Connor Lemons
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Column: Ohio State fans drew the short end of the stick with this year’s home basketball schedule
Connor Lemons via our friends at Land-Grant Holy Land
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here
Adam Cairns/Columbus Dispatch / USA TODAY NETWORK
The Buckeyes were given two weekend home games by the Big Ten this season.
Fresh off of back-to-back seasons missing the NCAA Tournament, a combined 14-26 record in conference play the past two seasons, and record lows in home attendance, the Ohio State men’s basketball program was in desperate need of a refresh this past spring.
Former athletic director Gene Smith watched the product on the court decline, and the excitement around the program steadily fall with it. Ross Bjork, Smith’s replacement as of July 1, watched from the periphery after he was announced as the athletic director in waiting.
Chris Holtmann’s Buckeyes went 2-6 after Ohio State President Ted Carter announced that Bjork would be the next athletic director on Jan. 17. On Feb. 14, Holtmann was relieved of his duties and Jake Diebler took it from there, finishing the season with a record of 8-3 and parlaying it into the full-time job.
Hiring Diebler as the next Ohio State men’s basketball coach was Bjork’s first move to reinvigorate the program. Bjork wasn’t just rewarding Diebler for his performance as the interim head coach, he was also trying to catch lightning in a bottle. There was more buzz around the program than there had been in over two years, and Diebler was the reason. Ideally, that buzz is going to carry over the summer into the fall, and ticket sales will jump accordingly.
The student ticket package is now $110 for 13 games, or $8.46 per game. Students can also buy tickets for $9 on a game-by-game basis. Season ticket prices were lowered, single-game prices were lowered, and Ohio State is now offering flexible four and eight-game packages for fans who aren’t ready to commit to full-season tickets.
Ohio State made tickets cheaper, sure, but the flip side of this whole deal? You need to give the fans a schedule that makes them want to come to games. Unfortunately for the fans, that did not happen this season.
Ohio State’s full schedule:
The biggest opponent that will visit Columbus during Ohio State’s non-conference schedule – Pitt – missed out on the NCAA Tournament last season. Unlike the Buckeyes, the Panthers declined an invitation to participate in the NIT. The two programs have not faced each other since 2002 and while I personally am excited for this game, most casual Ohio State fans and alumni are not too terribly fired up for a game against the Pitt Panthers.
Aside from the Pitt game, Ohio State fans get six more non-conference games at home, the toughest being against Indiana State, which also happens to be the only weekend home game on the non-conference schedule.
The Big Ten schedule – which, unlike the non-conference schedule, is completely out of Ohio State’s hands – isn’t much better for the fans, or any more convenient.
Weekend home games are the biggest draw for programs and are a head coach’s best friend. More families show up with kids, more students go to games, and they’re much easier to coordinate for potential recruiting visits. Weekend home games have better energy, louder, larger crowds, and generally provide a superior game day experience than say, a Tuesday night.
/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25655489/usa_today_22491584.jpg "Syndication: The Columbus Dispatch")
Barbara J. Perenic/Columbus Dispatch / USA TODAY NETWORK
The Big Ten gave Ohio State and its fans exactly two weekend Big Ten home games this season – the fewest of any team in the conference. The Buckeyes’ matchup with Rutgers on Saturday, Dec. 7 will likely be a noon tipoff between two NCAA Tournament-caliber teams, but the Ohio State football team could wind up playing in a rather important game in Indianapolis that evening, too.
Few fans — if any — are going to attend the basketball game that afternoon in Columbus and then hightail it to Indy to watch the football team (potentially) play in the Big Ten title game that evening. Even more likely — some fans might forget the basketball team plays altogether, considering it is the first Big Ten home game of the season and most people will be fixated on football that day. Tough break!
Ohio State’s second weekend Big Ten home game comes over two months later – yep, that’s a 10-week gap – when the Buckeyes welcome Roddy Gayle and the Michigan Wolverines to the Schottenstein Center on Sunday, Feb. 16. The arena should be nearly sold out for that one, for obvious reasons.
If things go well for Ohio State in Jake Diebler’s first year, the team’s momentum should be hitting its crescendo at that point, and over 18,000 fans should be in attendance to welcome back former Ohio State guard-turned Michigan man.
