Final Four Teams Highlight Husker Schedule

Lincoln - The Nebraska women’s basketball team will get a pair of chances to knock off 2005 NCAA Final Four teams Baylor and LSU on the road during a powerful 2005-06 regular-season schedule, which the Huskers officially released on Friday.

Nebraska Head Coach Connie Yori, who enters her fourth season at the helm of the Husker program, said the 2005-06 schedule will be the strongest slate her NU team has faced.

"This is our toughest non-conference schedule since I have been at Nebraska," Yori said. "In making our schedule, we have always considered the quality and position of our program. We think this is the best team that we have been able to put on the floor in our time at Nebraska, so we are going to play our best schedule."

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Overall the Huskers with play 13 games against 2005 postseason qualifiers, including 10 contests against NCAA Tournament teams. Nebraska will play four of those 2005 postseason clubs in non-conference play, including three matchups on the road. The Huskers will also play three Big 12 Conference games on national television, with road contests at Texas Tech (Jan. 21) and Kansas State (Feb. 4), along with a home game against Texas A&M (Feb. 11) carried live by FSN (Fox Sports Net).

After opening exhibition play on Halloween night against Nebraska-Omaha at the Bob Devaney Sports Center, and closing the exhibition season at the Devaney Center against Nebraska-Kearney on Nov. 13, the Huskers will officially open the regular season at home against South Dakota State on Saturday, Nov. 19. SDSU is a provisional Division I team in 2005-06, after finishing with a 21-7 overall record last year that included an impressive win over 2005 Women’s National Invitation Tournament runner-up Kentucky. The Jackrabbits will gain the coaching services of former Husker point guard Jina Johansen, who will be in her first season as a graduate assistant coach for SDSU in 2005-06.

The Huskers open a string of four straight games against 2005 postseason clubs by battling in-state foe Creighton at the Devaney Center on Monday, Nov. 21. The Bluejays advanced to the WNIT after finishing in a tie for second in the Missouri Valley Conference. CU closed 2005 with a 19-10 record and a 13-5 MVC mark, losing to Iowa in the first round of the WNIT after winning the 2004 WNIT championship.

Highlighting an impressive non-conference schedule will be 2005 NCAA Final Four participant and Southeastern Conference champion LSU. The Tigers rolled to a perfect 14-0 regular-season record in the powerful SEC last season, before finishing with a 33-3 overall record. LSU fell to eventual national champion Baylor 84-62 in the NCAA semifinals at Conseco Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.

The Huskers will face LSU in their opening game of the Miami Thanksgiving Classic on Friday, Nov. 25. Nebraska will close the tournament with another tough foe when it faces 2005 WNIT qualifier Texas A&M-Corpus Christi on Nov. 27 in Miami. The Islanders finished with a 23-7 overall record before losing to Texas A&M in the second round of the WNIT a year ago.

Nebraska will play its fourth consecutive game against a 2005 postseason squad when the Huskers travel to Minnesota to take on the Golden Gophers on Dec. 3. Minnesota, which advanced to the NCAA Sweet 16 where it also fell to eventual national champion Baylor, finished with a 26-8 overall record after running to a 12-4 record and a fourth-place finish in a strong Big Ten Conference. Minnesota’s Sweet 16 appearance in 2005 followed a trip to the NCAA Women’s Final Four in 2004, where it lost to eventual 2004 NCAA champion Connecticut.

"We are definitely playing quality teams in the non-conference season," Yori said. "That should only help us prepare for the Big 12 season and give our players a taste of Big 12-caliber competition."

The remainder of Nebraska’s road non-conference schedule includes clashes with Big Ten teams Northwestern (Dec. 10) and Michigan (Dec. 17), before closing the pre-league schedule with home games against Texas State (Dec. 20), Grambling State (Dec. 29) and Northern Arizona (Dec. 31). The New Year’s Eve contest against the Lumberjacks will feature a team that finished with a 19-10 overall record and a 9-5 mark with a third-place finish in the Big Sky Conference in 2004-05.

The Huskers open a rugged Big 12 schedule on the road at Colorado on Jan. 4, the site of their final conference regular-season game of the 2004-05 season. After battling the Buffaloes, Nebraska will return to the Devaney Center to face Kansas (Jan. 7) and Missouri (Jan. 11), before beginning a stretch in which the Huskers will face seven 2005 postseason teams in the next eight games.

Highlighting that eight-game stretch will be Devaney Center showdowns with 2005 NCAA qualifiers Texas (Jan. 18) and Iowa State (Feb. 1), along with Texas A&M (Feb. 11), which advanced to the third round of the 2005 WNIT. The Huskers will start that eight-game stretch at Iowa State on Jan. 14, and will also travel to 2005 NCAA Sweet 16 participant Texas Tech (Jan. 21), NCAA qualifier Kansas State (Feb. 4) and to 2005 NCAA champion Baylor (Feb. 8). The Huskers knocked off Baylor 103-99 in triple overtime at the Devaney Center last season.

The Huskers travel to Kansas on Feb. 15, before closing their home schedule against Kansas State (Feb. 18) and Oklahoma State on Senior Night Feb. 21. Nebraska ends the regular season on the road with trips to Oklahoma (Feb. 26) and Missouri (March 1), before heading to Reunion Arena in Dallas, Texas for the Phillips 66 Big 12 Tournament March 7-11.

The 2006 NCAA Tournament is scheduled to begin with first- and second-round games March 18-21, and will continue with NCAA Regional action March 25-28. The NCAA Women’s Final Four will be played at the FleetCenter in Boston April 2-4.