Either way his tie is going to be pimp. Last Friday, Marquette released the college basketball schedule for the upcoming 2006-2007 year on the Web site gomarquette.com. If you do not get Fanatics tickets for this year, you either don’t have a pulse or you consider Dungeons and Dragons a sport.
This year is going to phenomenal for the university. After last year’s remarkable success in the Big East Conference, Marquette has gained a few notches and more respect in the broadcasting world. Not only will Marquette be broadcast across the whole spectrum of ABC, CBS and the ESPN networks of ESPN and ESPN U, but Marquette will also play on ESPN’s Big Monday two times throughout the year. And that isn’t even the best part! Marquette is going to host College Game Day on March 3 in Marquette’s final home game of the season against Pittsburg.
If you don’t know what this is, let me give you a quick explanation. Starting at 10 a.m. on the day of the game, Digger Phelps, with his famous tie and highlighter coordination, Jay Bilas, Rece Davis and Andy Katz will take over the Bradley Center and turn it into the ESPN Studio. I would bet that Dick Vitale will be on hand as well, considering he thought Al McGuire was his idol. And Dick Vitale at the Bradley Center really would be awesome baby! A second show begins at 7 p.m. which will lead straight into the 8 p.m. game.
Not only will Marquette have some great games televised across the nation, but this year will prove to be more exciting than ever before. Marquette will be hosting a regional part of the 16-team College Basketball Experience Classic. Other host sites are at Duke, Stanford and Texas Tech. Four teams are playing in each region. Detroit, Maine and Idaho State are in our region. The winners of each region will move on to play each other in Kansas City on Nov. 21-22. After the CBE Classic, Marquette will host Eastern Michigan and then travel to Valparaiso. Marquette will also be in the 45th Pepsi Blue and Gold Classic. The other three teams participating are North Dakota State, Princeton and Northwestern State. Before Marquette plays its 113th game against Wisconsin on Dec. 9 on ESPN, Marquette will be playing Delaware State on Dec. 5.
Once Big East play begins, so does the real fun. Five of the first eight games in the Big East will be on the road including Providence, Syracuse and Connecticut. Then the team comes home to play West Virginia before they play consecutive televised road games versus Louisville on ESPN, Jan. 14 and Pittsburg on CBS on Jan. 24. The next game is at home versus Seaton Hall and then away against USF.
Of the seven games Marquette plays in February, the first two will be played at home against Providence and Rutgers. Then the team hits the road to play Georgetown on ESPN and then onto DePaul. Marquette returns home to take on perennial rival Louisville for the second time in the season Feb. 17 on ESPNU and Villanova as part of ESPN’s Big Monday. The last game of the month is against Notre Dame on ABC. March 3 marks the end of the regular season for Marquette as they play Pittsburg, the ESPN crew on hand once again.
After the regular season is the Big East tournament, in which I undoubtedly believe Marquette will participate, and the NCAA tournament will hopefully follow.
Wisconsin will be the first big test of the year for Marquette because of the in-state rivalry. The Big East schedule could be the best thing to happen to Marquette this year. In my mind, an easy schedule could help Marquette become one of the most dominant teams in the Big East, especially since we don’t have to play Cincinnati. Pittsburg, Louisville, Syracuse, Connecticut, Villanova and West Virginia all lost their premiere players this year. The door is open for Marquette to take the Big East outright as long as the Golden Eagles can make up for our own Golden Boy, Steve Novak. The loss of Novak, however, could force Marquette to become a more balanced team. The only threat that can be seen at this time is the health of the team.
Negating parts of the College Basketball Experience Classic and those tournament results, I believe that Marquette could be as good as 23-6. If the team is even more successful in the CBE Classic, Marquette could even gain a first-round bye in the Big East tournament, which would all but guarantee them a spot in the field of 64. With a great Big East tournament, they could be ranked as high as No. 4 in one of the NCAA regional brackets.
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