Mike Machnik wrote:
 
>Now, if I remember correctly, one of those times Minnesota was due to host
>UAA and they opted to play on the road instead so that they could get the
>exemption.  I don't know if the league had to okay this, and if all of the
>other teams also have that option.  I doubt anyone else would complain if
>someone wanted to give up two home games with UAA to play them in Alaska.
 
I have no idea if this is correct, but if it is, it would have been the
94-95 season.  That year, the two teams Minnesota played only twice were
UAA and Northern Michigan.  Both series were on the road.  I hadn't heard
the story that you tell, so I had simply assumed that every team did it
that way in order to maximize the number of games.
 
By the way, that was the season that most dramatically demonstrated the
faults of the unbalanced schedule.  At the West Regional in Madison, a
number of Badger fans were complaining that they had finished ahead of the
Gophers yet were still seeded behind them in the NCAAs.  In addition to the
disparity of non-conference records (Minnesota winning both Showcase games
and Wisconsin losing them) I tried to point out that the two series
Minnesota didn't play were home series against the bottom two teams in the
league while Wisconsin had missed a series against Colorado College, along
with one other.  None of the cheeseheads seemed to listen to me as I tried
to explain this, though.
 
J. Michael Jackson
 
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