Women's BBall: Big East Home & Away

[Jim Johnson]

USF Announces 2007-08 BIG EAST Home And Away Opponents

Courtesy: USF SID

Tampa, FL (April 17, 2007) – The BIG EAST Conference has determined the home and away league schedule of opponents for the 2007-08 women's basketball season, as announced by the conference office this afternoon with National Finalist Rutgers highlighting the University of South Florida’s home slate.

The format for league play is a 16-game schedule. Each team will play 16 conference games - seven opponents home only, seven opponents away only and one opponent both home and away, a repeat opponent. Each member will have a total of eight home and eight away games.

The conference has opted to maintain the same repeat opponents for the Connecticut/Rutgers series and the Notre Dame/DePaul match up, while the repeat opponents for the other 12 teams have changed from the format of the previous two years.

USF’s repeat opponent this season is Marquette. This past season the Bulls dropped a 75-63 decision to the Golden Eagles in Milwaukee on Feb. 24. Marquette was ranked No. 19 in both the Associated Press and ESPN/USA Today Coaches Poll at the time of the meeting. For their first two seasons in the BIG EAST USF’s repeat opponent had been Pittsburgh.

The Bulls will also face DePaul, Pittsburgh, Providence, Rutgers, Syracuse, Villanova, and West Virginia at home.

On the road, in addition to Marquette, USF will take on Cincinnati, Connecticut, Georgetown, Louisville, Notre Dame, St. John’s and Seton Hall.

Four BIG EAST teams were ranked in the final Associated Press poll, while three were in the last ESPN/USA Today coaches’ poll. Rutgers jumped to second in the coaches’ poll and was No. 15 by the AP after a magical run to the national championship game. Connecticut ended the season at No. 5 and No. 4 respectively, and reached the Elite 8 of the NCAA Championship. Louisville, which won its first NCAA Tournament game since 1998, was ranked No. 24 in the AP poll and No. 25 in the ESPN/USA Today poll. Marquette finished the year at No. 22 in the AP rankings, also advancing to the second round of the NCAA Championship.

The BIG EAST landed eight teams in this year's NCAA Championship, tied for the most in NCAA history. The league also earned eight bids in 2004. Connecticut was one of four top seeds in the national tournament, while Rutgers, as the No. 4 seed, made its run to the national championship game. Marquette, Louisville, West Virginia, Notre Dame, Pittsburgh and DePaul were all part of the 64-team field. In addition, USF and Seton Hall participated in the 2007 Postseason National Invitation Tournament.

This past season, USF recorded a 21-12 record and a 9-7 slate in the BIG EAST Conference. The Bulls earned a bid to the Women’s National Invitation Tournament where they advanced to the third round against Virginia.