On Tuesday, the full 2016-17 schedule was released. Let’s take a look at some of the key dates as well as at some TV and venue notes.
The Wildcats will begin their title defense on November 11 against Lafayette.
Villanova will get an early test when they travel to Indiana to play Purdue in the Gavitt games on November 14. Purdue finished last season 26-9 and tied for third in the Big Ten, and will have a very formidable frontcourt. There is a very real possibility the Boilermakers will be a top-20 team when this game rolls around.
From there, they will travel to South Carolina to play in the Charleston Classic from November 17-20. They will open on the 17th with Western Michigan, and will have a potential matchup with Wake Forest or UTEP the following day. The Charleston Classic games will air on ESPN2.
Big 5 play kicks off on November 29 at Penn and will conclude December 13 against Temple. In between will be St. Joe’s on December 3 and at LaSalle on December 6 (also scheduled for ESPN2), with a big out-of-conference matchup with Notre Dame interrupting the Big 5 run on December 10.
The other highly anticipated out-of-conference game will be against Virginia, where the Wildcats will look to avenge last season’s defeat. That game will be on January 29 at the Wells Fargo Center. This could be a matchup of top-10 teams.
The three other games at the Wells Fargo Center will be Marquette on January 7, Providence on January 21, and St. John’s on February 4.
Looking at the in-conference schedule, there are three key stretches for ‘Nova. The first one is a four-game stretch where the Wildcats will travel to Creighton on 12/31 and then to Butler on January 4, followed by home dates with Marquette on January 7 and Xavier on January 10. Xavier will be flirting with a top-10 ranking to start the season, and Creighton may find themselves in the top-25. Butler may be hanging around the top-25 as well, and Marquette should be much improved.
The next gauntlet begins on January 16 when Seton Hall comes to town as part of the Big East MLK Jr. Day marathon on FS1. On January 21 Providence will visit, then comes a trip to Marquette on January 24. The big showdown with Virginia is up next, interrupting the conference schedule, on January 29. ‘Nova then travels to Providence on February 1. Seton Hall and Providence both suffered major losses from last season’s rosters, but the Pirates will still be reigning Big East Tournament Champions and Ed Cooley always has his Friars ready to play.
Finally, the ‘Cats will have a tough three-game run near the end of the season, beginning with a trip up the New Jersey turnpike to visit Seton Hall on February 18. That is followed by two home dates, Butler on February 22 and Creighton on the 25th.
The regular season will conclude on March 4 with a game at Georgetown.
We are one step closer to seeing the Wildcats back on the court.
