Conferences need a fix, WIS will be at a marketing disadvantage ("Come play our game where Colorado is still in the Big 12!") until this is addressed. As far as I can tell, this mostly impacts the schedule generation process, including conference tournaments. Here's one way to address schedules when conferences have differing numbers of schools:

There are 32 conferences in real-life D-I basketball. Conferences range from 8 to 15 teams. Since many believe the power conferences will move to 16 teams, I've included this as well.

Regular Season
There are 26 games in the WIS regular season. Depending on the number of teams in the conference, a team will have from 6 to 14 non-conference games.

8 teams: Home/Away against other 7 teams + 12 non-con
9 teams: Home/Away against other 8 teams + 10 non-con
10 teams: Home/Away against other 9 teams + 8 non-con
11 teams: Home/Away against other 10 teams + 6 non-con
12 teams: Move to East/West conference structure, Home/Away against 5 other teams plus 6 versus opposite division + 10 non-con (the same structure we have now)
13 teams: Play 12 other teams + 14 non-con
14 teams: Back to East/West Conference structure, Home/away against 6 other teams plus 7 versus opposite division + 7 non-con
15 teams: Play 14 other teams + 12 non-con
16 teams: Play 15 other teams + 11 non-con

For all teams, the first 6 games of the season are non-con. Starting with game 7, every third game is either non-con (N) or conference (C), depending on how many teams are in the conference. Visually it looks like:

Game	Status
1	N
2	N
3	N
4	N
5	N
6	N
7	N/C
8	C
9	C
10	N/C
11	C
12	C
13	N/C
14	C
15	C
16	N/C
17	C
18	C
19	N/C
20	C
21	C
22	N/C
23	C
24	C
25	N/C
26	C
27	C
28	N/C

Conference Tourney
A 16 team league would have zero teams receiving a 1^st round bye, whereas an 8 team league would receive an off-day on what is currently day on of the CT. Byes handle these situations as indicated below:

16 team – 16 team bracket, no byes
15 team – 1 bye on day 1
14 team – 2 byes on day 1
13 team – 3 byes on day 1
12 team – 4 byes on day 1 (the current system)
11 team – 5 byes on day 1
10 team – 6 byes on day 1
9 team – 7 byes on day 1 (call it a play-in game)
8 team – everybody is off on day 1

I understand a shakeup in conferences would upset some of the current players, but WIS has shown a willingness to accept short-term pain for (hopefully) long-term gain. I have to believe WIS places itself at a long-term disadvantage if it doesn’t figure out how to address conference changes. This framework, combined with a commitment by WIS to periodically realign to real-life standards (annually? Every two years?), would help keep this game current.

I’m no programmer, but seems like it’s a programmable solution (Count # of teams in conference, then point to appropriate scheduling method). Adding nuance to scheduling (do I want to play in a conference with more or less conference games?) is a wrinkle when selecting a school. Plus the ability to handle realignment change (congratulations, Incarnate Word has been promoted to Division 1!) would be a good thing. Some users may not like it, but I think it would be a net positive.

WIS has been ripping Band-Aids off of everything of late, why stop now? Sounds like marketing efforts have stepped up a bit, give users an up-to-date product. 3.0 needs to be adaptable to an ever-changing basketball landscape, otherwise the long-term health of the game in its ability to attract new users is in jeopardy. Do you think a game that still relies on conference structures from the beginning of the decade is up-to-date in other aspects as well? This might seem cosmetic, but I think it has long-term importance and is very fixable. Lets work through this.

Totally agree. Good post.

This would be great. Definitely would support re-aligning our conferences to reflect real life.

Posted by davefilby on 1/19/2017 5:28:00 PM (view original):
Conferences need a fix, WIS will be at a marketing disadvantage ("Come play our game where Colorado is still in the Big 12!") until this is addressed. As far as I can tell, this mostly impacts the schedule generation process, including conference tournaments. Here's one way to address schedules when conferences have differing numbers of schools:

There are 32 conferences in real-life D-I basketball. Conferences range from 8 to 15 teams. Since many believe the power conferences will move to 16 teams, I've included this as well.

