SYRACUSE, NY -- Syracuse University will face a 30-game regular-season schedule in 2006-07. The finishing touches on the slate were announced on September 7 in conjunction with the BIG EAST Conference's release of its regular-season schedule.
Syracuse is scheduled for a minimum of 10 nationally televised games – seven on ESPN, and one each on ABC, CBS and ESPN2.
The SU opposition includes seven clubs that earned NCAA Tournament berths in 2006: Connecticut, Georgetown, Marquette, Pennsylvania, Pittsburgh, Villanova and Wichita State. Another seven – Charlotte, Cincinnati, Hofstra, Louisville, Notre Dame, Rutgers and UTEP – were NIT participants.
Syracuse begins the regular season by hosting the four-team Black Coaches Association Invitational, Nov. 10-12. St. Francis (N.Y.), Pennsylvania and UTEP round out the field. Each club will play three games.
Syracuse will compete in the Jimmy V Classic at New York's Madison Square Garden for the second time in three seasons. The Orange are paired with Oklahoma State again while Louisville will play Arizona.
For the second straight year, Syracuse has home-and-home conference matchups with Connecticut and Villanova. St. John's is the other league foe the Orange will face twice.
Seton Hall and West Virginia are the two BIG EAST squads absent from the 2006-07 itinerary. It will mark the first time since the BIG EAST began play in 1979-80 that the Orange and the Pirates have not met. SU and the Mountaineers had competed each season since 1995-96.
The BIG EAST is in its second year of a 16-team configuration. Each squad will play a 16-game conference schedule. Teams will meet 10 opponents once and three opponents twice (home and away). Each team will not play two opponents.
In 2007-08 the schedule will change to 18 conference contests with everyone pairing up once and three squads playing home-and-home series.
Syracuse is scheduled for a minimum of 10 nationally televised games – seven on ESPN, and one each on ABC, CBS and ESPN2.