Excerpt from the Dayton Daily News
Wright State basketball coach Scott Nagy spoke often last season about how the Horizon League schedule — a 20-game marathon that had teams playing the same foe on back-to-back days on a weekend — was a mental and physical grind.
The league warned coaches a year ago about its plans for 2021-22, so nobody can say he didn’t see it coming, but Nagy and his crew won’t be getting a break this season.
The conference unveiled its schedule Wednesday, and it includes an unprecedented 22 league games, meaning every school will play all other members twice (though with the usual spacing between meetings).
“Obviously, it makes for a long conference season — 22 is long,” said Nagy, who is entering his sixth season.
The league played 14 games when Wright State joined in 1994-95. And it fluctuated from 16 to 18 between 2000 and 2020.
Last year’s 20-game schedule wasn’t an outlier nationally — the Big Ten, ACC and PAC-12 all play 20 — but the Horizon may end up being the only conference out of 32 in Division I playing 22 this season.
“I would say the league, since I’ve been here, is the best it’s ever been,” Nagy said. “That’s a good thing. That’s what we need our league to be."
