Nine o'clock blues

While the advent of regular Sunday night college basketball games with the ACC's package with Fox Sports Net nearly a decade ago isn't the most fun thing in the world, it does have some advantages over at least one other scheduling nightmare.

The 9 p.m. midweek tip.

It's not that it snarls deadlines for writers (believe me, I've never gotten a shred of sympathy for that from anyone outside the business, and I don't expect to any time soon). It's not players aren't up past their bedtimes (which they're not).

But it is fan unfriendly. I haven't tried taking a 10-year-old to a 9 o'clock game. But I can't imagine the repercussions are much fun.

Meanwhile, for road games, players remain cooped up in a hotel all day. Then they play, hop on a plane and get home around 3 a.m.

Sounds pleasant, right?

Anyway, I couldn't help but wonder as Maryland rolls into a stretch during which it plays four midweek 9 p.m. games in a span of 28 days just what the distribution of such games are throughout the conference.

Naturally, this led to a patented Spiffy Chart, with total 9 p.m. midweek conference games included (such games on the road in parentheses) since the league expanded to 12.

School	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010	Total
Boston College	3 (1)	2 (1)	1 (0)	3 (0)	2 (1)	11 (3)
Clemson	0 (0)	1 (0)	1 (0)	3 (2)	2 (1)	7 (3)
Duke	3 (2)	5 (3)	4 (2)	3 (2)	4 (3)	19 (12)
Florida State	1 (0)	1 (1)	2 (1)	2 (1)	2 (1)	8 (4)
Georgia Tech	1 (1)	2 (1)	3 (2)	0 (0)	1 (0)	7 (4)
Maryland	3 (2)	5 (1)	2 (0)	3 (1)	4 (2)	17 (6)
Miami	3 (2)	2 (1)	3 (1)	1 (0)	1 (0)	10 (4)
North Carolina	4 (1)	4 (2)	3 (2)	4 (3)	5 (4)	20 (12)
N.C. State	2 (1)	4 (2)	1 (1)	0 (0)	4 (0)	11 (4)
Virginia	2 (1)	4 (3)	0 (0)	1 (0)	1 (1)	8 (5)
Virginia Tech	0 (0)	2 (1)	2 (1)	0 (0)	2 (1)	6 (3)
Wake Forest	2 (1)	2 (1)	2 (2)	2 (2)	0 (0)	8 (6)

All very interesting, including that the number of 9 p.m. conference games has dropped from 17 (2007) to 12 (2008) to 11 (2009) before jumping back to 14 this year.

Also: For this particular season, N.C. State dodged any midweek road 9 p.m. tips, while North Carolina (four) and Duke (three) took it on the chin. Unexpectedly fascinating.

Overall, it's possible to argue Duke and North Carolina have gotten the schedule shaft the most, with 12 midweek road 9 p.m. tips in that stretch. But of those 24, five are Carolina-Duke games, and there's more than a few trips to N.C. State in that mix (including both making the jaunt to Raleigh last month).

Maryland is easily third on the list of 9 p.m. midweek games, but the Terps have played/will play nearly two-thirds of those at home.

But how about placing some results with those games played?

Not a problem. (Note: A disparity between total games in the two charts is explained away by the fact the first chart includes this year's entire schedule and the second one doesn't, by virtue of it not yet being complete).

School	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010	Total
Boston College	1-2	1-1	1-0	1-2	1-0	5-5
Clemson	0-0	0-1	1-0	2-1	1-0	4-2
Duke	3-0	2-3	3-1	1-2	1-1	10-7
Florida State	1-0	0-1	0-2	0-2	0-1	1-6
Georgia Tech	0-1	1-1	0-3	0-0	0-0	1-5
Maryland	1-2	3-2	1-1	0-3	0-0	5-8
Miami	1-2	1-1	1-2	1-0	0-1	4-6
North Carolina	2-2	3-1	2-1	4-0	1-1	12-5
N.C. State	1-1	2-2	0-1	0-0	1-1	4-5
Virginia	1-1	3-1	0-0	0-1	0-0	4-3
Virginia Tech	0-0	1-1	2-0	0-0	0-0	3-1
Wake Forest	1-1	0-2	1-1	2-0	0-0	4-4

Funny. Maryland plays the third most midweek 9 p.m. games and has the third-worst record over the last five years (ahead of only Georgia Tech and Florida State).

And now that this number has been researched, it wouldn't surprise me if I and a whole bunch of other folks hear it mentioned heading into the array of midweek 9 p.m. games the Terps must contend with over the next month.

Maryland, in fact, has lost as many or more midweek 9 p.m. conference games in the last five years as six ACC teams have each played.

Just in case you were wondering, of course.

Comments

[Dave Tucker]

Great work as always Patrick. Keep it up.

-Dave Tucker
Testudo Times

[Lindemann]

This post is super-genius.