Lobo men’s, women’s hoops learn Mountain West schedules

As the uncertain 2020-21 college basketball season approaches, the University of New Mexico men’s and women’s basketball teams on Friday found out what the 18-game Mountain West portion of their schedules look like.

Re-worked non-conference schedules for both teams are still being finalized, but both are aiming for nine out-of-conference games between the Nov. 25 opening date and the start of league play (Dec. 29 for the men, Dec. 31 for the women).

The MWC has shifted the men’s schedule to a mostly Tuesday/Saturday split with new television partners CBS Sports and Fox Sports getting an opportunity to shift the dates of some games. All other broadcast information – be it third-tier TV broadcast rights or online streaming – will be determined after that and will carry particular interest with the prospect of no fans or limited fans due to New Mexico’s public health order.

The women’s schedule is much more random with regular-season games scheduled on every day of the week but Fridays and Sundays. This allows for some cost-cutting road trips during which teams may play more than one game.

The Lobo men open Dec. 29 at last year’s MWC champion San Diego State and finish in the Pit on March 6 against Utah State, winner of the past two MWC tournaments. The first home game is Jan. 2 vs. Wyoming.

Due to the unbalanced 18-game schedule for the 11-team league, UNM will not play at Boise State or host Fresno State. UNM hosts Nevada in the Pit on Jan. 26.

Despite coronavirus still wreaking havoc on college football, causing several teams to postpone or cancel games due to positive COVID-19 tests for players, the league chose not to work in a fixed “bye” slot into the basketball schedule with every team off on the same date in order to allow for makeup games to be scheduled easily.

Instead, 18 games will be played over a 10-week period with the usual staggered “bye” spots.

It all builds toward a March 7-10 women’s tournament in Las Vegas, Nev., and a March 10-13 tournament for the men.

Maybe the most notable shift in the league scheduling is doing away with the mirror format of the past. The men’s and women’s teams often would play on the same night and time vs. same opposition, only the men at one site and the women at the other. That forced UNM’s fans, as an example, to choose between watching the men play a road contest on TV or going to the Pit to support the host Lobo women.

UNM, boasting one of the top average home attendances in the country for women’s games, hopes not having to ask fans to pick between the Lobo men and women might boost attendance even more.

“They did the impossible,” UNM women’s coach Mike Bradbury said. “Every time I brought up changing the mirror schedule, they told me it was impossible. I’m glad they pulled it off.”

The mirrored schedule format also drew ire from some women’s programs as schedules have been computer generated based on the previous season’s men’s order of finish. So when deciding which two league games were “missed” due to the unbalanced schedule, it was done with competitive balance on the men’s side in mind. That sometimes has led to traditionally good women’s teams being helped even more by avoiding games against other top-tier opponents – or weak teams never getting to “miss” a game against the traditional powers.

The women’s team opens league play Dec. 21 at UNLV and Jan. 2 at SDSU with its Pit opener Jan. 6 vs. Colorado State. The Lobos women’s team “misses” a road game at Air Force and a home game against Nevada. The “bye” slots are Jan. 23 and Feb. 6.

The Journal’s Ken Sickenger contributed to this story.

UNM women’s 2020-21 MW Schedule

(home games BOLD)

UNM Men’s 2020-21 MW Schedule

(home games BOLD)