Boston College Basketball: Assorted Thoughts For Basketball Town Hall Meeting

On Saturday before the Clemson game, Boston College AD Brad Bates has invited men's basketball season ticket holders to a "Town Hall Meeting" to discuss their experiences as an Eagles' hoops fan. At this point, I don't believe the purpose of the meeting is to pile on Donahue. However, just like football, Bates is trying to gain some valuable insights from the customer base on where Boston College can improve as a program.

I'm not a basketball season ticket holder and won't be able to be in attendance on Saturday. However, here are some of my thoughts on possible topics for the open forum (again, setting aside the obvious question of Who will be the Boston College men's basketball coach in 2014-15?).

Leave your own thoughts below.

-- Is Boston College looking to beef up the home non-conference schedule -- outside of the ACC/Big Ten Challenge -- in the future? It has been several years since a non-New England, brand-name, major conference program has come to the Heights outside of the Challenge (Kansas in 2008?). Why is that? Are blue chip programs not willing to come to Boston because of Conte Forum's capacity? What would it take to land such a team in non-conference play? Do season ticket holders feel like such a game would help boost ticket sales, even if it was scheduled over winter break?

-- What's up with all the Sunday non-conference home games? Would those games be better attended if they were scheduled on Saturdays?

-- How much does the men's and women's hockey schedules alter the ability to schedule men's basketball home games? What is the turnaround time for converting the ice rink back to hardwood?

-- What is the order of preference for playing the following regional opponents annually: Boston University, Bryant, Connecticut, Harvard, Holy Cross, Northeastern, Providence, Rhode Island. Most seasons, with the exempt holiday tournament, the ACC/Big Ten Challenge and existing home-and-home scheduling obligations, it's near impossible to squeeze all those teams onto the schedule every year, so have to make some cuts.

-- How do season ticket holders feel about the neutral site game in Brooklyn this year (Brooklyn HOOPS Winter Festival vs. VCU) vs. playing a comparable opponent on campus. What about the BC-UMass game at TD Garden? Shouldn't that be moved back to campus going forward?

-- Should BC continue to schedule Division II schools like Phila U., or is there no appetite for attending these types of games? In other words, is this a waste of the few opportunities the program has to schedule a stronger non-conference opponent to boost attendance / sales?

-- Not sure if anything can be done about this between the conference office and ESPN, but 7 PM vs. 8 PM vs. 9 PM mid-week tipoffs? Is there a preference? Is one start time going to make season ticket holders more likely to attend a mid-week home game over the others? If so, why?

-- What sort of outreach is being done in the community to promote better attendance at home games? How much external marketing is done today? Any plans to spend more on marketing to the community and the greater Boston area?

-- Plans to revisit Ice Jam? Midnight Madness? Yes / no? If no, why not?

-- Is BC actively benchmarking to other conference members, both current (Maryland) and future (Louisville) with respect to ticket prices, total number of home games, coach salaries, assistant coach salaries, etc.? If so, where does BC rank among its conference peers? How does the athletic department plan on closing that gap?

-- Any other regional, non-conference programs to which BC is comparing itself to? Providence? UConn? How does BC stack up to these programs?

-- With the ACC Tournament moving to Washington D.C. in 2015, is there any push within BC's own athletic department to try to bring the tournament even closer? New York? Boston?

-- Are there any plans for a separate practice facility that doesn't double as the varsity women's volleyball home court? E.g. Providence has plans for a new men's basketball indoor practice facility.

-- Any plans to modify / renovate Conte Forum? Changes to seating configuration? Parking? Other suggested amenity changes?