Nebraska tries to nail down basketball schedule
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BY BRIAN ROSENTHAL / Lincoln Journal Star
Marquette, with former Nebraska assistant coach Tony Benford, might be coming to Lincoln in November to play the Husker men’s basketball team.
It’s a scheduling move that would delight Husker fans clamoring for a name opponent to visit the Devaney Sports Center.
The glaring catch?
Nobody aside from players, coaches, managers and officials could attend the game.
In fact, it wouldn’t even be a game. There’d be no score announced or statistics released. The scrimmage would be closed to media, too.
The NCAA last season began giving teams the option of scrimmaging other Division I teams instead of playing exhibition games against lower-level opponents.
Nebraska coach Doc Sadler said he’s had discussions with several schools — most notably Marquette, Wyoming, Colorado State and Drake — about scrimmaging in November.
Sadler’s not certain of his plans; he could keep the two exhibitions, have two scrimmages, or have one scrimmage and play one exhibition. Last season, Kansas State had one of each, hosting Marquette in a scrimmage.
A visit from Marquette would be somewhat ironic, given Nebraska’s struggles to find “marquee” opponents willing to play in Lincoln in 2008-09.
“Marquee for both of us,” Nebraska director of basketball operations Chris Croft said, “and nobody can watch it.”
Croft, whose responsibilities include finding opponents, has three openings on Nebraska’s schedule for the upcoming season. As of now, only one home opponent — Creighton — meets the “marquee” status. Croft knows he must find at least one more.
Nebraska last season finished series with Rutgers, Western Kentucky and Oregon. The Huskers are unofficially set to begin a home-and-home series with Oregon State; Nebraska plays at Oregon State this season, and Oregon State visits Lincoln the following season. Nebraska also plays in December at Arizona State in the return game of the Big 12-Pac 10 Hardwood Series.
That means Nebraska is searching for a school, preferably from a BCS conference, to visit Lincoln this season to begin a home-and-home series; Nebraska would return the trip in 2009-10.
When that happens — but not before it does — Nebraska would then consider beginning another home-and-home series on the road this season, with that team returning the trip the following season. That would leave Croft with one opening this season, likely filled with a guarantee home game.
The problem is every school seems to share Nebraska’s focus — willing to start a series on the road this season, but not until it finds a home one first. The stonewalling could continue through the summer.
“It’s a negotiation,” Croft said. “There are some great games we could go play on the road right now that are really appealing to us.”
Only one team need budge and agree to hit the road first; such a move would start a trickle-down effect.
“It’s kind of like playing dominoes,” Croft said.
Croft said it’s possible that one BCS school might be looking to replace a previously schedule home-and-home series; that team was supposed to start the series this season on the road, meaning it’d be willing to travel.
Available teams are not the issue; Croft estimates nearly half of BCS conference schools still have incomplete schedules.
The list is rather attractive, too: Virginia, Georgia, North Carolina State, Georgia Tech, Clemson, Alabama and Mississippi State are among those schools with at least one opening.
“A lot of teams are just like us,” Croft said. “There are a handful of teams we’re talking to that I touch base with every week. They want to play us. We want to play them. We have some dates that work. But they’re waiting on getting one more, maybe a guarantee game. They’re waiting on one more game.”
Sadler said he’s also in favor of beginning “1-2-1” series, a format he used at UTEP with New Mexico and Texas Tech. It’s a four-year series that begins with a home game, continues with road games each of the following two seasons, and concludes with another home game. Mountain West Conference and Western Athletic Conference teams appear likely candidates.
A tournament this season, Croft said, is possible but, at this point, unlikely.
“We talked to some people,” Croft said. “I don’t know if we’ve ruled it out. We have had some conversations with Coaches vs. Cancer recently.
“The hardest part on those tournaments, you have to have more time free to commit to them. Because we have most of our schedule done, we don’t really have an opening. You almost have to have a week off in there.”
Teams not participating in exempt tournaments can schedule 29 games; for Nebraska, that’s 13 nonconference games. Teams in exempt tournaments can schedule 27 games, plus that tournament.
A neutral-site game also appears unlikely this season. Croft said venues like Qwest Center Omaha, where Nebraska played Oregon last season, usually need to be reserved a year or two in advance.
For now, Croft makes sure his cell phone is fully charged.
“I’ve been in a couple of meetings today, and right now, I’ve got six voicemails,” Croft said last week. “I don’t know if those are all (about) scheduling, but I hope they are.”
Reach Brian Rosenthal at 473-7436 or brosenthal@journalstar.com.
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