When Goliath Visits David: December Meetings

In college basketball, there is no rarer an occasion than when a team from one of the Big Six conferences visits the small arenas and gyms of teams from mid-major leagues. There are many reasons why such games are infrequent, but perhaps none more prominent than the simple fact the big schools usually get their way when it comes to developing a schedule. With all of the power in this relationship, these schools can more or less buy plenty of non-conference home games without ever returning the favor for their opponents. Here, phrases like "home and home" simply do not exist.

With that said, there are times when schools from the ACC, Big East, Big 10, Big 12, Pac 10, and SEC will leave the comfort of their packed stadiums for a trip to a smaller venue. Sometimes they do it because the coaches are friends or have past ties. Other times they'll take a trip to places like Valparaiso or Evansville to give one of their players a chance to play in front of his hometown, or because a potential recruit is in that area. And often these games are scheduled for mere convenience, a sort of pit stop on the way to a bigger game or tournament, as is often the case with mid-majors on the West Coast.

The beauty of these rare matches is that anything can happen when playing on one's home court. Typically, when mid-major teams square off against those from the Big Six, the Goliaths have all the momentum, the home-crowd advantage, and intimidation working for them. But when Goliath visits David, the roles are reversed. When an upset occurs, it's a beautiful sight to behold. Fans storm the floor, engulfing the players who just become local heroes for one night.

In 2010-11, there will only be 74 instances where a Big Six school visits a mid-major gym for a regular season match-up. If there are 347 teams competing in Division I men's basketball playing an average of 31 games a season, the comes out to about 10,750 games of college basketball that will be played this season. If you do the math, that means just 0.7% of all college hoops games will feature a so-called power-six school playing at the home of a mid-major team. In essence, these are truly some of the rarest games one will find in men's basketball. To ensure you don't miss the next C of C over UNC, below is a list of all the meetings that fit the criteria for December and beyond.

Original Story: http://www.stormingthefloor.net/2010/...