Last year, Penn women’s basketball proved it was the best team in the Ivy League.
This year, the Red and Blue will put their skills to the test against some of the best teams in the entire country, facing a strong schedule fit for the defending Ivy champions.
The Quakers will not have to wait very long to face their most formidable opponent of the 2014-15 season. For its season opener on Nov. 14, Penn will head south to take on Tennessee, the No. 4 team in the nation.
“It’s definitely a challenge right out of the gate,” coach Mike McLaughlin said. “But hopefully some of the [experienced players] we have back will help us going into the game.”
The Lady Volunteers, winners of 16 SEC championships and eight national titles, have qualified for the Women’s NCAA Tournament in all 33 years of its existence. Last season, the Lady Vols earned a No. 1 seed in the tournament before being upset by Maryland in the regional semifinals.
“We’ll be playing against one of the most talented teams in the country,” McLaughlin said, “but we’ll prepare, and we’ll be excited to get things started for sure.”
Senior captain Renee Busch echoes her coach’s sentiment about the big early season test.
“I’m really excited. I have some family down there,” she said. “Starting with that, it will put the bar very high for what we need to expect from every game.”
While the remainder of Penn’s schedule may lack the national spotlight and gravitas of the showdown in Knoxville, it will still present plenty of challenges for a deep Quakers squad.
In nonconference play, the Red and Blue will face plenty of stiff competition. On Nov. 22, its third game of the season, Penn will travel to take on Navy, which is coming off a 24-7 season and a Patriot League regular season title.
On Dec. 5, the Red and Blue will play host to Hampton, who have won the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference — and its automatic NCAA Tournament bid — each of the last four seasons.
Just four days later, on Dec. 9, crosstown rival St. Joseph’s will come to the Palestra. The Hawks are coming off a 23-10 campaign in which they competed for an A-10 title.
But, of course, the season’s most important matchups will come within the Ivy League. As has become customary in recent years, Princeton will provide the biggest challenge to the Red and Blue in the Ancient Eight. Penn ended the Tigers’ four-year title run last season, but Princeton looks reloaded and poised to take back the Ivy League’s top spot.
Last week, the Ivy’s preseason poll placed Penn and Princeton in a tie for first, the first time the top spot has been split since the poll’s inception in 1999.
The two powerhouses will bookend their conference schedules when they clash on Jan. 10 in Princeton and close out the season on Mar. 10 at the Palestra.
In sports, preseason projections and analysis can only mean so much — after all, games are decided on the court.
Still, as the saying goes, you have to beat the best to be the best, and Penn’s schedule gives it a chance to do exactly that.
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