COMMENTARY
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Even college basketball coaching giants such as Bill Self and Bob Huggins can’t get their way in the tug-of-war against television.
In the case of the SEC/Big 12 Challenge moving to January, ESPN’s influence actually became a blessing.
Saturday marks the second year the interleague event will be wedged into the middle of the Big 12’s round-robin meat grinder. That’s unconventional, and some coaches criticize its inconvenience. But to fans both attending and viewing from home, this means broader exposure and more exciting atmospheres than burying the Challenge in December.
College hoops TV ratings can’t compete with college football during the holidays. Basketball has evolved into a second-semester sport, and ESPN rightfully prefers to play these games when the public cares most.
Kansas shares Saturday’s marquee billing at Kentucky, a top-four faceoff anticipated for weeks and one, that because it’s being played later in the season, will carry a profound impact on NCAA tournament seeding.
Still, Self contends “there’s not coach out of the SEC or Big 12 that would say it is a well-scheduled game.”
Even as No. 18 West Virginia hosting Texas A&M approaches a sellout, Huggins prefers this game had been played six weeks ago. He claims his peers weren’t advocates of the Challenge shifting dates.
“We got talked into it,” he said. “It certainly was ESPN-driven. Wasn’t the coaches.”
Here’s what ticket numbers reveal:
— The first two years of the SEC/Big 12 Challenge were played in early December in arenas filled to only 74 percent capacity.
— Last year’s games that were moved to January? Attendance spiked to 93 percent capacity.
Huggins contends that playing high-profile matchups in December would convince basketball fans to start caring earlier, but West Virginia’s three-year history in the Challenge hasn’t support the theory.
The Mountaineers were off to a 7-0 start on Dec. 4, 2014, when LSU visited. That game drew an announced attendance of 10,802 when the WVU Coliseum accommodates 14,000.
The previous year Missouri improved to 8-0 when it hosted West Virginia on Dec. 5. Too bad Mizzou’s 15,061-seat arena was less than half full.
Compare that to last season when ESPN shifted the series to Jan. 30 — when students were on campus and college football wasn’t hogging the attention. Florida beat WVU while packing more than 11,600 fans into the O’Dome, exceeding its capacity of 10,151.
I’m fully aware how ESPN and other networks sometimes chase ratings to the detriment of athletes. Not in this case, though.
TCU first-year coach Jamie Dixon heard other Big 12 coaches panning the Challenge’s quirky timing during media day last fall. But now he doesn’t agree with the pack.
“From afar I wondered why it was done, but as I go through it now I think it’s pretty good,” Dixon said.
“I like how it fits in. The crowds seem to be a lot better come January and February. I think it works for us.”