Thanks to Matt from Orange 44 for the heads up. The Big East announced the conference match-ups for the 2006-07 season. Not the dates, just who is playing who. A now challenging question considering its 16 games for 16 teams. To refresh, as to the format. Each team gets 10 single opponent games (5 home, 5 away), 3 home-and-homes, and two teams skipped — but not the same 2 as last year.
So here’s Pitt’s conference slate:
PITT’S 2006-07 BIG EAST OPPONENTS
HOME GAMES (8)Connecticut
Georgetown*
Louisville
Marquette*
Providence
St. John’s
USF
West Virginia*AWAY GAMES (8)
Cincinnati
DePaul
Georgetown*
Marquette*
Seton Hall
Syracuse
Villanova
West Virginia*TEAMS NOT ON THE SCHEDULE (2)
Notre Dame
Rutgers* denotes home-and-home
Interesting that Marquette is the other home-and-home for Pitt, like last year. I guess the closeness of the games last year and expectations for Marquette make that a reasonable thing. No surprise that WVU and G-town are the others. WVU is Pitt’s rivalry team and G-town is going to be the other team expected to fight Pitt for the Big East going into the season.
Notre Dame and Rutgers get a break this year from Pitt. Seems reasonable since it’s been a few years since either beat Pitt. Providence, however, still has to take a beating.
Overall, I would call this a tough, but fair schedule.
Looking over the full conference schedule, in a quick scan and initial impressions.
Notre Dame will not be able to bitch about the schedule this year. They miss both Pitt and UConn on their schedule and their home-and-homes are with USF, DePaul and ‘Nova. The only tough road games are Syracuse, Villanova and G-town. Probably the easiest conference schedule.
West Virginia is a close 2nd, missing both Syracuse and Louisville. Their home-and-homes are Pitt, Seton Hall and Cinci. Their 3 toughest road match-ups are Pitt, Marquette and G-town.
Two teams that could benefit very well from the schedule and diminished expectations are Cinci and St. John’s. Cinci gets to skip Marquette and UConn, are spared a home-and-home with Louisville (very surprisingly — TV overruled rivalry there), and only three difficult road games at G-town, ‘Nova and Syracuse.
St. John’s especially, if they have more depth could be up near the top of the BE with the help of this schedule. No Marquette or ‘Nova. They have home-and-homes with DePaul, Providence and Syracuse, and that leaves just Pitt and Louisville as their other tough road games.
Georgetown got what I would consider the bad draw in scheduling. Their skip games are with USF and Providence — probably the worst of the BE this coming season. The home-and-homes are with Cinci, ‘Nova and Pitt. Other road games include Louisville, Syracuse and St. John’s.
UConn has a fair schedule, in toto, but it’s a brutal away schedule: G-town, Louisville, Pitt, Syracuse, St. John’s (looking for payback). Not to mention Rutgers and WVU. The home slate is softer with Providence, USF and Seton Hall.
More later if I run out of other subjects.
