Breaking Down the WKU 2014/15 Basketball Schedule
As you already know, the Hilltopper basketball schedule was released earlier today for the upcoming 2014-15 campaign, which gve this avid basketball lover an early chance to break things down.
By the looks of the schedule, I am truly excited for the entertainment this year looks to provide. The non-conference games are always a fun portion to the season, and no doubt appears to be the same this time around. The Louisville Cardinals will be obviously be a highlight to the non-conference schedule as they visit the Diddle hardwood. The squads duked it out heavily last season, but a early 2nd half run for the Cards would keep the Hilltoppers out of reaching distance. Expect some revenge as the Tops try to steal one away from UL as the current contract series is 0-3 against WKU.
Two more non-conference games I want to point out are two more squads we faced last season in Ole Miss and Murray State. WKU faced these teams on the Hill, but this season, we visit their grounds. For the Racers, WKU handed them defeat in their visit to Bowling Green, but they ended out their season on a high note finishing with a not too shabby 23-11 record and a post season CIT Championship. (Congrats, Murray. I guess?) Last year, Ole Miss was one of those games where you just knew the Tops were going to win throughout the game, it would be a huge victory over a major conference opponent. That was until Marshall Henderson became, well, Marshall Henderson. This season, Henderson is gone and won’t be able to shut down the Tops like last season. However, Jarvis Summers, the other Rebel force to be reckoned with who dropped 24 points in the outing against the Tops, will be there. This game like the previous two, will most definitely be a highlight game to watch for WKU and hopefully all three will be victories.
Now we get into the Conference-USA side of the schedule, which has the possibility to be even more fun than the non-conference portion. Four schools passed the 20 win mark last season that WKU will face; Southern Miss, Louisiana Tech, MTSU, and UTEP. But here comes the sad part folks; the Hilltoppers will only face each of those schools one time this season. Which is truly devastating on the account that MTSU is our dreaded rival, UTEP could be a fun and potential new rival, and Southern Miss could have been one of my hands down favorite games from last years campaign.
Sorry I have to do this, but I have some more bad news; three of the four games against these teams will be played on their own hardwood. The lone visitor WKU will receive out of that group will be UTEP, who went 8-2 on the road last season. The other squads each defended their home courts phenomenally last year [Southern Miss (14-0); LA Tech (13-1); and MTSU (14-2)], which causes me to assume it will be just as tough for the Hilltoppers to grab a win at those sites this season. What I already expect to be close games, these games in particular could very well be nail biters for the Hilltopper faithful.
Some other match-ups that will be fun to see is the home-and-home with Charlotte as well as the UAB visit. Charlotte went a decent 17-14 last season and also had big non-conference wins over Kansas State and (at the time) #14 Michigan Wolverines. The 49ers eventually went 7-9 in the conference. As for UAB, they ended their season 18-13 overall and a conference record equal to Charlotte’s. The Blazers also had a few big games of their own aside from conference play, as they defeated Nebraska, took #19 New Mexico into double overtime (but ended up losing by three), and also defeating #16 North Carolina.
These next few teams were in the second half of the C-USA standings, but no matter where they placed, they still should provide some fun outings this season due to their familiar face; those being our old Sun Belt foes North Texas, Florida International, and Florida Atlantic. North Texas will pay a visit to the Hill for the one meeting this season, while FIU and FAU will provide a home-and-home series with WKU, just like it used to in the sunny old days.
A new era has begun here on the Hill, and the releasing of the schedules has began the anxiety and impatience as we cruise to the middle of November for this upcoming basketball campaign. So to put it simply, I can’t wait for November to get here, and now I hope you feel the same.