A few more college basketball series that should exist
the desperation of the college hoops summer
Back on Christmas Eve - which is somehow six months ago now! - I shared a list of ten matchups I’d like to see come back in college basketball, or ones that haven’t existed before but should. (Linked here, as Elon still is not allowing Substack to embed tweets.) Given that it is the dead of summer and I’m still working on a few larger projects that require more time, I’m diving back into the gold mine of Things That Should Be Happening But Are Not.
Here’s our qualifications for series we’re hunting for:
The matchup must not have been played at any point since 2013, unless…
The matchup HAS been played one time in the 2013-2023 timespan, but either at a neutral site or as part of some sort of conference vs. conference challenge, AKA not willingly scheduled.
The two teams involved must be within 500 miles of each other; we’re hunting for regionally-appropriate series to reinforce some sense of regionality in college sports, while it dwindles by the day.
This produced a list of six interesting options, some of which are probably more reasonable down the road than others. As always, we’re demanding that every game in these series are played at true home court environments, not sterile neutral sites that don’t aid fans in any way. Lastly, these matchups aren’t ordered in any specific way; it’s just in the pattern that my brain, which is flawed, cooked them up. Onward!
Tennessee vs. West Virginia
Last played: 2019 (Tennessee 83, WVU 66 in Knoxville)
Total times played: 9 (WVU 5-4)
Distance between schools: 422 miles
Considering this was played just four years ago and was a blowout, we’re really fudging the numbers a bit right out of the gate. Plus, I’m sure this series would have been a little more interesting prior to West Virginia’s summer from hell. Or maybe it’s more interesting, I don’t know. Also, this is pretty ripe stuff for a Tennessee-based writer to be covering, obviously.
Either way, it remains insane to me that Tennessee does not have a consistent year-over-year series with any of the Virginia or West Virginia schools. Distance aside, East Tennessee and the Appalachian areas of the two Virginias are culturally quite similar. They produce a lot of the same types of people. They care a lot about football. (Not UVA, though.) But most importantly, Tennessee and West Virginia fans are the exact same kind of insane: message board posters extraordinaire, overly online, extremely volatile, and deeply funny.
All of that is off the court; on the court, this would be a matchup between a top 10 and a top 25 program of the last half-decade. Neither has progressed past the Sweet Sixteen since 2010, but they produce a level of year-over-year success that has many, many other schools jealous. The other aspect is both schools having surprisingly brutal home environments to play at. Home court advantage as a concept is flawed, but in KenPom’s HCA rankings, these are two of the 10 toughest schools in America to play a true road game at. Tennessee is 29-10 (!) against Top 100 teams at home since 2018, while WVU’s 25-21 record looks less impressive but includes several wins over Top 25 teams sprinkled in.
Also, WVU has a deceptively weird shooter’s eye behind the basket:
You’re kind of shooting into a digital ad board? It’s strange. Anyway, I would like for this series to exist immediately.
Utah State vs. Colorado
Last played: 1989 (Colorado 104, Utah State 90 at USU)
Total times played: 6 (Colorado 4-2)
Distance between schools: 493 miles
Generally, suggesting that a Big Six school go play a true road game at a non-Big Six school is a non-starter. It doesn’t happen often because the school is not required to do that to fill their schedule in the same way non-Big Six schools generally have to. That being said, using the last five years of Torvik’s rankings, this is #38 Utah State (from the 9th-best conference in America) and #48 Colorado (from the 6th). It’s not quite like asking Illinois to do a home-and-home with Dayton; the Pac-12 is closer in quality to the MWC than it is to the Big 12/Big Ten/SEC.
So this is a series that should be played, not just because it’s two top 50 teams within 500 miles of each other, but because it’s two top 50 teams with insane home environments that are hard as hell to win at. Combined, these two have won 80% of their home games over the last five years, including a 10-7 record against top 50 opponents. A good amount of this can be attributed to elevation, as both schools push 5,000 feet above sea level if not over it. (Colorado is closer to 5,500.) At least in Utah State’s case, they can point to a bonkers fanbase that adores basketball deeply:
Colorado doesn’t have quite the same student reputation, but it can produce some great crowds and remains a hard place to win. Plus, this would benefit what’s generally a pretty forgettable non-con slate for the Buffs.
