When Wright State goes to Wisconsin for two games in three days, it plays Green Bay one night while travel partner Northern Kentucky faces Milwaukee, and then the two switch opponents the next game.
The same is true when the Wisconsin teams are the visitors. The Raiders host one and the Norse the other before flipping two days later.
Detroit Mercy and Oakland are travel partners, while Cleveland State and Purdue Fort Wayne also are paired up, as are Robert Morris and Youngstown State.
But Wright State coach Scott Nagy called the model “antiquated” and believes it hurts more than it helps.
“I know the coaches would love to get away from the travel-partner stuff. You don’t see the top leagues doing that,” he said.
While the Power-5 conferences certainly don’t bother with it, the HL does have some company among other mid-majors such as the Sun Belt and Conference USA.
But Nagy points out it creates scheduling quirks because the league has to work around the availability of the multi-purpose arenas of some members.
“About half the facilities in our league aren’t owned by (the schools). We don’t control the Nutter Center. So, if you’re doing travel partners, it makes it more difficult to put the schedules together,” Nagy said.
“Maybe we can play at home, but Northern Kentucky can’t because they don’t control their place, either.”
In February at NKU’s Truist Arena, there were three Monster Truck shows and a concert by a country artist, not to mention having to accommodate women’s basketball, too.
The Nutter Center has had an even busier February with AEW Wrestling, the Judds’ farewell tour, Nickelodeon’s PAW Patrol and an appearance by the Christian band Shinedown.
“We’re just constrained because we want to do this travel-partner thing — just because it’s a little cheaper,” Nagy said.
This year’s schedule certainly contains some oddities. The Raiders are playing six of their last eight games on the road, while the Norse are playing seven of their final eight.
In 2014-15, the last year before travel partners, the Raiders never played more than three straight games on the road or at home.
Nagy has put aside the frustrations about his team, but he feels for league co-favorite NKU.
“One of the best teams in our league shouldn’t have to play seven of their last eight on the road. I don’t think it’s good for them, and it’s not good for our league,” he said.
“It’s what we did in Division II. This is a league that’s trying to make jumps, and if we’re going to make jumps, let’s quit doing this and get a better schedule for everybody.”
Of course, having a string of road games also means an extended stretch at home at some point — and the Raiders have played as many as five consecutive home games under Nagy.
But the seventh-year coach sees a downside to that, too.
“I don’t want to play five games in a row at home because the fans get tired of you being here,” he said.
“Fans don’t want to come five games in a row. They want you to go away and look forward to you coming back. Fan fatigue is what we call it.”
Making up ground: The Raiders were tied for fifth in the league with Oakland at 9-7 going into the Grizzlies’ home game Wednesday with IUPUI.
Youngstown State and Milwaukee are tied for first at 12-4, while NKU and Cleveland State are tied for third at 11-5.
The top four teams get first-round byes and a quarterfinal home game in the league tourney.
“At this point in the season, every game counts. We’re trying to fight our way back in the standings so we can get the best seed possible,” forward Brandon Noel said.
Honored again: Noel was named HL freshman of the week for the fourth time Monday. He had 12 points, eight rebounds and seven assists against IUPUI, and he followed that with 18 points and eight boards against NKU.
He was a combined 10 of 11 from the field and 10 of 10 on foul shots.
IUPUI’s Vincent Brady II also has won the award four times this season.
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