conference title up for grabs. However, the ability to get battle-tested via back-to-back matches for the tourney in December could prove to be priceless for the experience that's garnered. Thoughts?

[nakedcrayon]

Surpising but have you thought that Maryland and Rutgers asked for this scheduling from the ADs for travel savings?

[Deleted]

The B1G sucks. Everything about it, except the actual volleyball teams, sucks.

[trollhunter]

Oct 4, 2015 20:30:55 GMT -5 nakedcrayon said:

Surpising but have you thought that Maryland and Rutgers asked for this scheduling from the ADs for travel savings?

Good point.

Some may have also asked for it to reduce missed class time.

[#skoskers]

Oct 4, 2015 20:30:55 GMT -5 nakedcrayon said:

Surpising but have you thought that Maryland and Rutgers asked for this scheduling from the ADs for travel savings?

Is this really the case for Maryland and Rutgers when both are close to their own international airports? Also, why does Maryland have two more back-to-backs than Rutgers?

[c4ndlelight]

Having more back-to-backs means you are playing fewer midweek TV matches - I kinda get why MD & Rutgers don't have that.

I guess the other benefit is that your travel schedule is a lot less punishing only making 1 trip out each road week.

[#skoskers]

I understand the purpose of travel partners, especially when some volleyball teams share the same venue with their basketball programs and other fall sports.

[rainbowbadger]

Both travel partners will have Wednesday/weekend schedules when one of the matches is on BTN on Wednesday. The odds of Rutgers and Maryland games being compelling enough to be picked up by BTN are low compared to just about every other matchup. So they are more likely to have their matches concentrated on the weekends, which increases the likelihood of back-to-backs. That's the first thing.

The second influencing factor will be everyone's favorite reasons for volleyball to get the shaft: the needs of football and (to a lesser extent) basketball. Some teams can play at home on the same day that their football team plays at home. I believe Iowa does this. Other teams, like Wisconsin, cannot due to the limitations of everything from parking to the facilities crew. Additionally, some teams share space with basketball, men's or women's, and their schedules all have to line up. So to take WI/MN as an example, if both teams play at home Friday, and Badger football is at home Saturday but Gopher football is away, WI VB will play their second match Sunday for sure, but the Gophers might well play theirs Saturday.

There are advantages to playing your second match Saturday, regardless of when your first match was. Namely, you get Sunday as your day off, so the players have a solid day to do homework and study. This also helps a ton if you have a Wednesday match the following week because you get two full days of practice to prep.

[#skoskers]

Oct 4, 2015 20:33:36 GMT -5 @ruffda said:

The B1G sucks. Everything about it, except the actual volleyball teams, sucks.

I agree, the actual teams make this the best conference, especially this year. However, the scheduling just blows. I miss the Big XII for the complete round-robin format and Wednesday-Saturday scheduling. The fact that some teams only have to play others once per season in the B1G is bogus IMO.

[rainbowbadger]

I agree that Wednesday-Saturday is optimal.

As for being battle tested for the tourney, well, maybe that does give some teams an edge, but I don't know how significant it would be.

[BoilerUp!]

Having a strong travel partner has always seem like a definite edge to me, with Friday/Saturday matches.

[#skoskers]

Oct 4, 2015 22:55:38 GMT -5 BoilerUp! said:

Having a strong travel partner has always seem like a definite edge to me, with Friday/Saturday matches.

Agree! I'd love if Minnesota was Nebraska's travel partner over Iowa.

[dorothymantooth]

Whether anyone wants to admit it or not, schedule is a big factor in who wins the league. Taking out Purdue (who I think is very good) who has not played any of the top Big teams to this point, what 3-1 team is most likely to win the league? Look at their schedules the rest of the way out and I think one team is at a big advantage based on what they have out of the way, and who, where and how many times they play the other top teams the rest of the way. I agree with Ruffda as it relates to schedule/format, the league sucks.

[#skoskers]

Who schedules these matches for the teams?

[vbcoltrane]

Oct 4, 2015 21:02:29 GMT -5 #skoskers said:

Oct 4, 2015 20:33:36 GMT -5 @ruffda said:

The B1G sucks. Everything about it, except the actual volleyball teams, sucks.

I agree, the actual teams make this the best conference, especially this year. However, the scheduling just blows. I miss the Big XII for the complete round-robin format and Wednesday-Saturday scheduling. The fact that some teams only have to play others once per season in the B1G is bogus IMO.

I really wish the BIG had complete round-robin.    Or, even the old 11-team format was sort of close.    I think it's just impossible with 14 teams, so we get badly unbalanced scheduling.   Thank football, of course.   The conference didn't expand for the benefit of VB .     There's been plenty of threads discussing having divisions and then a playoff.  Since the round robin within the division is "pure" and only division matches count to make the playoff (in most people's scenarios), I guess that's fairer (though there would be a lot of griping about the relative strength of the divisions).    I half-seriously propose at this point, just go to 16 teams and have a single round robin - 15 matches, play every other team once.    This is far less attractive than a double round robin, and, clearly, people will complain that it's not fair because "this team has to play that team on the road, while this other team gets to play that team at home," but that's a sort of "unfairness" that plenty of other sports have had forever and I really have no problems with it.  Granted, this probably isn't happening, nor is any other scenario.   So, 20 game unbalanced schedule it is.

As to your original post, who plays a role in scheduling?  Is the schedule set from on-high at the B1G office and everyone just has to deal with it?    Don't the ADs have some input?    I'd think that some ADs want (or simply agree to) the quick turnaround (matches on back to back days) to save on travel costs.