June 30, 2011
NOTRE DAME, Ind. – The Notre Dame men’s basketball team will face a familiar BIG EAST foe twice during the 2011-12 conference regular season as the Irish will take on defending national champion Connecticut in a home-and-home series for the fifth consecutive year.
The conference released its regular-season matrix on Thursday (June 30) for the upcoming campaign. In addition to the Huskies, Notre Dame’s two other repeat opponents for the ’11-’12 season will be Rutgers and West Virginia.
Notre Dame is coming off a 27-7 campaign in 2010-11 that also matched a program best BIG EAST mark as the Irish finished 14-4 to finish second in the final regular season standings. Notre Dame also advanced to the semifinals of the conference tournament for the second consecutive year and third time in four seasons.
The upcoming ’11-’12 season will mark the fifth year since expansion that the Conference will be employing an 18-game regular-season slate with all teams playing each other at least once and three opponents twice (home and away).
Notre Dame will head into this season riding a 19-game home win streak (dating back to the final two games of the 2009-10 season) at Purcell Pavilion at the Joyce Center as it finished undefeated at home last year (17-0). In fact, the Irish have finished undefeated at Purcell Pavilion in three of the last five years.
The Irish’s single-game home opponents this season will be DePaul, Marquette, Pittsburgh, Providence, USF and Syracuse. Notre Dame’s nine-game conference road slate will be highlighted by visits to Cincinnati, Georgetown, Louisville, St. John’s, Seton Hall and Villanova.
This will be the fifth straight year that BIG EAST teams will play 18 games during the regular season. Prior to that season (the first year of the 18-game slate was in 2007-08), the Conference utilized a 16-game schedule and had not played an 18-game regular-season schedule since the 1998-99 campaign when the league was then comprised of 13 members. That 18-game format was used for eight years from 1991-99.
Thanks to the NCAA-record 11 BIG EAST teams that played in the ’11 NCAA Championship, this year’s schedule includes an unprecedented 131 games – or 91 percent of the conference ledger – that will feature at least one NCAA tournament team from last year. Sixty-seven games – 47 percent of the schedule – will be between two of the conference’s NCAA tournament teams.
Each of the 16 BIG EAST teams will play either 12 or 13 conference games against NCAA tournament teams.
The decisions regarding repeat opponents are based on natural interest, geography, rivalries, television contractual obligations and competitive balance.
The full conference schedule with dates and times will be announced at a later date.
2011-12 BIG EAST Men’s Basketball Schedule Breakdown
CINCINNATI
Home
DePaul, Louisville, Marquette, Notre Dame, Providence, St. John’s, Seton Hall, Syracuse, Villanova
Away
Connecticut, Georgetown, Marquette, Pittsburgh, Rutgers, St. John’s, USF, Villanova, West Virginia
CONNECTICUT
Home
Cincinnati, DePaul, Marquette, Notre Dame, Pittsburgh, St. John’s, Seton Hall, Syracuse, West Virginia
Away
Georgetown, Louisville, Notre Dame, Providence, Rutgers, Seton Hall, USF, Syracuse, Villanova
DE PAUL
Home
Georgetown, Louisville, Marquette, Pittsburgh, Providence, St. John’s, Seton Hall, USF, Syracuse
Away
Cincinnati, Connecticut, Louisville, Notre Dame, Rutgers, St. John’s, Seton Hall, Villanova, West Virginia
GEORGETOWN
Home
Cincinnati, Connecticut, Marquette, Notre Dame, Providence, Rutgers, St. John’s, USF, Villanova
Away
DePaul, Louisville, Marquette, Pittsburgh, Providence, St. John’s, Seton Hall, Syracuse, West Virginia
LOUISVILLE
Home
Connecticut, DePaul, Georgetown, Notre Dame, Pittsburgh, Rutgers, USF, Syracuse, Villanova
Away
Cincinnati, DePaul, Marquette, Pittsburgh, Providence, St. John’s, Seton Hall, Syracuse, West Virginia
MARQUETTE
Home
Cincinnati, Georgetown, Louisville, Pittsburgh, Rutgers, St. John’s, Seton Hall, USF, Villanova
Away
Cincinnati, Connecticut, DePaul, Georgetown, Notre Dame, Providence, Syracuse, Villanova, West Virginia
NOTRE DAME
Home
Connecticut, DePaul, Marquette, Pittsburgh, Providence, Rutgers, USF, Syracuse, West Virginia
Away
Cincinnati, Connecticut, Georgetown, Louisville, Rutgers, St. John’s, Seton Hall, Villanova, West Virginia
PITTSBURGH
Home
Cincinnati, Georgetown, Louisville, Providence, Rutgers, St. John’s, USF, Villanova, West Virginia
Away
Connecticut, DePaul, Louisville, Marquette, Notre Dame, Seton Hall, USF, Syracuse, West Virginia
PROVIDENCE
Home
Connecticut, Georgetown, Louisville, Marquette, Rutgers, Seton Hall, USF, Syracuse, West Virginia
Away
Cincinnati, DePaul, Georgetown, Notre Dame, Pittsburgh, St. John’s, USF, Syracuse, Villanova
RUTGERS
Home
Cincinnati, Connecticut, DePaul, Notre Dame, St. John’s, Seton Hall, Syracuse, Villanova, West Virginia
Away
Georgetown, Louisville, Marquette, Notre Dame, Pittsburgh, Providence, Seton Hall, USF, West Virginia
ST. JOHN’S
Home
Cincinnati, DePaul, Georgetown, Louisville, Notre Dame, Providence, Syracuse, Villanova, West Virginia
Away
Cincinnati, Connecticut, DePaul, Georgetown, Marquette, Pittsburgh, Rutgers, Seton Hall, USF
SETON HALL
Home
Connecticut, DePaul, Georgetown, Louisville, Notre Dame, Pittsburgh, Rutgers, St. John’s, West Virginia
Away
Cincinnati, Connecticut, DePaul, Marquette, Providence, Rutgers, USF, Syracuse, Villanova
USF
Home
Cincinnati, Connecticut, Pittsburgh, Providence, Rutgers, St. John’s, Seton Hall, Villanova, West Virginia
Away
DePaul, Georgetown, Louisville, Marquette, Notre Dame, Pittsburgh, Providence, Syracuse, Villanova
SYRACUSE
Home
Connecticut, Georgetown, Louisville, Marquette, Pittsburgh, Providence, Seton Hall, USF, West Virginia
Away
Cincinnati, Connecticut, DePaul, Louisville, Notre Dame, Providence, Rutgers, St. John’s, Villanova
VILLANOVA
Home
Cincinnati, Connecticut, DePaul, Marquette, Notre Dame, Providence, Seton Hall, USF, Syracuse
Away
Cincinnati, Georgetown, Louisville, Marquette, Pittsburgh, Rutgers, St. John’s, USF, West Virginia
WEST VIRGINIA
Home
Cincinnati, DePaul, Georgetown, Louisville, Marquette, Notre Dame, Pittsburgh, Rutgers, Villanova
Away
Connecticut, Notre Dame, Pittsburgh, Providence, Rutgers, St. John’s, Seton Hall, USF, Syracuse