MARSHALL, Texas – Gaining respect in NCAA Division III, the East Texas Baptist University women's basketball team has released their 2023-24 schedule that has several tough opponents on it. The headliner to start the season is an exhibition game in Baton Rouge, La., against reigning NCAA Division I national champions Louisiana State University.
 
Along with opening up against LSU, ETBU's schedule includes five teams that made the 2023 NCAA Division III Tournament in Rhodes College, Trinity University, Christopher Newport, and ASC opponents Texas Dallas and Hardin-Simmons University. ETBU's first eight games, including the exhibition, include teams from that played in the NCAA Tournament.
 
Looking for an exhibition game for the season opener, ETBU searched for a NCAA Division I opponent. After defeating McNeese State in December 2020 and playing Lamar University close in November 2021, it has been harder for ETBU to find a NCAA Division I exhibition opponent. Head coach Blake Arbogast and his staff were at the 2023 Houston Final Four and had an idea. Why not see if LSU would be willing to play an exhibition game. So, he sent an email to Kim Mulkey and her staff.
 
"We were needing an exhibition and we when our staff went to the Final Four we said 'let's just see if they will play us' so I sent a message to their coaching staff," said Arbogast. "We didn't hear anything for a couple of weeks and then I received an email saying they would like to play us. We are excited. This speaks volumes for our program and previous players that have put this program at a level that a NCAA Division I national champs respect to play. This will be a great experience for not only our program but for NCAA Division III women's basketball."
 
With that result, the first game for LSU after their national championship win will be ETBU to open their 2023-24 season. The two teams will face each other on Thursday, October 26, in Baton Rouge. It is believed that this is the first time that a NCAA Division I national champion has opened up their season against a NCAA Division III opponent researching the past 20 years.
 
After the exhibition opener against LSU, ETBU will host 2023 NCAA Division III Tournament participants Rhodes and Trinity in Ornelas Gym in the ETBU Tipoff Classic. They will face Rhodes College, the SAA Tournament Champions, on Friday, Nov. 10, and then host SCAC champion and Sweet 16 participant Trinity on Saturday, Nov. 11. Following that weekend, ETBU travels to Virginia to take on Elizabethtown, who won 23 games and just finished out of the D3hoops.com Top 25. Their next opponent in Newport News, Va., is 2023 NCAA Division III National Runner-Up Christopher Newport who went 31-1 with their only loss in the national championship to Transylvania.
 
Going from the East Coast November 17-18 to the West Coast on November 24-25, ETBU will finish a four-game road trip taking on two teams from the SCIAC. Their first challenge will be Claremont-Mudd-Scripps on Friday who won 16 games and tied for second with Redlands who went to the NCAA Tournament. The next day, ETBU plays Pomona-Pitzer that won six games in the SCIAC in 2022-23.  
 
"It is important to us to play the toughest non-conference schedule," says Arbogast. "We got Rhodes, who is a three-time conference champs, Trinity, who is always competing at the highest level at the national tournament, to play in our season opening classic. The following weekend we head to out Virginia and play two solid teams there as Christopher Newport was in the national championship last year. We then head out to California right after that over Thanksgiving break and face Claremont-Mudd-Scripps and Pomona Pitzer. The fact that we can play high quality teams in non-conference play is exciting."
 
The non-conference schedule also features a home game against Birmingham Southern December 18 who won 13 games last year.
 
All the tough competition for three weeks sets up ETBU for their ASC schedule with 16 games. Last year, ETBU won 20 games played for the ASC Championship falling to Texas Dallas by six in the championship game just missing the NCAA Tournament.  This year, they face a similar road in the ASC with three other teams that have been nationally ranked in Hardin-Simmons, Texas Dallas, and Mary Hardin-Baylor. Both Hardin-Simmons and Texas Dallas made the NCAA Tournament in 2023. Two games that will count for in-region opponents will be Sul Ross State as they transition to NCAA Division II.
 
"The ASC has great coaches, talent, and programs and it's not going to be easy by any means to win the conference and that is just a testament to our conference and the high level of competition that it is," says Arbogast.
 
The excitement for the 2023-24 season starts in Louisiana on October 26.