I'd say mandate it like Iowa does via state law, but we have too many D1 schools.

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Cigarboy sucks!

Iowa has never mandated it. The threat was there, but it was never mandated. That's why they don't all play each other every year now. UNI/Drake only get a shot at one, on a neutral court, but not the other. But both Iowa and Iowa State can simply stop playing them whenever they want and I doubt the legislature will actually force them to play.

It would be impossible to do in IL as there are simply too many D1 schools. It'd be most of the out of conference schedule. You guys would play Illinois, UIC, Chicago State, Western Illinois, Northern Illinois, SIU-E... Am I missing anyone? Is there an Eastern Illinois? I'm not sure if the legislature could force a private school to play anyone. But I suppose they could force a public to play a private only if the private was okay with it.

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The Roundhouse

I was always under the impression that Iowa mandated it. I guess it stemmed from some rumor I heard while at Drake.

The D1 schools in Illinois are:

Illinois
Loyola
DePaul
Northwestern
UIC
Chicago State
Northern Illinois
Eastern Illinois
Southern Illinois
Bradley
ISUred
Southern Illinois - Edwardsville

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Cigarboy sucks!

Gee, if we played them all, we would resemble SYRACUSE who never leaves the NY except for conference games. I prefer to just beefing up our schedule as we did this year.
Next year we have the St Thomas tourney for a start--NOW let us land a few **** recruits.

It's a common error as it's been said so much that people believe it. But I've talked to enough UNI and DU fans to know it isn't the case. Many years ago it was threatened and that's it.

DePaul and NW are both private though correct? Pretty sure they couldn't be forced by legislation. And I'm not sure being forced to play Illinois is worth being forced to play a couple of the others. Although you being a private, they couldn't make you play them anyway. But if they did legislate, I'd bet the privates would be left out altogether.

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The Roundhouse

I don't have enough knowledge of the situation, but presumably even the private schools get funding (in some form) from the state.

From a city level (which I can speak better to), DePaul and Loyola get TIF dollars for projects. That doesn't take into account preferential zoning treatment and the like.

If I was an Alderman, perhaps I might seek a way to require the city schools to play each other on a yearly basis. That wouldn't be too much since we're only talking about Loyola, DePaul, UIC and Chicago State.

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Cigarboy sucks!

Western Illinois is missing from the list. There are 13 D1 schools in Illinois, which makes it especially confounding when the state doesn't get any teams in the NCAA Tournament.

How could I forget the Leathernecks?

Pardon me while I go commit seppuku.

But yea, the state of Illinois basketball is terrible. Our friend David Kaplan has been talking a great deal about it over the past few weeks. He was just in Dayton doing a game there and was dumbfounded as to why Chicago kids are going to Dayton and Xavier instead of sticking around here.

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Cigarboy sucks!