Morgantown, West Virginia – Although the game time for the West Virginia Mountaineers versus Baylor Bears game that was re-scheduled for Thursday, February 25th has not yet been released, it’s almost certainly going to be a 9:00PM tip-off.
This means that not only will West Virginia fans have to be up until nearly midnight to see the end of the game, it also means that the Mountaineers will face a grueling three games in a six day span.
West Virginia will visit Texas Saturday and then travel to play TCU on Tuesday. Following that road trip, the Mountaineers will then back at home for a game against Kansas State on February 27th.
West Virginia knew what it was getting itself into when it decided to join the Big 12 Conference, but 9:00PM game times are simply unfair for the Mountaineers.
Typically, West Virginia flies back home to West Virginia following a 9:00 game. If the game ends around 11:00, the Mountaineers are likely on a plane and headed back home around 12:30 or 1:00AM.
By the time West Virginia lands in Clarksburg, it could be 3:00AM. Then they get on a bus and drive the 45 minutes to an hour drive into Morgantown. This means that when it’s all said and done, the Mountaineers arrive at home in their bed around 4AM-6AM the next day.
That would be an extremely demanding schedule for anyone, but particularly for student-athletes, who already carry a tremendously difficult workload.
It’s unreasonable to ask a student-athlete to compete on the other side of the country at 9:00PM, fly back in the middle of the night and then be ready for classes the following day.
9:00 games on weekdays should absolutely never happen for the West Virginia Mountaineers. This team is resilient and tough, but asking them to compete on the other side of the country and then attend school the next day is simply unfair.
