Schedule releasedWritten by: Todd RosiakA new season will bring new challenges for the Marquette Golden Eagles and new coach Buzz Williams.
Looking to build off last year's 25-10 record and its first victory in the first round of the NCAA tournament since 2003, MU this season will play a total of 14 games against teams that advanced to the post-season in 2007-'08, with seven of those to be played at the Bradley Center.
Nine of those teams competed in the NCAA tournament along with MU: Wisconsin, Tennessee, Villanova, West Virginia, Notre Dame, Georgetown, Connecticut, Louisville and Pittsburgh. The Golden Eagles will play Villanova and Georgetown both home and away in Big East play.
"We put the schedule together with the idea that is prepares us in the best possible way for the post-season," Williams said in a statement. "We play a Big Ten opponent at home, a SEC opponent at a neutral site and an ACC opponent on the road -- each of these challenges will prepare us for Big East play."
Williams' first regular-season game at the helm of MU will be on Nov. 14 against Houston-Baptist, with the rest of November highlighted by a Nov. 22 matchup with UW-Milwaukee at the Bradley Center and games against Northern Iowa and Dayton on Nov. 28 and 29, respectively, as part of the Chicago Invitational in Hoffman Estates, Ill.
MU will also host inter-state rival Wisconsin on Dec. 6 at 8:30 p.m. in a game to be televised nationally on ESPNU, and then travel to face Tennessee in the Big East/SEC Invitational at the Sommet Center in Nashville on Dec. 16.
The Golden Eagles' final game prior to Christmas will be on Dec. 22, at North Carolina State. It will mark the first time the two teams have faced each other since 1992, and just the third time overall. Prior to '92, the teams met just twice previously, with the first coming in the 1974 NCAA title game, which MU lost, 76-64.
MU opens Big East play with three of its first four at home, including a New Year's Day matchup with Villanova at 1:30 p.m. The Golden Eagles will then host Cincinnati on Jan. 4, head to Rutgers on Jan. 7 and then return home to host West Virginia on Jan. 10.
An especially challenging stretch of games begins on Jan. 26 at Notre Dame - a 6 p.m. start on ESPN's ‘Big Monday' - and continues with a home game against Georgetown before heading onto the road for consecutive games against DePaul on Feb. 2, South Florida on Feb. 6 and Villanova on Feb. 10.
After a pair of home games against St. John's on Feb. 14 and Seton Hall on Feb. 17, MU embarks on an even more challenging stretch that sees it playing at Georgetown on Feb. 21, at home against Connecticut on Feb. 25, at Louisville on March 1 on a game televised by CBS, and then at Pittsburgh on March 4, before closing out the regular season at March 7 with a senior night game against Syracuse at the Bradley Center.
In all, 10 of MU's games are to be televised nationally at this point.
The Big East Tournament is scheduled for March 10-14 this season at Madison Square Garden, and for the first time all 16 teams will take part as opposed. In previous years only the top 12 teams advanced.
All told, MU will be facing four opponents for the first time: Houston-Baptist, Northern Iowa, Central Michigan and Presbyterian.
http://blogs.jsonline.com/muhoops/archive/2008/09/04/schedule-released.aspx
