Oct. 4, 2006
2006-07 Notre Dame Women’s Basketball Schedule in PDF Format
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NOTRE DAME, Ind. – The Notre Dame women’s basketball team will play 16 games against teams that advanced to postseason play last year, including 11 against NCAA Tournament qualifiers, as part of a rugged 2006-07 schedule that was released Wednesday following approval by the University’s Faculty Board on Athletics. In addition, the Irish will match a school record with 16 regular-season home games this year, tying the mark set in 2004-05 (when they hosted all four rounds of the Preseason WNIT en route to the championship), with visits from NCAA Sweet 16 participants Purdue, DePaul and Rutgers highlighting the Joyce Center docket. Notre Dame likely will make several appearances on television in 2006-07, as well, although those games will be announced at a later date.
Entering its 30th anniversary season, Notre Dame has eight monogram winners and three starters back from the ’05-06 club that posted an 18-12 record and advanced to the NCAA Tournament for the 11th consecutive season, falling to Boston College, 78-61 in the first round. In addition to returning their No. 2 scorer from a year ago (sophomore guard Lindsay Schrader at 10.5 ppg.), the Irish also will feature a four-player freshman class that was ranked as the No. 21 rookie group in the country by All-Star Girls Report, marking the 10th consecutive season that Notre Dame will introduce a Top 25 recruiting class to the mix.
“This is the kind of schedule that will challenge us on a night-in, night-out basis,” 20th-year Irish head coach Muffet McGraw said. “We’ll have the opportunity to play in several different environments against teams from many different conferences, so we’ll see a variety of styles and players. It’s also exciting for us to be able to play so many times in front of our loyal and supportive fans, who are without a doubt the best in the country.”
Notre Dame’s 2006-07 schedule opens with a pair of exhibition games against NCAA Division II squads, as Lake Superior State (Oct. 31) and Northwood (Nov. 5) make their way to the Joyce Center. LSSU is coming off a strong 21-8 campaign last year and a trip to the NCAA Division II Great Lakes Regional semifinals. The Irish will be playing the Lakers and Timberwolves for the first time ever on the hardwood (exhibition or regular season).
The regular season then tips off for Notre Dame on Nov. 10, as the Irish square off with Central Michigan in a 4 p.m. (ET) start at the Joyce Center. Notre Dame has faced the Chippewas only once before (a 72-69 CMU win in 1983), with this year’s contest marking the first of three for the Irish against Mid-American Conference foes in 2006-07. Three days later, the Irish will welcome defending MAC champion (and preseason Top 25 selection) Bowling Green to the Joyce Center, with Western Michigan also in line to visit South Bend on Nov. 19.
Notre Dame opens the road portion of its schedule on Nov. 16 with a matchup at Penn State, the first of four contests against Big Ten Conference schools this season. It also will be the first time the Irish and Lady Lions have faced off since a hard-fought battle in the 2004 NCAA East Regional semifinals at the Hartford (Conn.) Civic Center, with Penn State pulling out the 55-49 victory. Another significant early-season road trip for Notre Dame will take place Nov. 24, as the Irish head to the West Coast to meet USC at the Trojans’ new on-campus arena, the Galen Center. The post-Thanksgiving tussle will take place one night prior to the football game between the schools at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.
After hosting Richmond on Nov. 28 (7 p.m. ET), Notre Dame will face three consecutive Big Ten opponents in a five-day span, starting with a Dec. 1 trip to Michigan. Last year, the Irish opened their season by downing the Wolverines, 55-45, to give McGraw her 500th career victory. Notre Dame then will play host to Indiana (Dec. 3) and Purdue (Dec. 6), with the Hoosiers making their first visit to South Bend since 1996, while the Irish and Boilermakers continue their annual series that remains earmarked by Notre Dame’s 68-66 conquest of Purdue in the 2001 NCAA national championship game at the Savvis Center in St. Louis. This year’s contest takes on added significance as Purdue is led by first-year head coach Sharon Versyp, who earned Indiana Miss Basketball honors in 1984 at Mishawaka High School, not far from the Notre Dame campus, and most recently spent a year as the skipper at IU.
The Indiana and Purdue contests also tip off a four-game stretch of games for the Irish against in-state schools. After final exams, Notre Dame will take on IUPUI (Dec. 16) and make the short trip west to Valparaiso (Dec. 19) before breaking for the Christmas holiday. The Irish then will close out their non-conference schedule with a home date against Prairie View A&M (Dec. 28) and a road contest at NCAA Elite Eight qualifier Tennessee (Dec. 30), with the latter contest representing the fifth time in six years Notre Dame has played the Lady Vols (and the third time the Irish have traveled to Knoxville since the 2001-02 season).
The BIG EAST Conference schedule may prove to be the most daunting portion of the ’06-07 slate, as 10 of the other 15 league schools joined Notre Dame in advancing to postseason play last year, led by NCAA Elite Eight participant Connecticut, NCAA Sweet 16 representatives DePaul and Rutgers, and WNIT runner-up Marquette. The BIG EAST scheduling format once again will see teams play seven opponents at home, another seven on the road, with teams playing the remaining institution — designated as the “repeat opponent” — twice (once at home, once on the road). For the second consecutive season, DePaul will serve as Notre Dame’s repeat opponent after logging a 27-7 record a year ago.
The BIG EAST campaign kicks into gear in January, as the Irish visit Seton Hall (Jan. 2). Notre Dame then will play three of its next four contests at home, including matchups with WNIT participant Cincinnati (Jan. 10) and NCAA second-round qualifier St. John’s (Jan. 16), before embarking on a season-long three-game road swing to end the month. In that stretch, the Irish will face three consecutive postseason participants, with Marquette (Jan. 23) and WNIT semifinalist Pittsburgh (Jan. 31) bracketing Notre Dame’s annual clash with Connecticut (Jan. 27).
The Irish return home for five of their last eight regular-season games, including a three-game homestand to start the month of February. BIG EAST Championship runner-up West Virginia starts the run on Feb. 4, with Louisville (Feb. 7) and DePaul (Feb. 11) also on the docket. Notre Dame wraps up the regular season with back-to-back matchups against NCAA Sweet 16 foes, taking on Rutgers on Senior Day (Feb. 24) at the Joyce Center before visiting DePaul in the regular-season finale two days later.
The 2007 BIG EAST Championship is scheduled for March 3-6 at Hartford Civic Center, marking the fourth consecutive season the conference tournament will be held at a neutral site.
Season ticket packages for Notre Dame women’s basketball are available by contacting the Notre Dame Athletics Ticket Office at (574) 631-7356, by visiting the ticket windows on the second floor of the Joyce Center (via Gate 1) or on the official Notre Dame athletics web site (www.und.com).
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2006-07 IRISH SCHEDULE NOTES: Six of Notre Dame’s opponents were ranked in either the Associated Press or ESPN/USA Today coaches’ polls at the end of last season (#6/5 Tennessee, #8/6 Connecticut, #9/9 Rutgers, #11/11 Purdue, #13/15 DePaul and #23 (AP) Bowling Green) … four opponents (Bowling Green, Connecticut, Rutgers and Tennessee) won the regular-season or tournament title in their respective conferences … all told, 19 of the 28 regular-season opponents on Notre Dame’s schedule had a record of .500 or better last season, with 10 posting 20-win seasons (and seven registering 25-win campaigns) … Irish opponents notched a combined record of 501-341 (.595) last season.