Thursday, September 27, 2001

Frogs hope to gain added exposure from harder schedule
The women’s basketball schedule, released Wednesday, has 15 teams that played in the NCAA Tournament last season
By Brandon Ortiz
Sports Editor

The women’s basketball team hopes to capitalize on a schedule that features the likes of Southwest Missouri State and Rutgers to gain more national exposure and win more recruiting battles.

“We feel we are ready to take on that kind of schedule,” head coach Jeff Mittie said. “The schedule will provide us some opportunities nationally. It will give us a challenge before (Conference USA).”

FILE PHOTO Senior forward Tricia Payne draws a foul as she drives to the basket in a game against Rice last year. The Frogs new schedule was released Tuesday. The team will play 15 teams who had postseason bids, including Rutgers and Southwest Missouri.

The Frogs new schedule, released Tuesday, has 15 teams who reached the NCAA Tournament last season. Rutgers, Southwest Missouri State and Arkansas will travel to Fort Worth to play the Frogs. The Frogs play Oregon and Oklahoma on the road.

The Frogs advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament last season and had the fourth ranked recruiting class in the nation, according to some publications. The players think the schedule gives them a chance to receive a higher seeding in the NCAA Tournament.

“One of our goals is to return to the NCAA Tournament and improve our seeding,” Mittie said. “When you put together a schedule, you want a schedule that helps you reach those kind of goals.”

Senior forward Tricia Payne said the tougher schedule is a sign of how far the team has come.

“Good teams want to play good teams,” Payne said. “It says a lot about the teams that want to play us.

“It definitely does nothing but benefit us. Nobody we play is easy.”

Mittie said the Frogs benefit from tougher competition.

“In basketball, it is a win-win situation for good teams to play each other because of RPI,” Mittie said. “It won’t hurt a team’s RPI to play a good team.”

Mittie said he was satisfied with how the schedule turned out, even though he had some problems in the beginning.

“It was difficult because of all the conflicting time slots, but this actually turned out to be a good year,” Mittie said. “It fell into place. I think it gives us good balance. We have some good early season road challenges.”

Mittie said the schedule will help with recruiting. Recruits want to go to schools with tough schedules, Payne said.

“They want to play teams like (Oklahoma), Tennessee, and Texas,” Payne said. “Recruits want to go to schools that play good teams.

“This is how you build a better program.”

Brandon Ortiz
b.p.ortiz@student.tcu.edu