For the
first time in 36 seasons, the Washington
Huskies will not play home-and-home matches against Oregon and Oregon State.
The 2013 Pac-12 schedule won’t be released until
mid June, but Volleyblog Seattle has
learned Washington will only play each of its neighboring rivals once
this season, one in Seattle and one in either Eugene or Corvallis. Washington
will play all other Pac-12 teams twice, home-and-home.
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| Oregon's Jim Moore (L) and Jim McLaughlin will meet just once in conference play this season -Volleyblog Seattle photo by Leslie Hamann |
Volleyblog Seattle has also learned that
the Bay Area schools (Stanford and Cal) will play just one match each
against the Arizona schools (Arizona
and Arizona State), and that the
Southern California schools (UCLA
and USC) will play just once against
the Rocky Mountain schools (Utah and
Colorado).
It's also a sure bet that each team will start and end the season against its rival (UCLA/USC, Stanford/Cal, etc.), and will play one of its limited partners each of those rivalry weeks. Washington, for example, will open either home or away against Washington State, then either home or away against Oregon or Oregon State.
Why does the Pac-12 schedule just 20 matches instead of 22? The NCAA Tournament Selection Committee
relies heavily on RPI to determine
which 16 teams will earn seeds in each season’s 64-team championship
tournament. Starting last season, the Pac-12 wanted teams to have an extra week
of preseason matches, in an effort to schedule more potential RPI-building
nonconference victories. The cost of that decision: an unbalanced schedule.
In 2012, the
limited pairings were Washingtons/Arizonas, Southern Californias/Oregons
and Northern Californias/Rockies. The biggest impact was felt by UCLA fans not able to
see the Ducks, and by Oregon fans deprived of hosting USC.
And this season? The Huskies
have won 22 in a row against the Beavers, so Washington might have missed a
probable 2013 conference victory against OSU.
The Ducks,
by contrast, have become a bitter rival. In 2009, Oregon broke a long losing
streak against UW by handing the Huskies a brutal home loss the last weekend of
the season, costing Washington the Pac-10 title. The past three seasons, the
teams have each won at home, including last season’s stunning UW comeback in Alaska Airlines Arena. The Ducks went
on to reach the NCAA Finals before being swept by Texas.
Most major
conferences have already released their 2013 schedules. The Pac-12 delay is
rooted in the Pac-12 Network
schedule. The conference needs weeknight matches, including some that start as
late as 8PM. While conference coaches appreciate the exposure, many are unhappy
about increased time and travel. Crowds were also disturbingly lower on
weeknights compared to weekends.
We should note that five Pac-12 teams last season earned NCAA Tournament seeds: Stanford, Oregon, USC, UCLA and Washington. That, however, is about average for the conference. Which leads us to ask: what's your take on the extra week of preseason? Is it worth the cost of an unbalanced schedule?
I think it's worth it only if they play teams that could boost their RPI. But as we see with Washington especially and other Pac 12 teams, their preseason schedule isn't one that really challenges them. They had Purdue last year but Purdue really lacked in the power and presence that they did the year before that. Even this year, the heavy hitter for UW is Illinois who failed to keep the success from their previous year alive. They may have been able to turn that around this year but not enough to show that UW is really worth their own hype. There's a reason their preseason record is so good, they don't play high RPI teams, at least not recently.
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