2016-17 Television Schedule
NEW YORK – The BIG EAST Conference 2016-17 women’s basketball schedule, announced on Tuesday, tips off Nov. 11-13 for all 10 teams. Conference play will begin on Dec. 28, with all teams playing at least one BIG EAST game prior to the New Year. FS1 and FS2 will air a total of 22 games, including the quarterfinal, semifinal and championship games of the BIG EAST Tournament, set for March 4-7 on the campus of Marquette University in Milwaukee.
All 10 BIG EAST teams will appear on at least two nationally televised games during regular-season play across the FOX Sports family of networks, while an additional two games will be featured on CBS Sports Network. For the second straight year, the BIG EAST Digital Network (BEDN) will air all women’s basketball games during conference play that are not scheduled for a television broadcast, for a total of 73 tilts.
For the fourth consecutive year, FS1 and FS2 will provide coverage of the BIG EAST Women’s Basketball Tournament, with this season’s event moving to the Al McGuire Center at Marquette. FS2 will air the quarterfinal round on March 5, with games set for 1, 3:30, 7 and 9:30 p.m. (ET). FS1 picks up the remainder of the tournament, with the semifinals on March 6 slated for 4 and 6:30 p.m., and the championship game set to tip off at 9 p.m. on March 7. The BIG EAST Digital Network will live stream both first round games on March 4, with tip times not yet determined.
Through the first three seasons as a 10-team league, eight different programs have received bids into the national postseason, including three squads earning NCAA Tournament berths in 2016, the most since conference reconfiguration. The BIG EAST has combined for seven NCAA berths over the last three seasons including the first by Seton Hall (2015, 2016) in 20 years, and a pair of Sweet 16 runs by DePaul (2014, 2016). Twelve teams have qualified for the WNIT since realignment, including Georgetown in 2016, earning its first national postseason berth since 2012. Five teams carry multi-year national postseason streaks into the 2016-17 season led by the Blue Demons’ 17-year postseason run, which includes 14 consecutive NCAA appearances, along with St. John’s (nine years), Creighton (nine years), Villanova (five years) and Seton Hall (three years).
The Conference is in the fourth year of its multi-year contract with FOX Sports, which has exclusive television rights to all BIG EAST competitions. St. John’s and Seton Hall headline the first nationally televised game of the season for BIG EAST women’s hoops as the longtime rivals square off on Dec. 30 at 7 p.m. (ET) on FS2. St. John’s claimed its third BIG EAST Tournament crown this past March, its first since 1988, and will travel to South Orange for the first of its four nationally televised tilts.
Monday, Jan. 2, proves to be a bit of a BIG EAST marathon as four games will air across two networks with two on FS1 and two on CBS Sports Network. Seton Hall and Butler will tip off at 6:30 p.m. on FS1, followed by St. John’s at Xavier at 7 p.m. on CBSSN. Action continues on FS1 at 8:30 p.m., when Marquette welcomes Creighton, and wraps up with a 9 p.m. CBSSN tilt between host DePaul and visiting Providence.
The Friars hired a new head coach this past May in Jim Crowley, who is coming off a trip to the NCAA Second Round with St. Bonaventure, and will make their FS1 debut on Jan. 8 at home against Villanova. Providence will also play at Seton Hall on Jan. 20 in a game airing on FS2.
New-look St. John’s, which graduated a pair of WNBA Draft picks in Danaejah Grant and the program’s all-time leading scorer Aliyyah Handford in May, will travel to Georgetown on Jan. 13 in the first of three nationally televised tilts for the Hoyas as the game will air on FS1 at 7 p.m. GU boasted the nation’s third-best turnaround in 2015-16, increasing its win total by 12 from the year before. The Hoyas will also face Xavier on FS1 in a game set for Jan. 20 at 8 p.m.
Fans will get familiar with the home of the 2017 BIG EAST Tournament as Marquette hosts its second of three televised games on Jan. 15 against Butler before concluding with regional rival DePaul on Feb. 19. MU’s Allazia Blockton, the 2016 BIG EAST Freshman of the Year, snapped the league’s 21-year old rookie scoring record against the Blue Demons in the 2015-16 regular-season finale.
As DePaul aims for at least a share of its fourth consecutive BIG EAST regular-season crown, the Blue Demons, led by Jessica January, will be tested by last season’s BIG EAST Tournament “Cinderella team” – Creighton. The Bluejays won three straight games headed by the heroics of MC McGrory to become just the fourth No. 7 seed in 34 years to advance to the title game. DePaul and Creighton square off in Omaha on Jan. 27 in a game airing on FS1 at 8 p.m.
Creighton follows the next week as well, traveling to Villanova on Feb. 3 for a 7 p.m. showdown on FS2. The Wildcats were impressive down the stretch last season, injecting themselves into the NCAA Tournament conversation, thanks to the surprise performances by rookie guard Adrianna Hahn who filled in for injured All-BIG EAST point guard Caroline Coyer. Villanova follows on Feb. 10 at St. John’s on FS1 (8 p.m.) before hosting Xavier on Feb. 17 in a game airing on FS1 at 7:30 p.m.
The final weekend of games could prove pivotal as FS1 and FS2 will carry two of the potential key matchups. On Friday, Feb. 24, Creighton travels to Xavier in a game tipping at 7 p.m. on FS2, before Sunday’s finale shows DePaul hosting Georgetown at 1 p.m. on FS1.
The BIG EAST Digital Network will provide coverage of 73 additional women’s basketball conference games. BEDN, launched in September 2014, is its own dedicated section within FOX Sports GO, the mobile app that provides live streaming video of FOX Sports content at home or on-the-go. FOX Sports GO is currently available for iOS, Android, Kindle Fire tablets and Fire phones, select Windows devices, and on desktops through FOXSportsGO.com. Streaming on FOX Sports GO is also now available on several connected devices, including Apple TV, Roku and Chromecast. Fans can download the mobile app for free from the iTunes App Store, Google Play, Amazon App Store and Windows Store.