WKU Releases 2014/15 Basketball Schedule
The wait is finally over – WKU has released their inaugural Conference USA basketball schedule, and it all gets started in mid November.
Before the regular season begins, the Tops will participate in the NIT Season Tip-Off tournament, and games/times/locations will be released at a later time (if there are any teams left who still want to play in it). The non-conference really isn’t anything to write home about – an exhibition against Pikeville on November 10th, then the season opens with three consecutive home games (Austin Peay, the first of a four year home-and-home series with Belmont and the other school from Bowling Green, Bowling Green State) before hitting the road for the 151st meeting with Murray State and a rematch with the Fighting Bjork’s and Ole Miss. The big one on the schedule is Louisville coming to Diddle on December 20th, the first time the Cards will play in Diddle since 2010.
The Conference USA portion of the schedule will take a year or so to get used to. The Tops will play 18 total CUSA games (evenly split between home and road), but only five of the league’s 14 schools will play the Hilltoppers twice – Marshall (yay! Double Feud’s!), UNC Charlotte, Old Dominion, and former Sun Belt rivals FAU and FIU. That’s right – the rumors of only one WKU/MTSU game are, unfortunately, true. And, just as unfortunately, the game is in Murfreesboro (Feb. 21st).
The Tops will also travel to Louisiana Tech, Southern Miss and UAB, and will host UTEP (who hosted last years’ C-USA tournament) UTSA former Sun Belt school (and 2011 SBC runners-up) North Texas and Rice.
WKU will finish their home schedule with FAU (Feb. 26) and FIU (Feb. 28), and the regular season will come to a close on a two game road swing against the 49ers (March 5th) and the regular season will draw to a close against Old Dominion on March 7th, before the CUSA Tournament heads down to Dixie March 11-14.
My initial thoughts on the schedule, aside from the blasphemy of WKU/MTSU only playing once, is that the Travel for WKU will be relatively easy. All of the Texas schools come to Kentucky, and the games the Tops do travel to are either former Sun Belt schools or aren’t too far from where the SBC does have a footprint, so travel wont be a worry. Also, I’m highlighting the games against UTEP (who also has a very proud basketball history) and North Texas (a rematch of the 2011 Sun Belt championship game. AKA, George Fant‘s and T.J. Price‘s freshman year).
The full schedule can be seen here, and all times still have to be released.
What are your thoughts on the schedule? Do you like who you’ll see in Diddle? Will C-USA be a multiple-bid conference? Let us know below or on twitter (@WaveTheRedTowel).