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Huskies release 2006-07 schedule
Dogs to open season against Arizona and New Mexico State
Saskatoon, SK - The University of Saskatchewan Huskies and head coach Greg Jockims released their 2006-07 schedule today. The Huskies will play a 35-game regular season slate, including 16 home games, before the Canada West postseason begins. In addition to playing every Canada West school, highlights include a visit to the Physical Activity Complex from last season's national finalist, two games against NCAA Division I opponents and trips to Montreal and southern Ontario.
The 2006-07 season will be the earliest tip-off in the program's history. The Huskies will open up the season in Vancouver against two NCAA Division I opponents. On September 2nd, the Huskies will face the University of Arizona at UBC's War Memorial Gym. The following day the Huskies will play New Mexico State University.
Saskatoon fans will get their first look at the squad when the Huskies host Lakeland College on Saturday, September 30th.
The Dogs will then travel to Montreal for the first time since January, 1985 to take part in the Nike Invitational hosted by Concordia University. The following week the Huskies will travel to southern Ontario to play at Guelph, McMaster and Brock. The Huskies played at all three schools on a trip back in October, 1995. The Huskies will be playing McMaster for the third consecutive season. The Mauraders defeated the Huskies 81-79 in the consolation semi-final at the National Championships last March.
The Huskies then begin a seven game home stand when they host the Eighth Annual Huskie Shootout from Oct. 19-21 at the PAC. This year's tournament field features Brandon, Calgary and Regina.
Saskatchewan will face conference newcomer Fraser Valley to open up the 22-game conference schedule on November 3rd, before hosting Thompson Rivers the next night. A week later the Huskies will host rival Alberta in a rematch of last year's Central Division Final.
In addition to playing their Central Division foes Calgary and Lethbridge four times, the Huskies will be on the road to play Brandon, Regina, Trinity Western and Simon Fraser. They will also play Winnipeg, Manitoba, Victoria and UBC in conference action at the PAC. Victoria was last year's conference champion and National Finalist.
Saskatchewan has one more non-conference trip before the second semester begins. The Huskies will travel to Montana after Christmas for two games. The Huskies will play at Montana Tech (11-18, 3-11 Frontier) and Montana State-Northern (19-13, 7-7 Frontier) on December 29th and 30th. Both are NAIA Division I schools and members of the Frontier Conference. The Huskies won their most recent match-ups with each school at the 2004 Huskiehoops.com Shootout.
The Huskies went 23-18 overall last year, advancing to the national championships where they finished seventh. The Huskies claimed the Central Division regular season title for the second straight season before winning the Central Division Final against Alberta. The Dogs finished third at the Canada West Final Four, defeating Regina in the third place game after losing a one-point nail-biter at UBC.
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The Arizona Wildcats are led by Hall of Fame head coach Lute Olson. Olson, who is entering his 24th year at the helm at Arizona, won a National Championship in 1996-97 and has taken the team to four Final Fours. Last season the Wildcats (20-13, 11-7 Pac-10) made the NCAA Tournament for the 22nd consecutive season. The Wildcats finished fourth in the Pac-10 before losing to Villanova 82-78 in the second round of the NCAA Tournament. Arizona returns 11 players from last year's squad, including four starters.
The New Mexico State Aggies are entering their second season under head coach Reggie Theus. Theus is a former NBA All-Star who played 13 years in the league. The Aggies (16-14, 10-6 WAC) finished fifth in the Western Athletic Conference before losing to eventual champion Nevada in the WAC Tournament semi-finals. The Aggies' 10-win improvement over the previous season was tied for the fourth best turnaround in all of Division I basketball.