Big 12 releases KUMBB 2023-24 opponents…

It is interesting to me that we play both teams that are furthest away at their place. I hope the 2 east coast teams are just one road trip for the team.

I differ from Hawkerrant. I would like to go to a 16 game conference schedule. In days gone by, the non-con schedule was something to endure until conference season opened. Conference season was the real and fun part of the schedule. But no longer. Several things have changed that makes the non-con schedule on a par with the conference schedule in terms of excitement and enjoyment. On the one hand, conference realignment has diminished the conference excitement in several ways but mainly by destroying the fun rivalries. I am looking forward to playing Houston, BYU and Cindy but come on man, they are not rivalries. They might develop to rivalries to some degree but it is just not the same as days gone by. On the other hand, with the ever increasing importance of TV money, non-con schedules have become much more exciting. The conference against conference challenges, the exempt tournament and the made for TV challenges like the Champions Classic have added great non-con games to the schedule. So that being said and assuming a 31 game total slate I would prefer a 16 game conference schedule and as 15 game non-con schedule.

But I’m not stopping there. I have specific ideas on how I would do the conference and the non-conference schedules. As for conference and assuming 12 teams I would organize the schedule as follows.

Divide the Big 12 into 4 pods of 3 teams. Each pod plays the other two teams in their pod home and away every year. You also play one of the other pods home and away every year but the e three other pods would rotate ever three years. So each team plays 5 teams home and away every year and 3 teams (1 pod) away only and 3 teams (1 pod) home only. I would divide the pods thusly

Pod A - Kansas, Kansas St, Iowa St
Pod B - Cincy, West Virginia, UCF
Pod C - Oklahoma St, Baylor, Texas Tech
Pod D - Houston, TCU, BYU

And I am not finished. I would create 5 non-con games as Inter conference challenges a la the Big 12-SEC challenge. Every major conference (top 6 power conferences) would have a challenge with every other major conference. That would account for 5 non-con games. Would be HUGELY huge revenue bucks for TV deals. Keep the cool non-exempt tourneys like Maui, Battle 4 Atlantis and all the others. And keep the cool made for Tv deals like the Champions Classic. That would still leave plenty of spots for some home games against lower level teams to generate home income. I really think having all 6 power conference play challenges would be as big as the NCAA tournament. It could be scheduled late December through early January. There would be a few extra spots if there are only 16 conference games.