The Cowboys will begin their quest for a second straight Southland Conference championship before the New Year and a home. 

Friday the league released the conference portion of the schedules for both men and women with both McNeese State teams opening in the Legacy Center. 

Coming off a record 17-1 SLC championship and 30-4 mark overall, the Cowboys will open their title defense on Saturday, December 28 against New Orleans. Southeastern, the only Southland team to beat McNeese last season, will be in town two days later for the first Monday night game.

The Cowgirls will get an earlier start, opening league action on Saturday, December 14 against Southeastern before hosting UNO on the following week.

Once again this year the league will play Saturday doubleheaders with the women playing on Thursdays before the weekend and the men playing on Mondays after the New Year. McNeese women’s coach Lynn Kennedy has said he would like to play with the men at home more to take advantage of their big crowds.

“I would much rather play the same day as the men,” Kennedy said. “I think that would give us a better home advantage and would be best for our fans.”

He did say he liked opening at home.

“I think that will help us,” Kennedy said. “We have had to start on the road the last couple of years so this is good.”

With the late additions of Stephen F. Austin and Texas-Rio Grande Valley, the league has an unbalanced schedule. The Cowboys will not play Houston Christian at home or travel to Incarnate Word.

HCU and UIW were the two bottom feeders of the league last year with neither one making the Southland postseason tournament. They combined to finish last season just 7-31 in the league and 14-46 overall.

On the other side of the ledger were the Cowboys, who rolled to a perfect 18-0 record at home with a margin of victory of 20 points a game. They won the Southland postseason title on their home floor, earning their first trip to the NCAA Tournament in two decades.

According to SLC Deputy Commissioner Thomas Samuel, last year’s standings had nothing to do with this year’s scheduling.

“It was completely random and done by computer,” Samuel said. “Next year you will play those teams as we rotate.”

Any thoughts of the schedule helping the Cowboys out with any Net rating or possible seeding didn’t seem to resonate with head coach Will Wade. Nor did he seem concerned about it.

“It doesn’t matter to us who we play, when we play or where we play,” Wade said. “You play the schedule you are given. I would rather play everybody twice.” 

On the women’s side, the top three expected contenders for the title will only play each other once.

“You have to play the schedule given you,” said Kennedy. “I would rather have a balanced schedule moving forward.”

Samuel added that playing all teams with a 22-game league schedule is on the table for next season. It was not possible this year because teams had already made their non-conference schedules and didn’t want to eliminate games when SFA and UTRGV joined the league July 1.

McNeese will again host both the men’s and women’s postseason tournaments in March. Only the top eight teams make those tournaments, meaning this season one-third of the league won’t make postseason play.

The Cowgirls are looking to bounce back from not making the tournament themselves. 

“We have higher goals than just making the conference postseason tournament,” Kennedy said. 

The Cowboys open their season on Nov. 4 against Summit League champ South Dakota State in the inaugural Field of 68 Showcase in the Sanford Pentagon. The Cowgirls will be at home that day to kick off their season on the same day at home in the annual Kids Game at 11 a.m. against Ecclesia. 

The Cowboys will play their first home game against the College of Biblical Studies on Thursday, Nov. 7 as part of the first doubleheader of the season, following the women’s game.

While the Cowgirls are done with their full schedule, the men are still short three home games. Wade and his staff have struggled to get teams to play them at home after last year’s big season. 

They are hoping for at least two Division I teams to come but Athletic Director Heath Schroyer has admitted they may have to pay extra for those games.

“Our fans deserve us to bring in the best competition we can,” Schroyer has said.