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http://www.odusports.com/ViewArticle.dbm...=211660692

ODU Women's Basketball just released their 2017-18 schedule. And DANG, it's difficult. It also sports a better home schedule than the Men's team does.

Notable games include:

11/01: vs CNU (exh)
11/10: vs Liberty (First official game of the Nikki era!)
11/20: vs NCSU
11/22: vs Duke
11/26: vs Richmond
12/03: vs Cincinnati
12/06: at VCU
12/17: at W&M

I'm really excited to see Nikki McCray get started, but man. She is not making it easy for herself.

Full Schedule: http://www.odusports.com/SportSelect.dbm...1489630568

(08-15-2017 10:27 AM)Blue_Trombone Wrote:  I'm really excited to see Nikki McCray get started, but man. She is not making it easy on herself.

True that this schedule won't be an easy road. Unfortunately, a majority (if not all) of this schedule was setup by KB and her staff. I'm curious to see what NM's first schedule will look like...hoping at least a home/home with South Carolina.

There's going to be some lump-taking this year, but I'd say the future under her is bright.

Good to see that ODU WBB still commands some respect, even though it's been 20 years (!) since ODU's last final four.

Duke is 12th in ESPN's too-early top 25. If ODU beats Liberty in the first round of the WNIT, they'll play the Michigan-George Mason winner, and if it's Michigan, they're No. 21. No. 10 Louisville is a possible semifinal opponent. No. 13 Oregon and Texas A&M (just outside the top 25) are on the other side of the bracket.

N.C. State loses four starters from last year's top-20 team, so who knows what they'll look like this season. Cincinnati was a .500 team last season but brings back four of their best five players. William and Mary has three starters back from a 20-win team, VCU was .500, Richmond was below .500 and Coppin State and S.C. State serve the same purpose that their men's teams do for ODU. And Hampton repped the MEAC in the NCAAs last year, as they often do.

That Vegas tournament is weird, but I guess no more weird than the last Vegas tournament that involved ODU (and as it happens, ODU plays Oakland on the first day).

So yeah, that's a good schedule for a good ODU team, much less one that's got a new coach and not a lot of depth. Fortune favors the bold, I suppose.

Looking at the schedule further, I see something interesting and not exactly ideal:

The ODU schedule only mentions three rounds of the Women's NIT—the Nov. 10 Liberty game; the quarterfinal against the Michigan-George Mason winner on Nov. 12, 13 or 14; and the semifinal on Nov. 16 (the ODU schedule says Nov. 15 or 16, but the Women's NIT bracket says 16th). But the ODU schedule does not include the NIT final, which according to the bracket is Nov. 19 at a school TBD ... one day before the Lady Monarchs' home game against N.C. State.

It's a longshot scenario, but what if ODU gets to the WNIT final, has to play at Oregon on Nov. 19, then travel 3,000 miles to play N.C. State the next day? And even if not Oregon, all the teams on that side of the bracket are a good distance away; the closest appears to be Milwaukee or New Orleans, and the likeliest possibility would be Texas A&M or Drake (Des Moines). It works out if ODU gets to host, but if not, it could be a logistical nightmare.

Hopefully she can get our girls playing better defense

Yeah can't wait

it looks like the conference gave up on travel partners and common sense this year:
home to Charlotte and UAB- not terrible
at UNT and USTA- okay
home to Marshall and UTSA- huh?
at LT and Rice- not the best
home to FIU, one game weekend- why?
at WKU and USM- did MTSU move?
three game homestand FAU, UTEP, UNT
at Charlotte and MTSU

how dumb can this conference get?
Education Day remains, a Friday night, a Wednesday

(08-15-2017 12:00 PM)HeadsetGuy Wrote:  it looks like the conference gave up on travel partners and common sense this year:
home to Charlotte and UAB- not terrible
at UNT and USTA- okay
home to Marshall and UTSA- huh?
at LT and Rice- not the best
home to FIU, one game weekend- why?
at WKU and USM- did MTSU move?
three game homestand FAU, UTEP, UNT
at Charlotte and MTSU

how dumb can this conference get?
Education Day remains, a Friday night, a Wednesday

They cut the CUSA schedule to 16 games, so maybe that screwed up the traditional travel partners scheme.

(08-15-2017 12:04 PM)Cyniclone Wrote:  

(08-15-2017 12:00 PM)HeadsetGuy Wrote:  it looks like the conference gave up on travel partners and common sense this year:
home to Charlotte and UAB- not terrible
at UNT and USTA- okay
home to Marshall and UTSA- huh?
at LT and Rice- not the best
home to FIU, one game weekend- why?
at WKU and USM- did MTSU move?
three game homestand FAU, UTEP, UNT
at Charlotte and MTSU

how dumb can this conference get?
Education Day remains, a Friday night, a Wednesday

They cut the CUSA schedule to 16 games, so maybe that screwed up the traditional travel partners scheme.

All they needed to do is cut 2 games. You could just eliminate 2 games from one of the travel partners you play twice. Instead you create this cluster, which intensifies any already travel-excessive conference. Way to go CUSA!

The other thing to consider re: the odd in-conference scheduling (it's somewhere on the boards but I can't seem to locate it) is that apparently this season CUSA is going to an A10-like scheduling philosophy that gives the best teams more home-and-homes against each other to boost their computer ratings. Of the top-five teams from last season, not only is Charlotte the only team that ODU plays twice, it's also the only team that visits ODU. So do the math.