Gophers men's basketball scheduling harder than ever because 'nobody tells you the truth'

The art of scheduling nonconference opponents in men's college basketball can be nearly as important as coaching and recruiting.

The process is headache-inducing for coaches, who want to make sure their teams are stacking early season victories while also getting tested and prepared for their conference slates.

"It's as complicated now as recruiting almost," said Gophers coach Ben Johnson, whose team plays Texas-San Antonio on Friday at Williams Arena.

Johnson relies on his director of basketball, Ryan Livingston, to handle one of the most overlooked and difficult tasks in the profession. The Gophers have their highest number of nonconference home games in seven years with 10 this season, including Monday's opening win vs. Bethune-Cookman.

Depending on where a program is in development, a really tough schedule can pile up losses. A soft schedule can lead to more wins but a weak resume. The best schedulers find balance. They can help test teams just enough to prepare them for conference play.

But finding marquee opponents can be difficult, especially for the Gophers.

Their lone high-major opponent outside the Big Ten will be Missouri on Nov. 16. Two more Power Five programs showed interest in playing in Minneapolis but backed out.

"We've had some that changed their mind," Livingston said. "They're holding contracts and hedging their bets. They're using it to their advantage. We definitely wanted to play those games for sure."

The Big Ten/ACC Challenge no longer exists. The Gophers are not in the Gavitt Games vs. the Big East, which could end this year. And Johnson decided not to join a loaded Las Vegas tournament in November, so the Gophers can host their own multi-team event with Arkansas Pine-Bluff, South Carolina-Upstate and Ball State.

"Scheduling is hard," Johnson said. "Nobody tells you the truth. There were a couple things that we had that fell through that were Power Five-type games other than Missouri. But the good thing when you see our schedule, it's a different variety of teams with style of play."

Unlike in college football, the scheduling for college hoops isn't typically done several years in advance. P.J. Fleck already knows the Gophers will have a big-time matchup with Alabama in 2032 and 2033.

Conversely, when Johnson made his State Fair appearance in late-August, less than a month away from the first practice of 2023-24, the Gophers still needed to find two nonconference opponents for this season.

"You want your team to build confidence and momentum," Johnson said. "And you also want to have home games. That was my biggest thing."

The Gophers were fortunate they added Florida Gulf Coast — which barely lost to Indiana 69-63 on Tuesday — along with a home-and-home series with Missouri, with the Gophers traveling to the Tigers' home next season.

Livingston said the Gophers had an opponent that agreed to play them in the last nonconference slot, "but ... another team came in and offered them $20,000 or $30,000 more. They needed the money.

"Fortunately, Florida Gulf Coast lost a game, and I know those guys. We worked out the date and we were able to get it done."

The Gophers paid Florida Gulf Coast $110,000 to play Dec. 9 at the Barn, according to contracts obtained by the Star Tribune. That was higher than the other individual home games — and the total payout was $685,000 to six schools for what are known as "guaranteed games" or "buy games." This applies when a major conference team pays a lower-level team to fill out the home non-league schedule.

The only road non-league game is against San Francisco at the Golden State Warriors' Chase Center on Nov. 26.

How do the Gophers figure out which opponents to play in nonconference?

"The challenge with the schedule is you want to be able to address a lot of different styles," Johnson said. "You want to be prepared for everything. ... A team that might press [defense]. A team that might zone. A team that's going to deny. I wanted to get our guys thrown into the fire, so we can handle that."

Livingston had no experience in scheduling when former Gophers coach Richard Pitino hired him from Villanova in 2015. Livingston relied on relationships throughout the industry. Now, there are websites used to network by listing their specific schedule needs.

"It was kind of learning on the fly," said Livingston, who was promoted to assistant athletic director in 2020. "It's ultimately what the head coaches want for their program. It's just communicating, but a lot of it's back and forth."

The first step is talking with an assistant or administrator from the opposing team. Then those staff members communicate with their head coaches to get the thumbs up to pursue.

Producing a contract with the dates takes about a week, Livingston said. Sometimes the most tedious process is getting an athletic director or chief financial officer to sign off. Deputy AD Julie Manning signed the non-league contracts for Gophers men's basketball.

Gophers fans dream of playing a blue-blood program at Williams Arena. But it rarely makes sense for those teams to come to Minnesota, when those programs have little to gain from such a game and much more to lose.

The power conference opponents the Gophers brought to the Barn recently were Arkansas in 2016, DePaul in 2019 and 2022 and Mississippi State last year. They also played Oklahoma State at U.S. Bank Stadium in 2018.

Starting an in-state rivalry with St. Thomas isn't in the Gophers' plans right now because Johnson sees no benefit. Regional rivalries could be intriguing with border states, but the Gophers haven't played Iowa State since 2007 and Marquette since 2000.

In comparison, Minnesota's border rivals Wisconsin and Iowa have annual games against in-state programs Marquette and Iowa State, respectively. The Badgers and Hawkeyes play eight high-major opponents combined in nonconference play this season, including top 25 teams such as Tennessee, Creighton and Arizona.

"It would be fun to get some of those regional teams on a consistent basis," Livingston said. "... I think some [teams] just think they have so much on their plate already."

And the plate will only be fuller for Big Ten programs expanding to 18 teams next season. That will create even more chaos in the scheduling world. New Big Ten commissioner Tony Petitti said that a 22-game conference schedule has been discussed.

"Without knowing how many games you have in league play, it's hard to pick out a preseason tournament or nonconference [opponent]," Johnson said. "You just want to make sure early you're putting your team in the best position to be successful."

. . .

* Monday vs. Bethune Cookman (Win 80-60)

* Friday vs. Texas San Antonio

* Nov. 16 vs. Missouri

* Nov. 18 vs. South Carolina-Upstate

* Nov. 21 vs. Arkansas-Pine Bluff

* Nov. 26 at San Francisco (at Chase Center)

* Nov. 30 vs. New Orleans

* Dec. 9 vs. Florida Gulf Coast

* Dec. 12 vs. Indiana University-Purdue University

* Dec. 21 vs. Ball State

* Dec. 29 vs. Maine

Between the New Orleans and Florida Gulf Coast games, the Gophers play Big Ten games at Ohio State (Dec. 3) and vs. Nebraska (Dec. 6). They resume their Big Ten slate on Jan. 4 at Michigan.