Women's Hoops Announces 2002-03 Schedule
9/16/2002 12:00:00 AM | WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
Complete release in PDF format
CHICAGO - DePaul Athletics Director Jean Lenti Ponsetto and head coach Doug Bruno announced today the women's basketball schedule for the 2002-03 season. Highlights for the upcoming season include a non-conference schedule that features a Thanksgiving tournament in Hawaii and potential matchups with three of last season's Final Four teams. As always, Bruno has put together a challenging roster of opponents as they combined for 14 postseason appearances a year ago, including eight in the NCAA Tournament.
"Competing against the best teams in the country has always been our goal and this year's schedule is no exception," said Bruno. "In addition to playing nationally ranked opponents, we have always believed in playing our local rivals. Then when you add Conference USA to the mix, our schedule easily becomes one of the toughest in the country."
The Blue Demons open the 2002-03 campaign on the road with a Nov. 23 game at Southern Illinois. From there, the squad will travel west for the Hawaiian Airlines Rainbow Wahine Classic, Nov. 29-Dec. 1. The Hawaii tourney will feature seven teams with DePaul, including last year's NCAA championship game opponents, Connecticut and Oklahoma. The Blue Demons open that tournament with North Carolina and could have a potential matchup with the Sooners in the second round. Other teams participating in the three-day tournament include host Hawaii, Denver, Fordham and Gonzaga.
Just two days after returning from Hawaii, the Blue Demons travel south to Champaign to play the Fighting Illini on Dec. 4. The home opener for DePaul will be the annual Moran Realty Classic at the DePaul Athletic Center. The tournament will have a local flavor this season as the Blue Demons take on neighborhood rival Loyola-Chicago in the first night of play. The winner of that game will face the winner of the Boston University-Montana State contest in the Saturday night championship game.
In December, the Blue Demons welcome a pair of perennial top 25 programs in Notre Dame and George Washington while going on the road to face Valparaiso and Toledo. Northern Illinois will return to Chicago on Dec. 18 for their annual matchup.
Local rivals Northwestern and Illinois-Chicago make the short trip to the DePaul Athletic Center to open 2003 for the Blue Demons. The Conference USA schedule opens on Jan. 12 at Marquette. The final non-conference game of the season will be in Knoxville when DePaul plays at Tennessee on Jan. 14. The remaining C-USA slate will see home games against defending champion TCU, Houston, UAB, South Florida, Charlotte, East Carolina and the return game with Marquette. The Blue Demons will travel to Saint Louis, Memphis, Southern Miss, Tulane, Cincinnati and Louisville. In its second season, the Conference USA Television Network will feature DePaul three times in games against TCU, Louisville and Marquette. The top 12 teams in the league standings will travel to Memphis, Tenn. for the C-USA Tournament, Mar. 6-9.