The Buckeyes host Northwestern the following Thursday at home (Feb. 20), and then senior night will feature the Nebraska Cornhuskers traveling to Columbus on Tuesday, March 4 – and that’s the end of the home schedule. Even senior day, which in its purest form is a weekend game against a regional foe such as Michigan State, Indiana, or Michigan, is being snuck in on a Tuesday night against a team that has no historical significance to the Big Ten and even less emotional relevance to Ohio State fans.
Long story short – the fans got hosed this year.
Not all of this is on Ohio State, and I would even go as far to say that much of it is not. The Buckeyes hosted a ranked Texas A&M team last year at home and lost – a phenomenal game against a great team in front of the home fans. This season, the Buckeyes have to fulfil their end of the home-and-home agreement and go play on campus at Texas A&M. That game will take place on Friday, Nov. 15.
/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25655495/usa_today_21865389.jpg "Syndication: The Columbus Dispatch")
Adam Cairns/Columbus Dispatch / USA TODAY NETWORK
Ohio State is still locked into a contract for the CBS Sports Classic, which will pit them against Kentucky on Dec. 21 in New York. A great opponent, albeit one that 99% of Buckeye fans won’t be able to see in person.
Diebler was also able to get Texas and Auburn on the schedule – two teams that will likely be ranked to start the season – but both are at neutral locations (Las Vegas and Atlanta). That’s just a sign of the times in college basketball, as fewer and fewer programs are willing to travel and play true road games on someone else’s campus other than the ones they’re required to play within their own conference.
Did Ohio State want to load up the schedule with multiple monster home games in Jake Diebler’s first season and potentially set him up for a rough first season, and risk popping the bubble of excitement that currently surrounds the program so early in the season if things went south? I would assume the answer is no.
But even if they wanted to replace the Evansville or Campbell game with a power conference opponent at home, would Ohio State have even found a willing opponent? When you consider conference challenges and early season tournaments like those we see during “Feast Week”, it gets tougher and tougher to find a quality opponent who’s willing to use another spot in their schedule on a fellow power conference team.
There’s a very clear excitement around the program as we grow closer and closer to the season. But now that the full season schedule is together, it’s clear that Ohio State fans drew the short end of the stick with the slate of games they’ll get in Columbus.
Continue reading...
Connor Lemons via our friends at Land-Grant Holy Land
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here
Adam Cairns/Columbus Dispatch / USA TODAY NETWORK
The Buckeyes were given two weekend home games by the Big Ten this season.
Fresh off of back-to-back seasons missing the NCAA Tournament, a combined 14-26 record in conference play the past two seasons, and record lows in home attendance, the Ohio State men’s basketball program was in desperate need of a refresh this past spring.
Former athletic director Gene Smith watched the product on the court decline, and the excitement around the program steadily fall with it. Ross Bjork, Smith’s replacement as of July 1, watched from the periphery after he was announced as the athletic director in waiting.
Chris Holtmann’s Buckeyes went 2-6 after Ohio State President Ted Carter announced that Bjork would be the next athletic director on Jan. 17. On Feb. 14, Holtmann was relieved of his duties and Jake Diebler took it from there, finishing the season with a record of 8-3 and parlaying it into the full-time job.
Hiring Diebler as the next Ohio State men’s basketball coach was Bjork’s first move to reinvigorate the program. Bjork wasn’t just rewarding Diebler for his performance as the interim head coach, he was also trying to catch lightning in a bottle. There was more buzz around the program than there had been in over two years, and Diebler was the reason. Ideally, that buzz is going to carry over the summer into the fall, and ticket sales will jump accordingly.
Buckeye Students ️
Student tickets are on sale NOWWe can’t wait to have the Schott rocking this season. Lock in your spot supporting the Scarlet & Gray at home all year long
️ https://t.co/XgC4K57uNB#Team126 | #GoBucks pic.twitter.com/modi1idZTy
— Ohio State Hoops (@OhioStateHoops) September 24, 2024
The student ticket package is now $110 for 13 games, or $8.46 per game. Students can also buy tickets for $9 on a game-by-game basis. Season ticket prices were lowered, single-game prices were lowered, and Ohio State is now offering flexible four and eight-game packages for fans who aren’t ready to commit to full-season tickets.
Ohio State made tickets cheaper, sure, but the flip side of this whole deal? You need to give the fans a schedule that makes them want to come to games. Unfortunately for the fans, that did not happen this season.
