Louisville Basketball to play neutral site game against St. Louis this season

[Cardiotonic]

Per Jon Rothstein of CBS, St. Louis will be one of the non conference games for the Louisville Basketball team this season.

The Cards played St. Louis on their way to the Sweet 16 in 2014 but this will be the first regular season match up since the C-USA days. This is a solid addition to the already tough Louisville schedule and while it may not be a “blockbuster” game it is one that will look good on the resume come March.

One other thing to note, the date and time have not been announced but we do know that the Louisville Football team plays in the Battle of the Bluegrass on Nov. 28th which is the same weekend projected for this game.

 

[shadow force]

Cool. This OOC schedule is shaping up pretty nicely.

St. Louis
@Michigan St.
@UK

 

[zipp]

Cool. This OOC schedule is shaping up pretty nicely.

St. Louis
@Michigan St.
@UK

Conspicuously absent? Any decent OOC teams at home...

 

[Cue Card]

Conspicuously absent? Any decent OOC teams at home...

When you play a tough conference schedule, you can get away with playing cream puffs at home. To be honest, I am a little surprised at how difficult the OOC schedule is shaping up to be. St. Louis is one of those teams that make you cringe when you see them play. That's a very tough style to play against.

 

[ChenyShaffer]

I wish the game was somehwere like Indy and Id go. I know Western Ky will be at the YUM center. Im fine with our schedule. The Cards are going to play at Mich St, UK, Duke, UVA and Norte Dame. Thats going to be super tough in its self not to mention the home games. The St. Louis game will be interesting I read they had a losing season last year but remember the tourney game the year before.

 

[zipp]

The problem is that 2/3 of the home schedule is "cream puffs". And TEN cream puffs will come in about a 40-day stretch between late-November and New Year's Day.

Not an issue unless you pay serious money to indulge in various types of dessert...

 

[Cue Card]

The problem is that 2/3 of the home schedule is "cream puffs". And TEN cream puffs will come in about a 40-day stretch between late-November and New Year's Day.

Not an issue unless you pay serious money to indulge in various types of dessert...

I understand what you're saying zipp. There is always a price to pay regarding the strength of schedule. Just imagine how bad it would be if we played watered down opponents IN conference play! There has to be a balance. Pitino understands that, but that balance comes with a price. It means suffering thru a binge of cupcakes until January in the YUM Center! I guess in that sense, the arena is named appropriately!

 

[zipp]

Ultimately--and I'm getting off topic and going to the larger debate--people pay for what they get. I question the willingness long term of season ticket holders to pay increasingly more money to see an increasingly watered down product. Even IN conference, you only get a few marquee home games. My guess is this year, we will have at most 4 to 5 ACC home games against really good teams. For those doing the math, that's 20-25% of the home schedule.

The combination of product (competition) and poor seating options in this arena out-priced me about five years ago, at least what I'm WILLING to pay for season tickets. It's more economical to buy games on a one-off basis from people and businesses who haven't yet wised up.

Back to the topic, even a St. Louis home game wouldn't have really addressed this issue...

 

[Cue Card]

Ultimately--and I'm getting off topic and going to the larger debate--people pay for what they get. I question the willingness long term of season ticket holders to pay increasingly more money to see an increasingly watered down product. Even IN conference, you only get a few marquee home games. My guess is this year, we will have at most 4 to 5 ACC home games against really good teams. For those doing the math, that's 20-25% of the home schedule.

The combination of product (competition) and poor seating options in this arena out-priced me about five years ago, at least what I'm WILLING to pay for season tickets. It's more economical to buy games on a one-off basis from people and businesses who haven't yet wised up.

Back to the topic, even a St. Louis home game wouldn't have really addressed this issue...

All valid points, but I will counter with as long as Pitino continues to win at a high percentage, and has the program in the conversation for conference and national championships, then people will pay and not complain too much. If Pitino suffers thru some "bridge years" then people will get tired of shelling out the dough and they'll stop supporting the program. Winning cures all (for now) is my retort

 

[shadow force]

Conspicuously absent? Any decent OOC teams at home...

Yeah but two of those are kind of unavoidable since UofL hosted both UK and the Big 10/ACC Challenge last season. That's why those two games aren't at the YUM this season. And of course what Cue said about our Conference schedule being tough so you can't load up the OOC too much.

 

[zipp]

I understand all of those arguments. When a corporate account holder is asked to pay another five grand for a pair of lower arena season tickets, and for many games the employees and clients don't want the tickets for free, the issues tend to distil down to the bottom line. ...What you're getting for what you're paying. Not mentioning names, but the people I buy tickets from belly ache about this stuff.

Don't really know what the solution is. This arena needs the bookings that home games provide. Very few good teams will visit without a return game. None of that suggests that much will change going forward from a product standpoint. We just better keep winning...

 

[Cue Card]

We just better keep winning...

Yep. 100% agree. If the wins go south, so will the money.

 

[arizan]

A home game against SLU wouldn't up the quality of the home slate much anyway. They were good a couple of years with Majerus's final classes, but last year they were dead last in the A-10. 11-21, 3-15 A-10

 

[Morgantown Card]

Awesome! I love winding down on Thanksgiving weekend after a long day with the family with a good, meaningful college basketball game.