Connecticut 6 to have their time in the Sun
Bill Koch, National Columnist
Not every school has the luxury of scheduling a Veterans Day game on an aircraft carrier.
That was my first thought when I looked at Friday night’s college basketball schedule, the full debut of the 2011-2012 season as far as most of us are concerned. There was a little drama in Queens Monday night with St. John’s trailing William & Mary at the half and a little more in Tucson with Valparaiso giving No. 16 Arizona a tough time early, but the real action starts with dozens of games on the schedule at the end of this week.
The highlight from a public relations standpoint would have to be No. 1 North Carolina against Michigan State in San Diego, a game that will be held on the massive flight deck of the USS Carl Vinson. The thought of two teams playing basketball on a ship brings back visions of ABC’s Wide World of Sports and the Harlem Globetrotters hammering the Washington Generals under the sunshine in some far off location, somewhere like Guam or Fiji.
I couldn’t help turning my eyes somewhere else. Watching the Tar Heels and the Spartans will surely be great theatre, but I need more than one game to get my fix after a long summer without college hoops. Instead, I kept noticing Mohegan Sun Arena popping up on the schedule as a host venue, and it made me focus on what looks like a terrific concept in the Connecticut 6 Classic.
How often do you talk Connecticut basketball without mentioning the national champion Huskies? (Oops, I just did it. Sorry.) I personally can’t remember the last time it happened. I’m sure that people in other parts of the country might be thinking the same thing – maybe even in North Carolina and Michigan, where the ACC and the Big Ten usually dominate the conversation. Where does that leave the likes of UNC-Asheville and Oakland?
Sacred Heart, Hartford, Fairfield, Quinnipiac, Yale and Central Connecticut State have taken it upon themselves to generate that buzz. The Pioneers and Hawks will get things started in a 3 p.m. tip, followed by the Stags facing off against the Bobcats at 5:30 and the Bulldogs and Blue Devils finishing the day’s events at 8. It’s a terrific diversion for a state that is hurting a bit right now, as thousands of Connecticut residents are still without power after a freak winter storm blew through New England on Oct. 29.
Every state with multiple teams in small conferences should try to put together something like this. March Madness rolls around every year and you hear the mid-majors and smaller schools adopt an Us vs. The World mentality. Why wait until then? Start in November. Instead of Boston University playing Northeastern and Harvard playing MIT at home sites, find a common building and make it a doubleheader. Come up with a favorable ticket price in this dreadful economy to attract some fans. Imagine some of the New York schools who never get a chance to experience Madison Square Garden booking a date there in a six- or eight-team format on a Saturday. It could only help raise the respective profiles of the Hofstras and the Albanys and the Stony Brooks of the world. What recruit wouldn’t want to hear that he’ll have a chance to play on such a big stage?
I hope everyone else out there enjoys this opening weekend of the season as much as I will. My eyes will certainly be trained on the high-profile events that will dominate the television schedule, but I’m saving some space for the games that tend to fly under the radar. More events like the Connecticut 6 Classic would ensure that such contests wouldn’t remain there for very long.
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