Country’s Toughest Schedule Continues For Eastern Florida Women

By  //  December 16, 2015

Eastern-Florida--bball-women-team-580-2
It’s official. The Eastern Florida State College women’s basketball team is playing the toughest schedule in the country. (EFSC Image)

BREVARD COUNTY • MELBOURNE, FLORIDA – It’s official. The Eastern Florida State College women’s basketball team is playing the toughest schedule in the country.

And it doesn’t get any easier going forward.

The Massey Ratings, the respected nationwide computer poll that ranks teams in professional and college sports based on several criteria, assigned Eastern Florida the No. 1 strength of schedule among NJCAA Division I women’s teams.

In fact, Eastern Florida ranks ahead of four other Florida teams – Santa Fe College, FCSAA Southern Conference foe Palm Beach State, defending national champion Chipola College and Florida State College Jacksonville – in the top 5 when it comes to schedule strength. In the top 10 are the College of Central Florida at No. 7 and Southern Conference foe Indian River State at No. 8.

Tallahassee Community College is 10th, conference foe Broward College 13th, Northwest Florida State 14th and conference foe St. Petersburg College 15th.

Hillsborough Community College, which Eastern Florida hosts at 2 p.m. Saturday is 18th, conference foe Miami Dade College 21st and Daytona State College is 22nd and Gulf Coast State 26th.

Eastern Florida is 6-6, its losses coming twice to Gulf Coast, and to Chipola, Central Florida, Northwest Florida and FSCJ.

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Among teams the Titans have defeated are Central Florida, Santa Fe and Hillsborough.

The seven Florida teams Eastern Florida has played so far have a combined record of 62-26. Throw in Daytona State, which the Titans visit on Jan. 2, and it’s 74-27.

It was all by design.

Jim Grimes
Jim Grimes

“I deliberately scheduled us against the top teams in the country because we needed to be prepared to play in one of the toughest conferences in the country, the Southern Conference,” Grimes said.

Eastern Florida won the conference title last season and begins defense of its title on Wednesday, Jan. 6 at St. Petersburg.

“I would like to believe that our team will head into conference with its eyes open and not be surprised,” Grimes said.

“Each game will be contested from the opening tip to the final whistle. Every possession will be a fight and that’s what I hope our kids will be prepared for and will welcome based on what they have experienced so far.”

Eastern Florida is 23rd overall in the Massey Ratings. Chipola is No. 1, Gulf Coast is No. 3, Daytona State is No. 6, FSCJ No. 10, Tallahassee No. 11 and Central Florida 14th.

Admission is free to Saturday’s Hillsborough game at the Titan Field House on the Melbourne Campus.