Big East-- 18 conference games in 07-08

[MarquetteFan94]

per Katz...each team will play all conference teams at least once....good move.

http://insider.espn.go.com/espn/blog/index?entryID=2812566&name=katz_andy&action=upsell&appRedirect=http%3a%2f%2finsider.espn.go.com%2fespn%2fblog%2findex%3fentryID%3d2812566%26name%3dkatz_andy

[Pakuni]

per Katz...each team will play all conference teams at least once....good move.

http://insider.espn.go.com/espn/blog/index?entryID=2812566&name=katz_andy&action=upsell&appRedirect=http%3a%2f%2finsider.espn.go.com%2fespn%2fblog%2findex%3fentryID%3d2812566%26name%3dkatz_andy

It is a good move, but the trade off likely will be fewer quality non-conference opponents outside of tournament situations, i.e. Maui, Alaska, etc.
I cringe to think of the whining we'll soon hear when the schedule comes out.

[SoCalwarrior]

At least we'll get one extra big east home game and probably lose two non conf home games that many complain about.  Addition by subtraction.

[NotAnAlum]

Interesting that Katz says "scheduling decisions will wait until after the NBA draft."  That makes it sound like they handicap the teams with the mirror games based upon who they predict will be good or bad.  If so that could get pretty tricky because you have no idea how recruits turn out etc.
I for one don't have a clue how they do it.  Now Pitt and Louisville could have been predicted to be good TV games but how came up with Providence twice and why not DePaul who is a natural rival?

[herboturbo]

Didn't they announce the 18 game schedule last summer for the 07-08 season??

For mirror games they supposedly look to see who is coming back on each team from the previous season and then try to matchup the best teams against each other for TV, while also keeping rivalries alive - all while having games against a top level team, a mid level team, and a bottom level team.   

When you go by the preseason ranks we played no.1 (pitt), no.6(louisville), and no.10(prov) twice.  We were predicted for fourth by the way. 

Although they may have good intentions the way they do it it invaribly leads to unbalanced schedules because a team like louisville jumps from the middle of the pack to the top.  The BE also also given the preseason no.1 team a hard road to travel.  This year Pitt had Georgtown(no.2), MU(no.4), and WVU(no.8 + intense rivalry).  Last year Villanova and Uconn split the no.1 prediction and played each other as well as Louisville(no.3) and Syracuse(no.4) twice. 

[mu_hilltopper]

Actually, I predict a better schedule for season ticket holders.  Last year, we had 10 "low interest" OOC games.

With 1 extra BE homer, (and 1 extra BE away) that means two less OOC games.  Add in a UWM game (and UWGB?  did that get signed?) .. and the OOC cupcakes could be down to a "paltry" 6 even without adding something of high-interest.

6 would be a huge improvement over 10.

(And yes, while UWM should be a stomping, there'll be plenty of fans interested in seeing that bloodening.)

[Nukem2]

Be careful, UW-M might be a lot better than you think.  Lots of talent coming on board with torre Johnson, Kevin Williams, Tim Flowers and others.  May take a while to mesh.  But they will be talented.