Are the matchups for the Big 12/SEC Challenge determined strictly by the previous year’s conference standings in each league? It sure seems like we end up facing the same small group of teams.
Is there a formula for determining which teams are at home and which ones hit the road?
I want us to play Kansas. West Virginia would be fun too. But Kansas’s campus is fairly close to fayetteville. A home-and-home would be fun. Would feature two of the best home environments in basketball.
But…perhaps there’s an AD involved that would not want that…
It’s based roughly on the previous year’s standings. Basically seventh place in the SEC is going to play seventh in the 12-2. There are adjustments; the SEC doesn’t always take its top ten from the previous year. We actually shouldn’t have been in the Challenge, since we finished 11th last year. Okie Lite finished 8th in the LD.
This year Georgia, South Carolina, Vandy and Ole Miss are left out.
Maybe as bad as the Prairie Chickens have been so far we might play them next year. Lately it hasn’t been close.
Pretty sure Matt has addressed this before… as I recall, the teams that finish 11-14 in the SEC do not qualify for the Challenge in the TWO years after that particular season. So, the Hogs will not be a part of the Challenge in 2022 (as that should be the lone exception for years to come).
Accurate
Correct. The SEC-Big 12 Challenge teams next year (in 2021-22) will be based on the SEC standings from last season (2019-20). Because Arkansas was 11th in the SEC last year, it won’t play in the Challenge next year.
The matchups are determined by the conferences and ESPN, based on what will create most interest. Typically a team will play at home if they played on the road the year before. Arkansas has never played on the road or at home in consecutive seasons.
Why is there one year delay in deciding who the Too 10 teams are?. I knew this rule was sort of there, but when we got into the Challenge this season after finishing 11th last season, I thought we had somehow managed to escape the rule.
I assume it is to help teams prepare in scheduling.
After checking on this a little more, it sounds as if the SEC has modified how teams are going to be selected for the Challenge and whichever teams are selected next year will be guaranteed a spot in the Challenge for the following season, too. I don’t have a definitive answer on how the teams will be selected, but I suspect it might be based on a two-year conference record.
That is a long way to say: Arkansas might be in the Challenge next season after all. It won’t be determined until after this season ends.
Seems to me that going on a single season record might knock out some really good teams that were young but have matured. Since we seem to care what the league’s Challenge record is versus the Little Dozen, might as well get the best teams we can. Of course nobody knew Bama was going to be this good this year, but what if they were left out because they finished 11th two years ago?
Actually, Mike and Geno (and Muss and Southern) have proved you don’t need two years notice to schedule a game. Pick your Challenge teams on January 1 or January 15; the four that aren’t selected can play each other on Challenge day.
That happened 2-3 years ago with Auburn. They were the best team in the league but had been bad two years earlier, so they weren’t in the Challenge.
Florida won
Misery won
Bama lost
We lost
LSU lost
Aggies won
Auburn lost
Tennessee is up big at half
Moo U is up big at half
Kentucky didn’t play
If the Viles and Leghumpers finish those games off, SEC wins the Challenge 5-4.
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