So it looks like most Big Ten cross-country road trips are 2 days apart (examples Sun-Wed, Tues-Friday)
For the 14 teams in the east¢ral time zones., that means one trip a year to the West coast, to play 2 games, 2 days apart
For the 4 west coast schools, that means each school will make 4 road trips a year to the east or central time zone, 2 games on each road trip that are 2 days apart.
That's a lot time off-campus for the West coast teams. I hope they are taking all online classes. I know that's what Caitlin Clark did her final semester at Iowa. In fact she was still taking online classes when she was playing her first games for the Indiana Fever.
From the perspective of whether or not to add the schools, I think this is a good reason not to but that is water over the dam as they say. From the perspective of scheduling I think this is the best they could have done. One multi-day trip for the EST/CST teams and four multi-day trips for the PST teams is, IMHO, vastly better than two one-day trips for the EST/CST teams and eight one-day trips for the PST teams.
I also think that the trips to LA will be MUCH easier on the EST/CST teams than the trips to the PacNW.
Pauley Pavilion to the Galen Center is 12.4 mi, 43 min by car per google. I don't know LA well enough to know if this is practical but getting a team hotel about half-way between those two would permit you to easily stay in one place the whole time you are there. Conversely,
Matthew Knight Arena (Oregon) to Alaska Airlines Arena is 289 mi, 5-1/2 hours by car per google so obviously the trip to UW/UO will require a hotel change and either a short flight or a near-daylong bus ride in between.
I think this was important for the kids but I also think this will benefit ticket sales, alums, fans, and family members of the players. Let's say, for example, that my brother (fellow-tOSU alum) lived in LA or that
@betarhoalphadelta had a brother who was a fellow Purdue alum/fan who lived in Chicago. This year (see above) Ohio State plays UCLA at Pauley Pavilion on Sunday, February 23 and USC at the Galen Center on Wednesday, February 26. I'm not saying that I'd go to LA just to see the games but if my brother, my SiL, my niece, and my two nephews lived out there I might combine a visit with going to the games with my brother. I could fly out on Saturday, February 22, go to the tOSU/USC game on Sunday with my brother and his family, visit with them a few days, see the tOSU/UCLA game on Wednesday and possibly get back on a redeye for work on Thursday. Similarly, next year when Purdue plays USC and UCLA in LA, Brad's hypothetical brother could visit him and see both games.