Ohio State’s full schedule:
The biggest opponent that will visit Columbus during Ohio State’s non-conference schedule – Pitt – missed out on the NCAA Tournament last season. Unlike the Buckeyes, the Panthers declined an invitation to participate in the NIT. The two programs have not faced each other since 2002 and while I personally am excited for this game, most casual Ohio State fans and alumni are not too terribly fired up for a game against the Pitt Panthers.
Aside from the Pitt game, Ohio State fans get six more non-conference games at home, the toughest being against Indiana State, which also happens to be the only weekend home game on the non-conference schedule.
The Big Ten schedule – which, unlike the non-conference schedule, is completely out of Ohio State’s hands – isn’t much better for the fans, or any more convenient.
Weekend home games are the biggest draw for programs and are a head coach’s best friend. More families show up with kids, more students go to games, and they’re much easier to coordinate for potential recruiting visits. Weekend home games have better energy, louder, larger crowds, and generally provide a superior game day experience than say, a Tuesday night.
The Big Ten gave Ohio State and its fans exactly two weekend Big Ten home games this season – the fewest of any team in the conference. The Buckeyes’ matchup with Rutgers on Saturday, Dec. 7 will likely be a noon tipoff between two NCAA Tournament-caliber teams, but the Ohio State football team could wind up playing in a rather important game in Indianapolis that evening, too.
Few fans — if any — are going to attend the basketball game that afternoon in Columbus and then hightail it to Indy to watch the football team (potentially) play in the Big Ten title game that evening. Even more likely — some fans might forget the basketball team plays altogether, considering it is the first Big Ten home game of the season and most people will be fixated on football that day. Tough break!
Ohio State’s second weekend Big Ten home game comes over two months later – yep, that’s a 10-week gap – when the Buckeyes welcome Roddy Gayle and the Michigan Wolverines to the Schottenstein Center on Sunday, Feb. 16. The arena should be nearly sold out for that one, for obvious reasons.
If things go well for Ohio State in Jake Diebler’s first year, the team’s momentum should be hitting its crescendo at that point, and over 18,000 fans should be in attendance to welcome back former Ohio State guard-turned Michigan man.
The Buckeyes host Northwestern the following Thursday at home (Feb. 20), and then senior night will feature the Nebraska Cornhuskers traveling to Columbus on Tuesday, March 4 – and that’s the end of the home schedule. Even senior day, which in its purest form is a weekend game against a regional foe such as Michigan State, Indiana, or Michigan, is being snuck in on a Tuesday night against a team that has no historical significance to the Big Ten and even less emotional relevance to Ohio State fans.
Long story short – the fans got hosed this year.
Not all of this is on Ohio State, and I would even go as far to say that much of it is not. The Buckeyes hosted a ranked Texas A&M team last year at home and lost – a phenomenal game against a great team in front of the home fans. This season, the Buckeyes have to fulfil their end of the home-and-home agreement and go play on campus at Texas A&M. That game will take place on Friday, Nov. 15.
Ohio State is still locked into a contract for the CBS Sports Classic, which will pit them against Kentucky on Dec. 21 in New York. A great opponent, albeit one that 99% of Buckeye fans won’t be able to see in person.
Diebler was also able to get Texas and Auburn on the schedule – two teams that will likely be ranked to start the season – but both are at neutral locations (Las Vegas and Atlanta). That’s just a sign of the times in college basketball, as fewer and fewer programs are willing to travel and play true road games on someone else’s campus other than the ones they’re required to play within their own conference.
Did Ohio State want to load up the schedule with multiple monster home games in Jake Diebler’s first season and potentially set him up for a rough first season, and risk popping the bubble of excitement that currently surrounds the program so early in the season if things went south? I would assume the answer is no.
But even if they wanted to replace the Evansville or Campbell game with a power conference opponent at home, would Ohio State have even found a willing opponent? When you consider conference challenges and early season tournaments like those we see during “Feast Week”, it gets tougher and tougher to find a quality opponent who’s willing to use another spot in their schedule on a fellow power conference team.
There’s a very clear excitement around the program as we grow closer and closer to the season. But now that the full season schedule is together, it’s clear that Ohio State fans drew the short end of the stick with the slate of games they’ll get in Columbus.
Continue reading...