Womhoops Guru

Mel Greenberg covered college and professional women’s basketball for the Philadelphia Inquirer, where he worked for 40 plus years. Greenberg pioneered national coverage of the game, including the original Top 25 women's college poll. His knowledge has earned him nicknames such as "The Guru" and "The Godfather," as well as induction into the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame in 2007.

Sunday, September 14, 2014

Guru's Local College Report: Big Five Dates Are Set as Schools Release Entire Schedules

By Mel Greenberg

Well now that the pro season, WNBA version anyway with USA still to come for a few weeks, the Guru took advantage of the final three of the his PhilahoopsW group of 10 to finish off at least the date part of his winter schedule.

Yes, Penn, the Guru saw the note that two more nonconference games may be coming down the pike, but for this moment, this is as good as it gets to get this much done by Seot. 1.4

Time starts still needed but it is early, in fact, so early this is the earliest to get an overall look at the 2014-15 seasons ahead and unfortunately, for the Guru and those of you who care for more than one team or at least must deal with more than one team, it is not pretty.

Why?

Well it appears the Colonial Athletic Association and Big East in their league portions of the schedule are jumping on Friday night, a place once usually occupied by just the Ivy League in recent seasons and perhaps the MAAC.

So that said, there are a lot of conflicts ahead, Sundays are going to be a monster in terms of number games and that gets extended for the Guru, who also has national games to attend.

And conference switches now have Rutgers and Maryland, two of his regular stops, moved from the AAC and ACC into the Big Ten.

Anyhow, out of this work, one does emerge are the ten dates for the local Big Five round-robin.

The Guru will update again when all the time starts are in.

The conference shuffle now causes seven of the ten dates to be done by February.

Unlike last year, Penn will not see tough Big Five action later and definitely not three in a row. but the Quakers, who almost added to making history in other areas, will play all four of their games at home in The Palestra after being the visiting team all four times prior to making a successful run to capture the Ivy title.

LA Salle, on the other hand will play all four on the road, Temple will travel 3 stay home 1, while Sant Joseph's will travel 1, stay home 3, and Villanova will split 2-2.

Here, then, are the Big Five dates for your early planning and when the Guru can look at two screens at once, he will tell you of some of the conflict dates soon.

2014-15 City Series Big Five Schedule

Fri., Nov. 14 -- La Salle at Temple: On a night many NCAAs playing season opener. This used to be late when the Owls were also in the A-10.

Tues., Nov. 18 -- Temple at Saint Joseph's: Likewise, this usually came near the end for the same reason as mentioned with La Salle.

Wed., Nov. 19 -- La Salle at Penn: The Explorers and Owls were two victims of the Quakers, so what more needs to be said.

Sun., Dec. 7 -- Villanova at Saint Joseph's: By the time this game ends we could, but not definitely, know how the race is going to finish.

Tue., Dec. 9 -- Saint Joseph's at Penn: The Quakers had a near-miss last time, while this will be Game 3 for the Hawks out of the four.

Sun., Dec. 14 -- La Salle at Villanova: This will be La Salle's third of the season, so if the Hawks and Explorers are either 3-0 or 3-1, there will be a wait until February to see who wins either outright or tied.

Mon. Dec. 22-- Temple at Villanova: A traditional time that has usually be the local get-away for the Christmas break. There will be the unusual tip on the Main Line of 11:L30 A.M.

Mon., Jan. 5 -- Temple at Penn The Owls are out for revenge. If the Quakers are to win three City Series games for the first time, their first chance is right here ast Game No. 3.

Wed., Jan. 21 -- Villanova at Penn: If Mr. Philly.com sports is in the house showing his Quakers loyalties, something big may be brewing for Penn.

Wed., Feb. 4 -- La Salle at Saint Joseph's In the Atlantic 10, it is the first of two but in the Big Five it could be for all the marbles.

That's it for the moment. Rob says he has more things coming this weekend on USA. The Guru will be back, soon.

-- Mel

- Posted using BlogPress from the Guru's iPad

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

<< Home