Scheduling has been quite a chaotic mess over the past few weeks. Multi-team events have dominated the headlines. Coaches have had to adjust to a new start date to the 2020-21 season due to Covid. And many conferences are still trying to figure out how there schedules will be laid out.
On Thursday afternoon, Utah Valley became the first WAC team to announce any games. The Wolverines will travel to Palo Alto to take on head coach Mark Madsen’s Alma Mater Stanford on Nov. 25. Three days later, the Wolverines will travel to the Marriott Center in Provo to take on crosstown foe BYU.
Sports! We’re ready to announce our first two games! @UVUmbb will tip at @StanfordMBB on Nov. 25 and then take on @BYUbasketball on Nov. 28 in Provo. Let’s go!#GoUVU #UVU #UVUmbb #WAChoops pic.twitter.com/mawPmLq8FS
— UVU Athletics (@GoUVU) October 15, 2020
The Cougars and Wolverines took a year off from the UCCU Crosstown Clash in 2019-20. BYU leads the series 3-1 and has won two straight since Utah Valley beat the Cougars 114-101 on Nov. 26, 2016 in the Marriott Center.
Prior to Covid wreaking havoc, Utah Valley had Utah, BYU, Texas, Wyoming, and Southern Utah among others on the schedule.
Mark Madsen is in his second year as the head coach at Utah Valley. In Madsen’s first season, the Wolverines were 11-19 overall and 5-10 in WAC play. Madsen lost the majority of his roster from 2019-20, returning just one player, Trey Woodbury. The Wolverines have 15 new players on the roster highlighted by Georgia Tech graduate transfer Evan Cole.
Dixie State to Play In-State Schools
In the newest episode of the WAC Hoops Digest Podcast, Dixie State head coach Jon Judkins dropped some scheduling news. The Trailblazers have in-state schools Utah State, Weber State and Southern Utah all on the slate for 2020-21. There is potential to have BYU on there, as well considering the Cougars and Trailblazers were in talks to play prior to the Covid issues.
Either way, playing three in-state schools in their first year at the Division I level is huge for Dixie State.
New Mexico State Doubles Down on Rivalry Games
The Aggies play UTEP and New Mexico twice each season in a home-and-home series. These games are for bragging rights and are some of the most heated rivalries in college basketball that go largely unnoticed outside of El Paso and Las Cruces.
Here is a tweet from New Mexico State beat writer Justin Martinez explaining where the teams are at.
NMSU‘s Chris Jans on scheduling the UTEP & UNM games: “From where I sit right now, everything seems to be on schedule to be able to get all four games. We’re still working it out with each other to figure out potential dates and make it work for everybody’s respective schedule.”
— Justin Martinez (@JTheSportsDude) October 14, 2020
2019-20 is the first time the Aggies have lost to either UTEP or New Mexico under Chris Jans. Prior to 2019-20, the Aggies were 8-0 against their rivals under Jans. And since the 2016-17 season had an 11-1 record in the rivalry.
We will have more scheduling information as it becomes available.
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