Moon Township, Pa. ? The Robert Morris University women's basketball team will play a 28-game schedule in 2007-08 as they look to defend their Northeast Conference title and make a return trip to the NCAA Tournament under the direction of fifth-year head coach Sal Buscaglia. The Colonials play 10 home games while traveling to take on teams from the Southeastern Conference (SEC), the Mid-American Conference (MAC), Atlantic 10 (A-10), Big 12, Conference USA (C-USA), America East and the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC).
“This will be the most challenging schedule that I have faced on the Division I level playing against an SEC school (Florida), a Big 12 team (Nebraska and Missouri) and the MAC (Kent State, Miami (Ohio), Ohio) in addition to playing in the Tulane Tournament,” said Buscaglia. “The quality of the schools that we play and the conferences they come from means that there will be no easy games for us this season. On top of that, we only have two non-conference home games which makes the schedule even more demanding.”
Robert Morris will be facing six of their 10 non-conference opponents for the first time in team history. The Colonials play in the Florida Atlantic Classic immediately following the Thanksgiving holiday and the Tulane Tournament prior to the Christmas holiday.
The Colonials open the season Nov. 12 traveling to Florida for a first-time meeting with the Gators. Robert Morris opens its home schedule Nov. 15 by hosting Kent State at the Charles L. Sewall Center.
A five-game road trip, the Colonials longest of the season, follows their home opener. They start the extended trip with their shortest drive of the season, traveling halfway across Allegheny County to take on Duquesne Nov. 21 in a 7:00 p.m. tip.
Robert Morris then travels to the Florida Atlantic Classic where they open against Big 12 member Missouri (Nov. 24) and then host Florida Atlantic (Nov. 25). A Sunday matinee against another Big 12 team, Nebraska, is next on the docket Dec. 2. RMU has never played Missouri or Florida Atlantic and lost their only meeting against the Cornhuskers, 95-50, at the Sewall Center in 1990.
The Colonials begin the defense of their NEC title against Saint Francis (Pa.) Saturday, Dec. 8, at home before getting back on the bus for a trip to Ohio University (Dec. 16).
The Colonials take a pre-Christmas trip to New Orleans, La., to take part in the Tulane Tournament along with Texas-San Antonio, Tulane and Virginia Tech Dec. 20 and Dec. 21. The non-conference slate wraps up with Vermont (Dec. 30) visiting the Sewall Center.
The remainder of the NEC schedule opens with a trip to Quinnipiac (Jan. 5) before hosting Monmouth (Jan. 7). Over their final 17 games, Robert Morris will play eight games at home and nine on the road.
The Colonials return four players, including three starters, from last year's NCAA tournament team. Robert Morris posted a team record 24 wins to just eight losses while winning their first NEC title. Since taking over a team that went 1-26 in 2002-03, Buscaglia is 91-59 at Robert Morris over the last four seasons.
