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Thursday, July 12, 2007
Navy announces schedule (yawn)
Not much excitement in the Naval Academy's schedule for the coming season.

Despite Billy Lange's comment that the Midshipmen face the "most balanced and hardest schedule" since he has been Navy's coach, there is not a lot to get excited about. Just four teams on the Mids' slate reached the postseason last year, and they will only play three of the four.

Penn and Virginia are part of the field for the Philly Classic, where Navy will meet Seton Hall in the first round. The Quakers and the Wahoos both went to the big dance last season, but Navy will only meet one of them in the tournament since those two meet in the first round.

Other postseason teams on the slate are NIT first round loser Drexel, which should be one of the most challenging games on the schedule, and San Diego State, another NIT participant last season.

The San Diego State game is a good bit of scheduling, giving the Mids a double bonus by getting Greg Sprink a homecoming game three days before Navy's football team is expected to play in the Pointsettia Bowl (they are contractually in if they win six games) in San Diego.

The Drexel game, along with a home game against Robert Morris, is actually part of the eight-team Philly Classic, which is being billed as a "hybrid" tournament.

While the schedule lacks major conference names, it makes a lot of sense. Like last season's slate, it gives Lange's young squad a chance to develop some confidence in the non-conference portion and should also allow the Mids to build a respectable RPI before opening league play.

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Published at 5:19 AM by Hoop Time.
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