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This is from todays Great Falls Tribune.
Big Sky ponders changes in men’s basketball tourney format
From Tribune wires
The Big Sky Conference is dropping its experiment with back-to-back basketball scheduling and lifting its limit on the size of travel parties for bus trips.
University presidents voted to make the changes at the league’s spring meetings in Salt Lake City on Tuesday.
Big Sky spokesman Jon Kasper says the league is returning to a men’s and women’s basketball scheduling format in which nine weeks will feature games on Thursdays and Saturdays, while there will also be three Monday games.
He says it was an issue of equity, because due to traveling distances, some teams didn’t play any back-to-back road games.
University presidents also lifted a cost-cutting change that limited basketball travel parties to 17, including players, coaches and trainers. The limit was lifted for bus trips, but was maintained for air travel.
In addition, officials were to talk about changing the men’s conference basketball tournament format to Wednesday- Thursday-Friday or a Thursday- Friday-Saturday format at one site, the regular-season champion. But the Big Sky is waiting for word from ESPN whether time slot on Friday or Saturday of championship week is available for televising the game.
In the recent past, the Big Sky men have started their six-team tourney a Saturday, eight days prior to Selection Sunday. The semifinals and finals have been on the following Tuesday and Wednesday at the site of the regular- season champion, with the title game on ESPN2. Moving to a three-consecutive-day format would allow the league one more weekend of regular-season play.
Big Sky ponders changes in men’s basketball tourney format
From Tribune wires
The Big Sky Conference is dropping its experiment with back-to-back basketball scheduling and lifting its limit on the size of travel parties for bus trips.
University presidents voted to make the changes at the league’s spring meetings in Salt Lake City on Tuesday.
Big Sky spokesman Jon Kasper says the league is returning to a men’s and women’s basketball scheduling format in which nine weeks will feature games on Thursdays and Saturdays, while there will also be three Monday games.
He says it was an issue of equity, because due to traveling distances, some teams didn’t play any back-to-back road games.
University presidents also lifted a cost-cutting change that limited basketball travel parties to 17, including players, coaches and trainers. The limit was lifted for bus trips, but was maintained for air travel.
In addition, officials were to talk about changing the men’s conference basketball tournament format to Wednesday- Thursday-Friday or a Thursday- Friday-Saturday format at one site, the regular-season champion. But the Big Sky is waiting for word from ESPN whether time slot on Friday or Saturday of championship week is available for televising the game.
In the recent past, the Big Sky men have started their six-team tourney a Saturday, eight days prior to Selection Sunday. The semifinals and finals have been on the following Tuesday and Wednesday at the site of the regular- season champion, with the title game on ESPN2. Moving to a three-consecutive-day format would allow the league one more weekend of regular-season play.
