This will never happen, but here's an interesting piece about "realignment" in college baseball.
After a weekend of rain delays and flight times helped decide postseason fates for Creighton and Nebraska, it's time for a new approach to college baseball writes Tom Shatel.
omaha.com
Shatel: Time for college baseball to pave a new path with realignment
by Tom Shatel, Omaha World-Herald
College realignment was never about baseball. It was about football. And, in the case of the Big East, basketball.
Now it's time for college baseball to realign.
For starters, how about a conference with Nebraska, Creighton, Iowa and any Big 12, Big Ten, Missouri Valley (and UNO) teams that can load up a bus?
Buses. Remember them?
The Jays could have used one on Saturday. What happened to them was heartbreaking and totally ridiculous.
Creighton finished a half-game out of a share for the Big East championship -- when its last game at Villanova was canceled.
Not by weather. Because the Jays had to book to the Philly airport to catch a flight.
CU coach Ed Servais told me the story. It's unbelievable.
The Creighton-Villanova series went from Thursday through Saturday, like most conferences' final series, to give schools time to go home on Sunday and get ready for league tournaments.
The Jays won Thursday night's game. Then came Friday's game, at 3 p.m.
The game was delayed by lightning in the area. Then another bolt. And another bolt. Each time, a 30-minute delay.
Around 5 p.m., the game was called on account of darkness.
Villanova plays at a field that holds 750 fans -- and doesn't have lights.
Is this really Division I baseball in 2022?
So the two teams decided on a Saturday doubleheader, a seven-inning game starting at 10 a.m., followed by a six-inning game.
The Jays had a 6 p.m. flight back to Omaha.
Well, the first game took 10 innings. By then, it was 2 p.m. There would be 30 minutes between games.
"We were 45 minutes from the airport," Servais said. "Plus, we had to change. It was 94 degrees in Philadelphia. Plus, this was a city park. They didn't have shower facilities.
"It took 20 minutes to go back to Villanova's campus to shower and then another half hour to go back to the airport."
With all that, Servais had a "drop dead deadline" of leaving at 3:10 p.m.
So they were off to the airport, leaving behind a chance at a Big East title.
Yes, the Big East tournament is arguably more important, since it will decide the league's NCAA team.
Still, unbelievable.
An honest question: Couldn't Creighton have flown back on Sunday?
It's expensive, sure. Servais said a typical travel party is 33. But would you have to buy 33 new tickets? Or would the purchased tickets count toward a new one?
That's assuming there are 33 seats available on any flights headed back to Omaha on Sunday.
"I don't know how expensive that whole situation is when you cancel flights and try to get another one," Servais said.
"I got to be honest with you, we're having a heck of a time getting to Cincinnati (for this week's Big East Tournament). We have to take two different flights. We're not even going as a team.
"Part of the problem is there are fewer flights now, ever since COVID. And you should see the routes we take. Going to Connecticut, we went to Atlanta and then to Hartford. Does that make any sense to you?
"Going to Cincinnati, we have one plane going to Denver first. Another to Chicago. That one at least makes sense."
Here's what makes the most sense: take the airplanes out of college baseball. Put the boys on a bus.
Let college football and basketball have their conference affiliations. Let the other sports stay in geographic regions with similar Division I programs who can all travel to games by bus.
If the SEC wants to stay together, so be it. But the Midwest, North and East need to be reconfigured.
College baseball should never be an airplane sport. Football flies but football pays the bills.
Football and basketball also have a clock. Baseball does not.
This very thing came back to bite the Huskers on Saturday. Sure, Purdue looked lame for not starting a game with no raindrops. We all know the score there.
But Maryland couldn't wait it out because the Terps had a flight to catch at Chicago, some two hours or more from the Purdue campus.
"That's where we miss the Missouri Valley," Servais said. "I always tell our coaches how good it was to have control. If we had a tie game on Sunday, you play and play and play.
"I think we'll have a conversation about it. Now that we saw what happened in the Big Ten, and in our league, we'll have a long discussion."
The Big East needs to have serious conversations about baseball. For starters, how serious are they?
Three Big East schools -- Villanova, Xavier and Butler -- don't have lights at their fields. In 2022, that's unacceptable.
Thins will sort out soon. The NCAA is about to find out who wants to play ball and who doesn't.
In a few months, the NCAA is expected to lift the cap on baseball scholarships and coaching staffs. Schools will be able to have as many full baseball scholarships and full-time coaches as they can afford.
There are going to be a lot of inequities in the game, and the distance between top and bottom will be greater.
Something that might keep more schools in the game is if travel costs were cut in half.
Go with regional divisions and pick the NCAA Tournament bracket off those. That's more rivalry games, more crowds, more fun.
"I think someday you're going to see that," Servais said. "I think it's going to solve a lot of problems."
Too bad it wasn't around last weekend.
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