By Mel Greenberg
And so we are about to get to some nitty gritty in terms of upper echelon teams, for lack of a better terms in this exercise, about to bang into each other.
For now, here is a selected conference look at some matchups that will be impacting high seeding in the NCAA tournament. Obviously any wannabes will be playing big games when they play the conference heavyweights to separate themselves from common hopefuls.
However, it’s too early and complex to get into that area. Once we have a first go-round complete, we’ll go a little more in-depth at the end of the month as to who needs to do what in February. And a little later as the tournaments come into the horizon, we’ll get into that and, perhaps, add a few more conferences. For now, here’s some dates to get started. Nonconference games of note will be listed twice.
And so, click the link here to go to the "jump" page and get the signficant dates in the significant conferences.
Conference Wars Date Books
Atlantic Coast: The key teams are Maryland, North Carolina, and Duke at the outset, Anyone else needs to make a stand against this trio and against each other. Since two of the three are expected to battle for NCAA No. 1 seeds, the third team, which can be a No. 2, is also a factor.
The dates to watch are:
Monday, Jan. 14, Duke at Maryland
Monday, Jan. 21, North Carolina at Connecticut
Saturday, Jan. 26, Maryland at North Carolina
Monday, Jan. 28, Tennessee at Duke
Monday, Feb. 4, North Carolina at Duke
Sunday, Feb. 17, Maryland at Duke
Sunday, Mar 2, Duke at North Carolina.
Atlantic Ten: We’re getting into this for our locals and because there are some surprising teams to date playing teams that have been better.
Saturday, Jan. 12, Temple at Dayton
Saturday, Jan. 12, St. Joseph’s at St. Bonaventure
Sunday, Jan. 13, Xavier at George Washington
Tuesday, Jan. 15, St. Bonaventure at Temple
Wednesday, Jan 16, Dayton at La Salle
Saturday, Jan. 19, George Washington at Temple
Saturday, Jan. 19, Xavier at St. Joseph’s
Saturday, Jan. 26, Dayton at St. Joseph’s
Wednesday, Jan. 30, St. Joseph’s at Temple
Saturday, Feb.2, Temple at La Salle
Saturday, Feb. 9, Temple at Xavier
Thursday, Feb.14, Xavier at Dayton
Wednesday, Feb. 20, Temple at St .Joseph’s
Saturday, Feb. 23, Xavier at La Salle
Sunday, Feb.24, George Washington at St. Joseph’s
Wednesday, Feb. 27, Dayton at Xavier
Wednesday, Feb. 27, St. Joseph’s at La Salle
Big Ten – How to figure this conference is a major question. But since all these teams might be fighting for NCAA bids and Penn State is in the mix, we’ll take a stab with the follow:
Sunday, Jan. 13 Penn State at Minnesota
Thursday, Jan. 17, Purdue at Penn State
Thursday, Jan. 17, Illinois at Ohio State
Sunday, Jan. 20, Wisconsin at Ohio State
Thursday, Jan. 24, Penn State at Wisconsin
Thursday, Jan. 24, Ohio State at Minnesota
Thursday, Jan. 24, Illinois at Michigan State
Sunday, Jan. 27, Illinois at Purdue
Sunday, Jan. 27, Michigan State at Minnesota
Monday, Jan. 28, Penn State at Ohio State
Thursday, Jan. 31, Ohio State at Illinois
Thursday, Jan.31, Minnesota at Purdue
Sunday, Feb. 3, Wisconsin at Penn State
Sunday, Feb.3, Minnesota at Ohio State
Thursday, Feb.7, Ohio State at Purdue
Thursday, Feb. 7, Illinois at Minnesota
Sunday, Feb.10, Ohio State at Wisconsin
Monday, Feb. 11, Purdue at Michigan State