Regular Season
There are 26 games in the WIS regular season. Depending on the number of teams in the conference, a team will have from 6 to 14 non-conference games.

8 teams: Home/Away against other 7 teams + 12 non-con
9 teams: Home/Away against other 8 teams + 10 non-con
10 teams: Home/Away against other 9 teams + 8 non-con
11 teams: Home/Away against other 10 teams + 6 non-con
12 teams: Move to East/West conference structure, Home/Away against 5 other teams plus 6 versus opposite division + 10 non-con (the same structure we have now)
13 teams: Play 12 other teams + 14 non-con
14 teams: Back to East/West Conference structure, Home/away against 6 other teams plus 7 versus opposite division + 7 non-con
15 teams: Play 14 other teams + 12 non-con
16 teams: Play 15 other teams + 11 non-con

For all teams, the first 6 games of the season are non-con. Starting with game 7, every third game is either non-con (N) or conference (C), depending on how many teams are in the conference. Visually it looks like:

Game	Status
1	N
2	N
3	N
4	N
5	N
6	N
7	N/C
8	C
9	C
10	N/C
11	C
12	C
13	N/C
14	C
15	C
16	N/C
17	C
18	C
19	N/C
20	C
21	C
22	N/C
23	C
24	C
25	N/C
26	C
27	C
28	N/C

Conference Tourney
A 16 team league would have zero teams receiving a 1^st round bye, whereas an 8 team league would receive an off-day on what is currently day on of the CT. Byes handle these situations as indicated below:

16 team – 16 team bracket, no byes
15 team – 1 bye on day 1
14 team – 2 byes on day 1
13 team – 3 byes on day 1
12 team – 4 byes on day 1 (the current system)
11 team – 5 byes on day 1
10 team – 6 byes on day 1
9 team – 7 byes on day 1 (call it a play-in game)
8 team – everybody is off on day 1

I understand a shakeup in conferences would upset some of the current players, but WIS has shown a willingness to accept short-term pain for (hopefully) long-term gain. I have to believe WIS places itself at a long-term disadvantage if it doesn’t figure out how to address conference changes. This framework, combined with a commitment by WIS to periodically realign to real-life standards (annually? Every two years?), would help keep this game current.

I’m no programmer, but seems like it’s a programmable solution (Count # of teams in conference, then point to appropriate scheduling method). Adding nuance to scheduling (do I want to play in a conference with more or less conference games?) is a wrinkle when selecting a school. Plus the ability to handle realignment change (congratulations, Incarnate Word has been promoted to Division 1!) would be a good thing. Some users may not like it, but I think it would be a net positive.

WIS has been ripping Band-Aids off of everything of late, why stop now? Sounds like marketing efforts have stepped up a bit, give users an up-to-date product. 3.0 needs to be adaptable to an ever-changing basketball landscape, otherwise the long-term health of the game in its ability to attract new users is in jeopardy. Do you think a game that still relies on conference structures from the beginning of the decade is up-to-date in other aspects as well? This might seem cosmetic, but I think it has long-term importance and is very fixable. Lets work through this.

This ain't football it doesn't happen in real life college basketball. But the repitive schedule does get a little boring.

Depending on how many 13 team conferences there are, you could have a problem filling those non-conference spots, since non-con games 13 and 14 can ONLY come against other schools from 13-team conferences. Either that or you have to stagger which leagues have non-conference games on which days. And given that we're dealing with a game that only recently solved the riddle of how to get an even number of teams to schedule all their games correctly without needing to assign people a random Game 11 in the non-con season, I can only imagine how long it would take to figure out a way to evenly and equitably schedule conferences with varying numbers of teams without shifting to a model where all (or at least some) non-con games are automatically scheduled for you.

+1. One of the biggest gripes I get from friends when I show them the game is that their alma mater isn't in the correct conference - minor, but it makes the rivalries more relevant.

Why not realign and keep 12?

**** hits the fan when Mizzou/TAMU move from B12 to SEC and the two users say "WTF? I've been in the B12 with 4 friends and now you've split us up? **** this game!!!!"

Posted by MikeT23 on 1/19/2017 6:20:00 PM (view original):
**** hits the fan when Mizzou/TAMU move from B12 to SEC and the two users say "WTF? I've been in the B12 with 4 friends and now you've split us up? **** this game!!!!"

