Oct. 4, 2007
2007-08 Notre Dame Women’s Basketball Schedule in PDF Format
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NOTRE DAME, Ind. – The University of Notre Dame women’s basketball team will have a minimum of 22 games on television during the 2007-08 regular season, according to the full BIG EAST Conference television package and other arrangements announced Thursday. This year’s Irish TV slate, which includes nine nationally-televised contests and all 16 home games, is the most extensive in the program’s 31-year history and puts Notre Dame among the nation’s elite in terms of television coverage. It also will mark the seventh consecutive season that the Irish will have at least eight games on broadcast television. Notre Dame has made a total of 92 televised appearances in the previous six campaigns, an average of more than 15 broadcasts per year, and additional games this season could be selected to be shown on either a regional or local basis, with further announcements pending.
The premier game on the Irish television docket this season is the Jan. 5 matchup with defending national champion Tennessee at the Joyce Center, a game that will air live nationally on CBS at 2 p.m. ET. Notre Dame will be seen on the Tiffany Network for the third time in program history, following a 1997 road game at Ohio State and a 2003 home contest vs. Purdue. This year’s game with Tennessee also is likely to be a sellout, which would be the fourth capacity crowd in program history, and would mark the second time in three years the Irish and Lady Vols would play inside a packed Joyce Center.
For the second consecutive season, Notre Dame will play at least four times on the ESPN family of networks. The Irish have been tapped for a pair of home games on ESPN2 — the Jan. 27 contest against reigning BIG EAST regular season champion Connecticut (7 p.m. ET), and the Feb. 10 game against Pittsburgh (2 p.m. ET), a matchup that will air as part of the network’s annual “February Frenzy” coverage, designed to mimic the regionalized format ESPN and ESPN2 will use for their early-round NCAA Tournament package. What’s more, Notre Dame’s road games at West Virginia (Jan. 13, noon ET) and DePaul (Feb. 24, 2 p.m. ET/1 p.m. CT) will be broadcast live to a national audience on ESPNU.
In addition, the Irish are in line to make four national appearances on the BIG EAST-CSTV Game of the Week package — Jan. 8 at Louisville, Jan. 22 vs. DePaul, Feb. 13 vs. Marquette and Feb. 19 at Rutgers. The Louisville and Marquette games will tip off at 7 p.m. ET, while the DePaul and Rutgers contests will start at 8 p.m. ET. CSTV (College Sports Television) now is available on most cable systems around the country, including Comcast Cable in South Bend (digital tier Channel 418), and also can be seen on satellite via DirecTV (Channel 610) or DISH Network (Channel 152).
Notre Dame will play at least two regionally-televised games during the upcoming season — Dec. 8 at Purdue (4 p.m. ET on Big Ten Network) and Jan. 19 at Georgetown (2 p.m. ET on the BIG EAST-Regional Sports Networks (RSN) Game of the Week broadcast). The Georgetown game will air on various RSNs nationwide (also attainable through DirecTV or DISH Network), including live coverage on the network’s flagship carrier, SportsNet New York, which reaches nearly 12 million homes in the nation’s No. 1 media market. For the past several years, the BIG EAST-RSN Game of the Week has been carried in the South Bend market on WHME-TV (Channel 46), with clearance for this season still pending.
Outside of the commercial television agreements, Notre Dame is slated to show its remaining 11 home games (as well as both exhibition contests) live free of charge on its official athletics web site, UND.com. The Irish had seven games broadcast live on the Internet last season through the Fighting Irish All-Access package on UND.com, which has consistently ranked as the No. 1 CSTV Online university web site in the country with more than four million page views per month.
Besides its regular-season TV slate, nearly every one of Notre Dame’s postseason contests will be televised live nationally on the ESPN family of networks, with only the BIG EAST Championship first-round games shown regionally on the BIG EAST-RSN package. The conference tournament quarterfinals and semifinals will air on ESPNU, while the BIG EAST title game will be shown on ESPN2. What’s more, ESPN and ESPN2 will show all 63 games from the 2008 NCAA Tournament, which gets underway March 22 and culminates with the NCAA national championship game April 8 from the St. Pete Times Forum in Tampa, Fla.
The Irish will open the ’07-08 preseason next Wednesday, Oct. 10 with their annual Media Day activities, scheduled for 3 p.m. (ET) at the Joyce Center. Notre Dame will hold its first practice of the season on the evening of Oct. 12, beginning preparations for its exhibition opener at home Nov. 1 at 7 p.m. (ET) against Southern Indiana. The ’07-08 regular season starts Nov. 9, when the Irish tip off play in the Preseason Women’s National Invitation Tournament (WNIT) against Miami (Ohio) at 9 p.m. (ET) inside the Joyce Center.
Notre Dame retains eight monogram winners and three starters from its 2006-07 squad that compiled a 20-12 record (10-6 in the BIG EAST/tied for fifth place) and made its 12th consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance. The Irish then advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament before falling to top-seeded (and second-ranked) North Carolina, 60-51. Notre Dame returns more than 80 percent of its offensive production from that club, led by senior All-America guard Charel Allen (Monessen, Pa./Monessen) and senior point guard Tulyah Gaines (North Las Vegas, Nev./Cheyenne). In addition, the Irish welcome back junior guard Lindsay Schrader (Bartlett, Ill./Bartlett), who was the team’s second-leading scorer (10.5 ppg.) as a rookie in 2005-06 before missing all of last season with a knee injury.
Season ticket packages for Notre Dame women’s basketball are available by contacting the Irish Athletics Ticket Office at (574) 631-7356, by visiting the ticket windows on the second floor of the Joyce Center (via Gate 1) or on the official Notre Dame athletics web site, UND.com (click here for details). In addition, the new Irish “Triple Threat” women’s basketball ticket package goes on sale next Tuesday, Oct. 9 — the three-game ticket set features ducats for the Tennessee and Connecticut games, as well a third “wild card” game of the buyer’s choice, all for only $15 per pack. Single-game tickets for the 2007-08 Notre Dame women’s basketball season will go on sale Oct. 23.
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2007-08 NOTRE DAME WOMEN’S BASKETBALL ON TELEVISION
Dec. 8 at Purdue (Big Ten Network) 4 p.m. ET
Jan. 5 Tennessee (CBS) 2 p.m. ET
Jan. 8 at Louisville (CSTV) 7 p.m. ET
Jan. 13 at West Virginia (ESPNU) Noon ET
Jan. 19 at Georgetown (BIG EAST TV) 2 p.m. ET
Jan. 22 DePaul (CSTV) 8 p.m. ET
Jan. 27 Connecticut (ESPN2) 7 p.m. ET
Feb. 10 Pittsburgh (ESPN2) 2 p.m. ET
Feb. 13 Marquette (CSTV) 7 p.m. ET
Feb. 19 at Rutgers (CSTV) 8 p.m. ET
Feb. 24 at DePaul (ESPNU) 2 p.m. ET/1 p.m. CT
Mar. 8 BIG EAST First Round (BIG EAST TV) TBA
Mar. 9 BIG EAST Quarterfinals (ESPNU) TBA
Mar. 10 BIG EAST Semifinals (ESPNU) 6/8 p.m. ET
Mar. 11 BIG EAST Championship (ESPN2) 7 p.m. ET
3/22-4/8 NCAA Tournament (ESPN/ESPN2) TBA
NOTE: All home games not listed above will be televised live on the official Notre Dame athletics web site, UND.com.