Thursday, Feb.14, Minnesota at Penn State
Thursday, Feb.14, Illinois at Wisconsin
Sunday, Feb. 17, Michigan State at Penn State
Monday, Feb. 18, Purdue at Ohio State
Thursday, Feb. 21, Penn State at Illinois
Saturday, Feb. 23, Wisconsin at Minnesota
Sunday, Feb. 24, Michigan State at Purdue
Thursday, Feb. 28, Ohio State at Penn State
Thursday, Feb. 28, Illinois at Michigan State
Sunday, March 2, Purdue at Illinois
Big East: We could put the whole conference schedule in here the rest of the way in terms of contention for NCAA bids. But we know where the focus is, so here goes for now:
Saturday, Jan. 12, Seton Hall at Rutgers
Wednesday, Jan. 16, Villanova at Notre Dame
Monday, Jan. 21, North Carolina at Connecticut
Tuesday, Jan. 22, DePaul at Notre Dame
Saturday, Jan. 26, Villanova at Rutgers
Sunday, Jan. 27, Connecticut at Notre Dame
Wednesday, Jan. 30, Pittsburgh at Villanova
Saturday, Feb.2, Rutgers at Pittsburgh
Tuesday, Feb.5, Connecticut at Rutgers
Sunday, Feb. 10, Pittsburgh at Notre Dame
Monday, Feb. 11, Rutgers at Tennessee
Sunday, Feb. 17, Connecticut at Pittsburgh
Tuesday, Feb. 19, Notre Dame at Rutgers
Sunday, Feb. 24, Notre Dame at DePaul
Monday, Feb. 25, Connecticut at LSU
Wednesday, Feb. 27, DePaul at Rutgers
Saturday, March 1, Connecticut at DePaul
Monday, March 3, Rutgers at Connecticut
Big 12: Another conference that will have a ton of worthwhile games, but this focus will also be towards the top:
Saturday, Jan. 12, Texas A&M at Baylor
Sunday, Jan. 20, Baylor at Oklahoma
Wednesday, Jan. 23, Texas Tech at Oklahoma
Sunday, Jan. 27, Georgia at Oklahoma
Wednesday, Jan. 30, Texas at Baylor
Saturday, Feb. 2, Texas A&M at Texas Tech
Sunday, Feb. 3, Oklahoma at Texas
Saturday, Feb.9, Texas Tech at Baylor
Saturday, Feb. 9, Texas at Texas A&M
Saturday, Feb. 9, Colorado at Oklahoma
Tuesday, Feb. 12, Texas A&M at Oklahoma
Wednesday, Feb.13, Baylor at Texas
Sunday, Feb. 17, Oklahoma at Baylor
Sunday, Feb.17, Texas Tech at Texas A&M
Sunday, Feb.24, Texas A&M at Texas
Wednesday, Feb.27, Colorado at Baylor
We3dnesday, Feb. 27, Oklahoma at Texas Tech
Saturday, March 1, Baylor at Texas &M
Sunday, March 2, Texas at Oklahoma
Thursday, March 6, Oklahoma at Texas A&M
PAC-10: Despite the upheaval, we’ll center on the three teams everyone had in this conference at the outset. We’ll adjust as needed at the end of the month.
Sunday, Feb. 17, California at Arizona State
Sunday, Jan. 20, Stanford at Arizona State
Saturday, Jan. 26, California at Stanford
Thursday, Feb. 14, Arizona State at California
Saturday, Feb.16, Arizona State at Stanford
Saturday, Feb. 23, Stanford at California
Southeastern: Yet another conference with a bunch of games almost every night. We definitely will return here at the end of the month. But for now, we sample the high-power crowd at the top:
Sunday, Jan. 27, Georgia at Oklahoma
Monday, Jan. 28, Tennessee at Duke
Sunday, Feb. 10, Georgia at LSU
Monday, Feb. 11, Rutgers at Tennessee
Thursday, Feb.14, LSU at Tennessee
Monday, Feb.25, Connecticut at LSU
Sunday, March 2, Tennessee at Georgia
That’s it for now: We’re double-dipping in the Garden State Saturday, traveling to Rutgers for Seton Hall in the afternoon and stopping at Princeton for the Penn game on the way back as the Ivy League opens for both teams.
--Mel
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