San Francisco Plays Six Games Against
2010 NCAA Tournament Teams
Download Tentative 2010-11 Schedule: Here!
(San Francisco) – USF head men's basketball coach Rex Walters announces the 2010-11 regular season schedule featuring six
games against 2010 NCAA Tournament teams – including Sweet-16
participants Saint Mary's and Washington – and 10 contests
against squads competing in the postseason a year ago. The Dons
open their 99th campaign Friday, November 12 against Seattle
University, kicking off seven non-conference home games at War
Memorial Gym.
"It's not an easy schedule," Walters said. "In some ways I like
it because we're going to get challenged, which is a concern with a
young team, but it says 'U.S.F.' across our chests and we have to
play well. We accomplished one goal and got more home games this
year, which is something we've worked on for two years now. Being
at home in front of our fans without traveling will help us get
better. We will be tested, but it will prepare us for the
conference schedule."
USF travels to the South Bay to take on ancient Bay Area rival
San Jose State Wednesday, November 17 before returning home to host
Colorado Saturday, November 20. The Buffs are the first Big-12
opponent to play on the Hilltop since Texas Tech visited for the
2005-06 season. The Green and Gold travels to Bozeman, MT to tackle
Montana State Wednesday, November 24 and close out the month
hosting Loyola Chicago Saturday, November 27.
After welcoming Holy Names to campus Wednesday, December 1, the
Dons kick off a tough five-game road trip with the opening stop at
Cal State Bakersfield Saturday, December 4. San Francisco then
takes on a pair of NCAA Tournament teams, beginning Wednesday,
December 8 at Louisville in the Dons first game at Freedom Hall
since the 2006-07 season. USF then travels to the Pacific Northwest
to take on the defending Pac-10 Tournament Champion Huskies Sunday,
December 18 at Bank of America Arena.
After tackling the Roadrunners, Cardinals and Huskies, San
Francisco will travel to Las Vegas to compete in the Jerry
Tarkanian Las Vegas Classic beginning Tuesday, December 21. The
Dons will play a pair of games in the desert with the opponents to
be announced later.
"We are on the road a lot in December," Walters said. "We play
two NCAA Tournament teams Louisville and Washington and then there
are going to be two good teams at the Tarkanian Las Vegas Classic.
Things haven't been finalized yet, but it's definitely going to be
a test. It's going to be a challenge, but it's only going to make
us better as we get closer to conference play."
USF returns home to host the inaugural Hilltop Challenge. The
Dons welcome Colorado State, Dominican and Hampton to The City. The
tournament format features double-headers Tuesday, December 28,
Thursday, December 30 and Saturday, January 1. The Dons will take
on the Rams followed by the Pirates and Penguins in their final
tune-up prior to West Coast Conference play.
"The Hilltop Challenge will be huge for us," Walters said. "It's
a good field. We played Colorado State two years ago and again last
year and split and now we play them on our home court along with
Hampton. We wanted to do something for a local team and Dominican
was interested and they'll get the chance to test themselves three
times against Division I competition. It's something we need to do
every year. I've got a great staff and support from the athletic
department to get this done and make it a yearly event."
Competition in the WCC figures to be intense after a strong
showing by the league in 2010. Last season four teams –
Gonzaga (NCAA), Saint Mary's (NCAA), Loyola Marymount (CIT) and
Portland (CIT) - advanced to the postseason. The regular season
champion Bulldogs advanced to the second round, while the Gaels
marched to the NCAA Sweet-16. The league schedule retains the
Thursday/Saturday format for the 2011 conference campaign, the
58th year of WCC action."
I think the league will be better this year," Walters said. "A lot
of teams that weren't in contention three years ago now are ready
to challenge. Loyola Marymount especially and Santa Clara have a
chance to be really good. Gonzaga, Saint Mary's and Portland
obviously had great years, but there are a couple teams that have
question marks and I think we're in that group. At the end of the
day it's going to come down to the teams playing hard, smart and
together and forget about youth and inexperience. It's going to be
a great league and there's going to be a lot of great games. By the
time conference rolls around we're going to need to be playing our
best basketball."
USF plays five of its first seven WCC games on the road. The
Dons open at ancient Bay Area rival Santa Clara Saturday, January 8
and then take on Saint Mary's in Moraga Thursday, January 13. USF
then travels to Southern California for a Saturday, January 15
showdown at San Diego.
San Francisco returns home to host the Pacific Northwest schools
starting Thursday, January 20 against Portland. The Dons then
welcome defending league champion Gonzaga to the Hilltop Saturday,
January 22.
USF closes out the first half of the league loop when it travels
to LA for a pair of games beginning Thursday, January 27 at Loyola
Marymount. The Dons take on Pepperdine Saturday in Malibu.
San Francisco opens the second half of WCC play and a three-game
homestand Saturday, February 5 when it welcomes the Broncos to the
Hilltop. The Dons then take on the Toreros Thursday, February 10
and then wrestle the Gaels on Saturday.
USF then embarks on the its final regular season road trip when
it travels to the Pacific Northwest for two. The Dons take on the
Pilots Thursday, February 27 at the Chiles Center in a game
broadcast live by ESPNU before the season finale at perennial NCAA
power Gonzaga Saturday in the McCarthey Athletic Center.
San Francisco wraps up the regular season at home against the
Waves and Lions, beginning Thursday, February 24 against
Pepperdine. The Dons tackle LMU Saturday on senior night in the
Hilltop curtain call for Moustapha
Diarra.
2011 Zappos.com West Coast Conference Tournament in Las Vegas
– March 4-7: After a pair of highly
successful events, the West Coast Conference Men's and Women's
Basketball Championships return to the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas.
Attendance and ticket records were shattered for the second
consecutive season with the 2010 event and the league showcase will
remain at the Orleans Arena through the 2011-12 season. The
inaugural event in 2009 marked the first time in conference history
that the league's premier event was held on a neutral site. The
2011 basketball championships will be the 25th annual event on the
men's side and the 19th annual women's tournament, and takes place
March 4-7.
ABOUT THE HILLTOP CHALLENGE: Ever since the
arrival of head coach Rex Walters at the University of San
Francisco in May of 2008, USF Athletics has been committed to
bringing a top quality basketball tournament to the city of San
Francisco. USF Athletics' vision is to welcome four quality teams
from across the country to historic War Memorial Gymnasium to
experience great basketball in one of the most outstanding cities
in the world.
GEORGE O'BRIEN
EXHIBITION GAME: USF will host Menlo College
Sunday, November 7 in the George O'Brien Exhibition Game. Tip time
against the Oaks is set for 2:00 PM at War Memorial
Gym.
MARK MCCATHRION TO BE INDUCTED INTO USF ATHLETICS HALL OF
FAME: USF basketball standout Mark McCathrion '89
has been inducted into the USF Athletics Father Hub Flynn Hall of
Fame. For tickets, log on to USFDons.com or contact Julie Congi in
the USF Athletic Development Office at (415) 422-2875 / congi@usfca.edu. Tickets are $50 per
person or $450 per table of 10. The deadline for early registration
is October 4, 2010 and online registration will soon be available
on USFDons.com.
The Father Hub Flynn Hall of Fame is one of the highlights of the
2010 FallFest at the University of San Francisco. For more details
on the weekend-long event log on to http://www.usfca.edu/fallfest/.
