Fresh off a July summer tour of Brazil, Coach Fred McGuff's squad is finally healthy from an injury riddled 2014-15 season, and OSU has stellar talent across the board this year with some depth as well. However, it appears they also have one of the toughest schedules in all of college basketball this season.
Nov. 1: Ursuline College; 13: at South Carolina; 16: Connecticut, 5:30 p.m.; 19: Belmont; 22: vs. Wagner at St. John Arena; 27: vs. Liberty at Las Vegas, 5:15 p.m.; 28: vs. Texas A&M at Las Vegas, 3 p.m.
Dec. 2: at Notre Dame; 6: at Cincinnati; 13: North Carolina A&T; 18: Princeton; 21: Virginia; 31: Michigan State
Jan. 2: at Maryland; 7: Indiana; 10: Rutgers; 14: at Northwestern; 17: Purdue; 21: at Michigan; 24: at Rutgers; 28: Northwestern
Feb. 1: at Illinois; 4: Wisconsin; 8: Maryland; 11: at Iowa; 14: at Penn State; 18: Nebraska; 21: Illinois; 24: at Minnesota; 27: at Michigan State
As you can see, November is going to be a gauntlet, playing NCAA tourney South Carolina in Columbia, and then playing against National Champion Connecticut. They start the month of December with NCAA final runner-up Notre Dame and end the month against Michigan State at home. I am not aware of any BIG 10 team that has a tougher OOC schedule than that. Will this schedule make or break them this year? I think the Lady Bucks will play lights out and can go toe to toe with any team in the nation. We will find out early enough.
Your thoughts?