I actually like the schedule some thus far.

Quick rundown:
Pitt - SMS has another solid recruiting class in.  Should be a top 100 game, perhaps better.  Will be tough at the Pete.
RMU - Should be a win over a team with a good record and a chance to win the NEC.  RPI helper game too.
Princeton - Game is at Princeton Sunday Nov. 15th.  Princeton has four of five starters returning from a team that went unbeaten in the regular season last year.
Saint Peter's - A game that appears to be a gimme cupcake after they went 5-26 last year.  St. Peter's does return all 5 of their leading scorers, though.  I'd have more hope if their losses were close, but they lost 22 games by 8+ points last year in a very mediocre MAAC.
Lafayette - A typically middling Patriot League school with a first year coach in Theresa Grentz - a former Illinois coach and a former USA national coach.  If you win it, it will be an RPI helper game.
New Mexico - Will be part of a tournament in the Pit over Thanksgiving.  Excellent opportunity against a potential borderline top 100 team on the road.  The only problem is the Pit features one of the best home court advantages in the country for the Lobos.  Also in the tournament is Southern Utah and NC A&T.
Buffalo - The Bulls return to the schedule after a one year hiatus.  They lost their top 5 scorers from a team that has never finished better than 4th in the MAC.
Saint John's - Led by a tremendous young coach in Joe Tartamella, the Red Storm have NCAA aspirations again after just missing out last year going 21-10 (11-7) in an unfortunately timed down year for the BE.  From what I remember, he coaches an athletic team that played a disciplined style with tremendous defense.
Central Michigan - Look past the 13-18 disappointment from last year and you'll see an excellent program that won 20+ games four straight seasons.  Unfortunately, the Chippewas were a senior dominated team last year, leaving a ton of uncertainty for the upcoming season.

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A potential problem that I see is that the large majority of the harder games - Pitt, Princeton, and New Mexico are on the road.  If Saint John's is also away that's an incredibly tough road schedule.

godukes1970 wrote:

Rogabee, thanks for the review on each of the Dukes' non-conference opponents.  

I checked the websites of all of the opponents to see if they had announced their non-conference schedules.  Only Princeton, St, John's, and New Mexico had done so.  A correction to your review is that the Dukes will play St. John's (23-11) at the Palumbo on Saturday, Dec. 19th.  Regarding the Thanksgiving Tournament, New Mexico's website quotes NM's coach's description of the Dukes as "really good with a lot coming back" and provides only the names of the other tournament participants, Southern Utah (13-15) and N. Carolina A & T (20-11).  I'm assuming that the Dukes will be playing Southern Utah or NC A&T in the opener.  So the tournament championship match-up will very likely be the Dukes and NM.  Only three of the Dukes' opponents had final 2014-2015 RPIs in the top 100: Princeton (31-1) @10; Pitt (20-12) @39; and St. John's @77.  New Mexico (21-13) was the next best @110.

I went to the Market House (Pgh's Southside) on Tuesday night and watched a few games in the Citiparks/IBA Women's Summer Basketball League.  Best game of the evening was between S. Factory and The Tropics.  The Tropics had the Dukes' April Robinson and Olivia Bresnahan (graduated) on the team as well as Angela Heintz, a former Duke who transferred to Mercyhurst after her freshman year.  April and Olivia played very well.  April made at least 5 or 6 three pointers and Olivia was able to complete several drives to the hoop in traffic and a few short jumpers.  There was also at least one Pitt player on The Tropics, whose name I didn't know. (Unfortunately the woman who runs the summer league provides no information on the names or colleges the members of each team's roster.) The game was a high scoring affair and The Tropics won by six or seven points as I recall.  With the win the Tropics were tied for first place with Sudden Impact.  

Tonight is the last day of regular season games for the women's summer league.  The first round of the playoffs will be played on Thursday night at 6:30 pm, 7:30 pm, 8:30 pm, and 9:30 pm. Teams that finished in the top four slots in the regular season will play the survivors of Thursday evening's games on Sunday, July 19 at the same times as the Thurdday night games.  The semi-finals will be held on Monday, July 20.  The best of three games for the championship will be held on Tues., Juy 21; Wed., July 22; and , if necessary, Thurs., July 23.  The schedule I picked up had not posted the times of the semi-finals or finals.  The Market House has been renovated and has a new court, improved lighting, new windows, and A/C.  If you've never been there, it is located on 12th and Bingham Streets.  The gym is located on the second floor.  Parking is on the street but limited.  

  

Thanks for the summer league info.  Wish I could be there.  If you wouldn't mind keeping us posted it would be appreciated!

Glad to know the St. John's game is home.  Hopefully we get NC A&T in the tourney as it will be an RPI helping game (and possibly top 100 game if they get hot for the right stretch of time).

Just for clarification for everyone, you used post-season RPI calculations.  There's nothing wrong with that (I actually prefer it), just noting that it counted the NCAA, WNIT, and WBI games in it as opposed to some other sites out there that end at the end of the regular season.

I was able to find out that the Dukes' contract with St. John's is for home (at the Palumbo on Sat., Dec. 19th) and home games.  Having St John's on the Dukes' schedules for two games is a definite plus.  It may take until the end of July for the remainder of the OOC schedule to be finalized and then announced.  

Last edited by godukes1970 (7/18/2015 9:55 pm)