The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
Area opponents prove elusive for Yale
Jones, Bulldogs ‘frustrated’ they can’t schedule local teams
Christmas has come and gone, and once again the Yale men’s basketball team didn’t get any games against in-state rivals under its tree.
The Bulldogs haven’t played a team from Connecticut since 2016, when they faced Sacred Heart and Central Connecticut State. They haven’t played UConn since 2014, when they beat the defending national champion Huskies at Gampel Pavilion.
And it’s starting to irk the Yale coaching staff.
“It’s extremely frustrating that we can’t get anybody in the state of Connecticut to play us on a regular basis,” coach James Jones said. “We used to play everybody, all the time.”
Now?
“There’s a party in New England,” Jones said, quoting his assistant, Justin Simon, “and we’re not invited.”
Indeed, it’s not just Nutmeg State neighbors that Yale’s having trouble scheduling. Jones would love to play a Boston College or a Providence, or even a Villanova or St. John’s. He’s had high-major programs, both from the Northeast and further out West, tell him in no uncertain terms: “No way we’re playing you.”
“The teams we have to play are good teams out of our driving area for a day game,” Jones said. “We can’t get any day games with anybody.”
This year, Yale did play Rick Pitino’s Iona at Madison Square Garden. The Bulldogs played at Seton Hall, but that was part of the Rocket Mortgage Fort Myers Tip-Off tournament. They made a trip to Vermont, perennially one of the top low-to-mid-major programs in the country.
Yale lost all three games. The Bulldogs did get UMass to come to New Haven for a game, but after beating the Minutemen, Jones isn’t expecting a return visit anytime soon.
“It’s not just a Yale problem,”
Jones noted. “It’s a successful mid-major team problem. Every good midmajor has these problems. It’s not just ‘Woe is Yale.’ The hardest thing about coaching is recruiting and scheduling. Mainly because people won’t be honest with you and tell you the truth.”
The Bulldogs are 6-7, and while this may not be a vintage Bulldogs team, they were still the preseason favorites to win the Ivy League.
“No one wants to play the best team in any conference,” Jones said. “If you’re among the best teams in your conference, at the mid-major level, nobody wants to play you.”
Why is that? For the low-majors, it really comes down to coaches not wanting to schedule games they aren’t likely to win. They’ve got their jobs to consider. Sure, they’ll schedule a “buy game” against a highmajor, but at least they’ll get a nice payout for their troubles.
Yale won’t make such payouts. So instead, when Jones and his staff call other local coaches to try to schedule games, they hear a steady symphony of, “Well, you know …”
Of course, as Sacred Heart coach Anthony Latina pointed out, “Everyone’s doing what’s best for their program, and sometimes that’s not what’s best for the person on the other line.”
“Scheduling is a very selfish enterprise, when it comes to college basketball,” Latina added. “Everybody has to do what they feel is in the best interest of their program. Obviously, there are some financial components to it. Some people are forced to play games they maybe don’t want to play, for financial reasons. But there’s a strategic component, which certainly coaches want to control.”
Latina remembers going through it while he was Howie Dickenman’s assistant at CCSU, which won over 20 games a year for six straight seasons and had trouble scheduling nonconference games. As for playing Yale?
“Yeah, it’s not a game that makes a whole lot of sense to a lot of teams,” Latina confessed. “They’re very good, and that’s a credit to them. They don’t pay money, so they’re not bringing you any revenue. Would we never play them? Of course we would. But you have to feel good about your team.”
Latina said that there is no room for Yale on Sacred Heart’s schedule next year, however.
Quinnipiac, Hartford, CCSU, Fairfield all seem to be in similar boats. UConn, of course, is different. The Huskies can pay for “buy” games, but also want to put together a decent nonconference schedule for NET and NCAA tournament seeding purposes. Playing a team like Yale, at least until the past couple of seasons, was a risk the program probably wasn’t willing to take.
Now that Dan Hurley has the Huskies back to national prominence, ranked for most of this season, Jones figures UConn might be willing to schedule Yale again. But in the four years after the Bulldogs’ 45-44 win at Gampel on Dec. 4, 2014, the answer was always a firm, “No, thank you.”
And so, on Tuesday — omicron variant permitting — the Bulldogs will board a plane for their final nonconference game of the season, at Saint Mary’s, way out in Moraga, California.
“Why do I have to go all way to California for a “buy” game?” Jones wondered out loud. “The only reason I would is if I had a guy from Northern California on my roster — which I do not.”
No, the Bulldogs are simply too good for most local programs to put them on their schedule.
THIS WEEK’S AP TOP 25 BALLOT
Getting harder and harder to rank teams with COVID-19 postponements piling up, but here’s our best effort:
1. Baylor: Can the defending champs win it again this year?
2. Duke: Is this Coach K’s last season or something? Wasn’t sure.
3. Purdue: We think this could be your national champion.
4. Gonzaga: He’s good, but man, is Chet Holmgren skinny.
5. UCLA: Going to avoid making a Mick Cronin “Elf ” joke this time of year.
6. Kansas: Ochai Agbaji is fun to watch.
7. Tennessee: Win over Arizona jumps the Vols up the ballot.
8. Arizona: Despite loss to Vols, ’Zona still No. 2 in NET.
9. Texas: PG transfer Marcus Carr needs to play better.
10. Michigan State: Oh, but for that R.J. Cole “foul” in the Bahamas …
11. Ohio State: E.J. Liddell a National Player of the Year candidate.
12. Xavier: Musketeers await UConn on Tuesday in Cincinnati.
13. Seton Hall: Battling DePaul for “least vaccinated Big East team”?
14. Auburn: Could Jabari Smith be the No. 1 overall NBA draft pick?
15. Houston: Injuries to Marcus Sasser, Tramon Mark have ravaged Cougars.
16. Iowa State: Can we just hand T.J. Otzelberger National Coach of Year honors now?
17. Providence: A productive A.J. Reeves makes all the difference.
18. Wisconsin: Johnny Davis is fun to watch; Brad Davison is fun to hate.
19. USC: 12-0, but who’ve they beaten?
20. LSU: Undefeated. Couldn’t have happened to a “cleaner” program.
21. Colorado State: Best team in a pretty good Mountain West Conference.
22. UConn: Huskies undefeated when fully healthy.
23. Villanova: Nice win over Xavier, but this is no vintage Wildcats team.
24. Davidson: Steph breaks 3-point record, Wildcats win at Alabama. Merry Christmas!
25. Wake Forest: Tim Duncan ain’t walking through that door, but Deacs are 11-1.