Big East News Articles

Repeat League Opponents Remain Unchanged for the 2010-11 Women's Basketball Season

PROVIDENCE, R.I. – The BIG EAST Conference has elected to keep the same repeat opponents from 2009-10 for the upcoming 2010-11 season for its 16 women’s basketball teams. It will be the same repeat opponents for the second straight year for eight of the BIG EAST teams, while the other eight will maintain the same repeat opponents for the fifth straight season.

The format for league play is a 16-game schedule, which has been in place since the 2005-06 season. Each team will play 16 conference games - seven opponents home only, seven opponents away only and one opponent both is as follows: providing additional television inventory; competitive issues/RPI implications and geographic rivalries/minimizing travel costs.

The repeat opponents for the second consecutive year are two-time defending national champion Connecticut playing Notre Dame, Rutgers facing Syracuse, DePaul matching up against Marquette and Georgetown playing USF.

The BIG EAST captured its eighth overall and second straight NCAA National Championship in April behind Connecticut’s NCAA Division I women’s basketball record-breaking 78 consecutive wins. As the season progressed, UConn stayed in the spotlight, several teams sustained their annual prominent stature, while numerous others rose beyond preseason predictions, garnering national recognition. The BIG EAST was a constant in the national polls and held solid in the RPI rankings all season. The final BIG EAST regular-season standings showed overwhelming parity with new programs surfacing in the top half of the Championship bracket.

The Conference again swept the national player of the year awards, in addition to having eight different student-athletes earn all-America accolades. For the seventh straight year, the BIG EAST led all leagues nationally in Championship attendance, and home attendance figures continue to rise year-after-year as schools implement new and innovating marketing tactics. Again, the Conference upheld its national, regional and local television exposure.

In ESPN’s 64 teams to watch in 2010-11, the sports network named Connecticut (No. 1), Notre Dame (No. 9), West Virginia (No. 11), Georgetown (No. 12), St. John’s (No. 14), DePaul (No. 30) and Rutgers (No. 31) to its list.

Below is the grid of the 2010-11 BIG EAST women's basketball home/away league opponents:

	CINCINNATI	CONNECTICUT	DEPAUL	GEORGETOWN	LOUISVILLE	MARQUETTE	NOTRE DAME	PITTSBURGH
Repeat	Louisville	Notre Dame	Marquette	USF	Cincinnati	DePaul	Connecticut	West Virginia
	Home Games	Home Games	Home Games	Home Games	Home Games	Home Games	Home Games	Home Games
1	Connecticut	DePaul	Georgetown	Cincinnati	DePaul	Louisville	Cincinnati	Cincinnati
2	DePaul	Louisville	Notre Dame	Connecticut	Georgetown	Notre Dame	Georgetown	DePaul
3	Marquette	Marquette	Providence	Marquette	Pittsburgh	Rutgers	Louisville	Marquette
4	Providence	Pittsburgh	Rutgers	Pittsburgh	Rutgers	St. John's	Rutgers	Notre Dame
5	Rutgers	Seton Hall	Seton Hall	Syracuse	St. John's	Syracuse	St. John's	Providence
6	Seton Hall	Syracuse	USF	Villanova	Seton Hall	Villanova	Seton Hall	USF
7	Syracuse	Villanova	West Virginia	West Virginia	West Virginia	West Virginia	Syracuse	Villanova

	Away Games	Away Games	Away Games	Away Games	Away Games	Away Games	Away Games	Away Games
1	Georgetown	Cincinnati	Cincinnati	DePaul	Connecticut	Cincinnati	DePaul	Connecticut
2	Notre Dame	Georgetown	Connecticut	Louisville	Marquette	Connecticut	Marquette	Georgetown
3	Pittsburgh	Providence	Louisville	Notre Dame	Notre Dame	Georgetown	Pittsburgh	Louisville
4	St. John's	Rutgers	Pittsburgh	Providence	Providence	Pittsburgh	Providence	Rutgers
5	USF	St. John's	St. John's	Rutgers	USF	Providence	USF	St. John's
6	Villanova	USF	Syracuse	St. John's	Syracuse	Seton Hall	Villanova	Seton Hall
7	West Virginia	West Virginia	Villanova	Seton Hall	Villanova	USF	West Virginia	Syracuse

	PROVIDENCE	RUTGERS	ST. JOHNS	SETON HALL	USF	SYRACUSE	VILLANOVA	W. VIRGINIA
Repeat	Villanova	Syracuse	Seton Hall	St. Johns	Georgetown	Rutgers	Providence	Pittsburgh
	Home Games	Home Games	Home Games	Home Games	Home Games	Home Games	Home Games	Home Games
1	Connecticut	Connecticut	Cincinnati	Georgetown	Cincinnati	DePaul	Cincinnati	Cincinnati
2	Georgetown	Georgetown	Connecticut	Marquette	Connecticut	Louisville	DePaul	Connecticut
3	Louisville	Pittsburgh	DePaul	Pittsburgh	Louisville	Pittsburgh	Louisville	Notre Dame
4	Marquette	Providence	Georgetown	Providence	Marquette	Providence	Notre Dame	Providence
5	Notre Dame	USF	Pittsburgh	Rutgers	Notre Dame	Seton Hall	St. John's	St. John's
6	St. John's	Villanova	Rutgers	Villanova	St. John's	USF	USF	USF
7	USF	West Virginia	Syracuse	West Virginia	Seton Hall	Villanova	West Virginia	Syracuse

	Away Games	Away Games	Away Games	Away Games	Away Games	Away Games	Away Games	Away Games
1	Cincinnati	Cincinnati	Louisville	Cincinnati	DePaul	Cincinnati