Nah. He will just relocate. The game needs to be up to date.

Yeah, it's insane to believe that.

Posted by rednu on 1/19/2017 6:13:00 PM (view original):
Depending on how many 13 team conferences there are, you could have a problem filling those non-conference spots, since non-con games 13 and 14 can ONLY come against other schools from 13-team conferences. Either that or you have to stagger which leagues have non-conference games on which days. And given that we're dealing with a game that only recently solved the riddle of how to get an even number of teams to schedule all their games correctly without needing to assign people a random Game 11 in the non-con season, I can only imagine how long it would take to figure out a way to evenly and equitably schedule conferences with varying numbers of teams without shifting to a model where all (or at least some) non-con games are automatically scheduled for you.

Totally correct on the necessity for multiple 13 team conferences. real-life DI has the MidEastern and Southland conferences at 13 each. Didn't check DII or DIII.

Agree it's a programming and logistical challenge (what happens if there is only one 13 team conference in the future), but appreciate the criticism. Don't think it's insurmountable. Other than users being dragged kicking and screaming into 2012, what else is there?

The problem I present has an easy fix, from my standpoint but maybe not a programmer's, in that you could allow users to stay in their conference, with their players, but under a "correct" school name. IOW, that TAMU user could stay in the B12 but his school name would be West Virginia.

Now, of course, you're going to get the "I didn't go to WVU, I went to TAMU and we were in the B12 then. I like it that way!!!!" guy but you can't make 100% of the people happy 100% of the time.

Number of teams per conference:

ACC - 15

SEC - 14
Conf USA - 14
Big Ten - 14
A-10 - 14

Southland - 13
MEAC - 13

Big Sky - 12
Ohio Valley - 12
Pac 12 - 12
Sun Belt - 12
MAC - 12

American - 11
Mountain West - 11
MAAC - 11

Big South - 10
West Coast - 10
Colonial - 10
Horizon - 10
Big 12 - 10
Big East - 10
Missouri Valley - 10
Northeast - 10
Patriot - 10
Southern - 10
SWAC - 10

Summit - 9
America East - 9
Big West - 9

WAC - 8
Ivy - 8
Atlantic Sun - 8

Posted by davefilby on 1/20/2017 8:18:00 AM (view original):

Posted by rednu on 1/19/2017 6:13:00 PM (view original):
Depending on how many 13 team conferences there are, you could have a problem filling those non-conference spots, since non-con games 13 and 14 can ONLY come against other schools from 13-team conferences. Either that or you have to stagger which leagues have non-conference games on which days. And given that we're dealing with a game that only recently solved the riddle of how to get an even number of teams to schedule all their games correctly without needing to assign people a random Game 11 in the non-con season, I can only imagine how long it would take to figure out a way to evenly and equitably schedule conferences with varying numbers of teams without shifting to a model where all (or at least some) non-con games are automatically scheduled for you.

Totally correct on the necessity for multiple 13 team conferences. real-life DI has the MidEastern and Southland conferences at 13 each. Didn't check DII or DIII.

Agree it's a programming and logistical challenge (what happens if there is only one 13 team conference in the future), but appreciate the criticism. Don't think it's insurmountable. Other than users being dragged kicking and screaming into 2012, what else is there?

Wasn't necessarily intending it as criticism, only pointing out the mathematical challenge/hurdle that could creep in. But since there are multiple 13-team leagues, that would be solvable. It would just be a matter of programming it in, but as I said it took forever to get the 10-game non-conference schedules to break evenly with all leagues aligned at the same number -- in fact we were told many years ago that it was just 'too complex" a problem to solve even though the math was clear that it was absolutely possible. The human programming element is probably the biggest challenge to getting this going.

Posted by MikeT23 on 1/19/2017 6:20:00 PM (view original):
**** hits the fan when Mizzou/TAMU move from B12 to SEC and the two users say "WTF? I've been in the B12 with 4 friends and now you've split us up? **** this game!!!!"

as with 3.0, need to balance the short term transition downside vs the upside of attracting newbies better