Kansas vs. Purdue
Last played: 2017 (Kansas 98, Purdue 66 in NCAA Tournament)
Total times played: 5 (Kansas 4-1)
Distance between schools: 524 miles
By Wins Above Bubble, these are the two best home-court teams of the last half-decade. Between them, they’ve lost just 13 of a possible 155 home games, with none of them being to truly sloppy opponents. (In fact, I think Purdue’s 2022-23 loss to Rutgers is the only loss of the group to a non-NCAAT team.) 524 miles is a hair over our limit, but it’s within reason. So: why don’t these two teams ever play each other?
It makes a lot of sense for a series, even if we’re forced to see it at a dreaded neutral site. They’re two of the winningest, most consistent programs of the last 15 years. Kansas has the titles to point to, of course, while Purdue’s best run in that span is one Elite Eight bid. Still, Purdue wins a ton of games, and we’re talking about a regular season competition. It’s two elite coaches (yes, Painter counts) with two generally terrific rosters, no worse than top 10 every year.
At minimum, it is absurd that the last time these two played each other in the regular season was in 1949. Get it on the books.
Memphis vs. Arkansas
Last played: 2003 (Memphis 72, Arkansas 67 at Arkansas)
Total times played: 21 (Arkansas 11-10)
Distance between schools: 318 miles
I mean, why isn’t this played? Memphis and Arkansas used to play each other every year from 1991 to 2003, trading home-and-home sites. They were never ranked at the same time, but in 14 of the last 18 games in this series, one of the two teams were ranked. The games were sellouts on both sides. Like it or not - and a lot of Tennessee readers don’t - it’s two programs with a ton of basketball history and fans that will kill for a good product.
Like many good things in life, this series was killed off by John Calipari. Calipari discontinued this series in the early 2000s, describing Arkansas as “not a national program” (true at the time, to be fair) and seeking competition elsewhere. Separated by just a 4.5-hour drive, this would be an easy trip for both fanbases. Plus, Penny Hardaway, a guy with fairly complicated thoughts on rivalries, really wants this back on the schedule. Is Eric Musselman - a coach who last played a true non-conference road game in December 2019 - willing to cooperate?
Drake vs. South Dakota State
Last played: 2017 (South Dakota State 87, Drake 74 at SDSU)
Total times played: 3 (SDSU 2-1)
Distance between schools: 334 miles
This is cheating, as they played a true home-and-home series in 2016 and 2017. But I’m willing to let this slide in, because it should happen more often than a one-off. Did you know that, from 2018 onward, Drake is 60-9 at home? Did you know that South Dakota State is 55-4? Between them, they lose about two home games per season - a remarkable rate for schools at their respective levels - and consistently contend for their conference titles.
Drake is not really at a level where it can outright refuse to take tough road trips from time to time, but at the same time it could be very beneficial for South Dakota State to get one of these in before they go. Plus, both schools have great home-court advantages when they’re playing well, as both currently are. Why is this not an every-year thing?
Dayton vs. Marquette
Last played: 2008 (Dayton 89, Marquette 75 at Dayton)
Total times played: 35 (Marquette 21-14)
Distance between schools: 394 miles
For several years, when these two shared a conference - the Great Midwest, which later saw their members split between Conference USA and the Atlantic 10 - this was an elite rivalry that Marquette generally had the upper hand in but produced several fun games. Last played 15 years ago, though, it’s been forgotten. That’s a genuine shame. The last every-year installment of this series was a classic: a 2003 affair where #13 Marquette, with Dwyane Wade on its side, traveled to Dayton and lost a 92-85 decision in overtime.
Now, more than ever, I think that needs to come back. Both schools are doing just fine in their respective conferences, obviously. Dayton has played like a borderline top 40 school the last five years; Marquette is borderline top 30 and edging towards the top 20-25 under Shaka Smart. Marquette’s home games are starting to become must-see events, with crowds edging towards 14,000 on average this year. Dayton, meanwhile, sells out basically every single home game they play.
In an era where regionality no longer matters and where most of the good non-conference games get played in the middle of nowhere to crowds of 2,200, these two schools must take a stand. A trend - a retvrn, as the kids say - must start somewhere. It begins here, where Dayton and Marquette rekindle an old rivalry in our basketball dreams. Time is of the essence, fellas.