Friday night basketball-- yea or nay.

Submitted by scanner blue on January 26th, 2019 at 10:31 AM

I find myself sitting here planning out my weekend and there is no slot where I need to either go to the game or open a beer and and cheer in front of the TV. The reason for this is of course the B1G/ FS1 contract putting a few of our gmes on Fridays (next Fri. 7pm EST from Iowa City). With out any researsh I would assume the ony time we normally have played on a friday night is in a tournament (NCAA, B1G, NIT, or a holiday tournament) or for a day after Thanksgiving like we did this year. 

Does it free up your weekend or leave a big blank spot where you want to see Beilein's young men compete?

MH20

January 26th, 2019 at 10:41 AM ^

As long as Michigan wins by 23 I hope all of their games are on Friday nights!

On a serious note, it was kinda weird but I wonder if the Assembly contingent wasn't as rowdy as a weekend one may have been. Seems like weeknight crowds (I know Fri isn't a weeknight but it is still a work day) aren't usually quite as full as weekend ones.

TrueBlue2003

January 26th, 2019 at 3:24 PM ^

Yep, impossible to get a gauge on the crowd last night given how the game went.

I'm not sure how much fans at schools like IU tailgate for basketball games (maybe more than M fans?), but I would think Friday night games are a nice follow-up to a happy hour drink for the non-student crowd and are much more likely to have rowdy students sections than at, say, noon on a Sunday.

Gotta think there's an increase of alcohol-induced rowdiness on Friday nights.  As a student, I would have loved Friday night games.  Get the weekend started right and leave your Saturday and (more importantly) Sunday afternoons open for studying or attempting to be productive in some way.

6:30 is a bit on the early side though, 7 or 8 would be better.

S.G. Rice

January 26th, 2019 at 10:53 AM ^

Meh.  Easily my least favorite but I’ll watch anyway.  Much prefer the rest of the weekend where driving down for the game would at least be possible.

WindyCityBlue

January 26th, 2019 at 11:33 AM ^

I wasn’t sure if I believed you that you are  86. But then I saw:

1. Misuse of punctuation commonly associated with someone perhaps not well versed in using smartphone or regular keyboards. 

2. Run on sentences that still make sense. 

3. In bed by 9:30

4. “Naples” in your name. 

(Note: like the other poster, just giving you shit. Hope no offense was taken)

jmblue

January 26th, 2019 at 10:55 AM ^

I'm not a fan of Friday or Monday games.  It throws the schedule off-kilter and can lead to abnormally long or short breaks between games.  And I generally think these guys should play fewer weekday games since that means (if it's on the road) missed class time.

Sambojangles

January 26th, 2019 at 1:08 PM ^

Not conflicting with hockey is the key, though I doubt it's any consideration for the AD or TV schedulers. As far as I'm concerned, hockey has first dibs on Friday night sports in the winter. 

And as I type this, I see that next week's games conflict - Basketball @ Iowa at 7, hockey @ Minnesota at 8. On top of the timing, of course this is the first weekend so far this year both hockey games are on TV (FS Detroit Plus). So for the second half/first period, both games will be on simultaneously. 

BlueBuffalo

January 26th, 2019 at 10:58 AM ^

I loved it. Game started at 430 in Colorado. Started the weekend a little early with a Michigan W. Good stuff. 

I was a little scared that going into Assembly Hall on a Friday night was gonna be rough. The 17-0 start says otherwise. Their crowd was awesome though. Watching on TV it felt a lot closer because every time IU scored a couple of buckets in a row the crowd reacted like the were on a 10-0 run. 

scanner blue

January 26th, 2019 at 11:03 AM ^

It definitely crimped my dinner plans -immediately started chili when I got home , cornbread was going in the oven during the timing snafu, made my deluxe coleslaw during TV timeouts and dinner was ready at the 4 min break.  An 8pm tip would have been perfect. .Iowans next week have a 6pm tip(maybe a pizza night for them).

Mike Damone

January 26th, 2019 at 11:05 AM ^

Didn't like it - ruined my happy hour, distracting me from my favorite after work hobby - drinking several Ketel One dirty martinis w blue cheese olives, and leering at young professional ladies in their tight business skirts.  

Reminded me of going to the strip club on Saturdays back in the day, and trying to watch Michigan football while getting a lap dance.  Too much action, hard to focus on one...

St Joe Blues

January 26th, 2019 at 11:09 AM ^

Absolutely not. My son plays high school basketball and the only reason we were able to watch last night is because it's the only Friday they didn't have a game scheduled. Football stays away from the traditional HS game slot. Basketball should too.

TrueBlue2003

January 26th, 2019 at 3:42 PM ^

This is why they stayed away from it for so long (like with football on Fridays).

I guess the demand for TV programming on Friday nights became too great.  I wonder what the affect is on viewership though.  There are hundreds of thousands of basketball fans attending HS games in the state of Michigan on Friday nights - all people highly likely to be interested in watching college basketball games.  Wonder if the ratings are still worth it.

TrueBlue2003

January 26th, 2019 at 3:44 PM ^

Hard to sleep for the players or for the fans?

For the players (at least, for me) it was a lot harder to sleep the night before the game because of nerves and anticipation and my brain running through the gameplan and scouting report, etc. than after the game.  After the game is like getting a breather.

Blue in St Lou

January 26th, 2019 at 11:41 AM ^

I’m not crazy about Friday night games. I was at services at my synagogue and kept taking peeks at the ESPN app on my watch to check the score. Hope the Rabbi didn’t notice. But what an era we live in!

M-Dog

January 26th, 2019 at 1:27 PM ^

I wouldn't want to see it all the time, but once in a while is OK.

I almost missed the IU game because I did not pay attention closely enough that it was actually on a Friday.

 

Im thinkin bou…

January 26th, 2019 at 1:36 PM ^

Umich should never play on the same night that high school basketball players play on.  Not only for recruiting purposes, but the people who watch highschool basketball also like to watch college basketball.