Big Ten schedule throws curveballs to USC women’s basketball team

As USC women’s basketball prepares for an early Sunday game against Indiana, it is worth noting some of the details of the Trojans’ upcoming Big Ten basketball schedule.

The Big Ten schedule for the coming week is simple and convenient. USC goes to Indiana on Sunday and nearby Purdue on Wednesday, January 22. That’s fine. Then the schedule gets weird. USC gets a full week off before playing Minnesota at home on Thursday, January 30. That in itself isn’t problematic. What is problematic is that USC then has to play an early Sunday game — 10:30 a.m. Pacific time — at Iowa. Why the Minnesota game isn’t on Tuesday, Jan. 28 or Wednesday, Jan. 29 to give USC more time in between the Minnesota and Iowa games (with multi-time-zone travel involved) is a mystery.

After the Iowa game on Sunday, Feb. 2, USC then goes to Wisconsin on Feb. 5 and then has to fly home for the huge Ohio State game on Saturday, Feb. 8.

The overview of this Big Ten schedule sequence: USC plays no games in a seven-day span from Jan. 23-29, and then plays four games in a 10-day span from Jan. 30-Feb. 8. USC has to fly cross-country twice in situations in which it has just two days off between games, meaning that one of the two off days is a travel day. That really cuts down the amount of recuperation time between games.

The schedule which would have made a lot more sense: Jan. 28 or 29 for Minnesota, Feb. 2 for Iowa, Feb. 5 for Wisconsin, and then Sunday, Feb. 9 for the Ohio State game.

It has been said that life isn’t fair. USC women’s basketball will just have to work around these scheduling inconveniences. Getting big minutes from the bench will be important in this four-game stretch from Jan. 30-Feb. 8.