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“We’ve got more information than ever that shows us these are good games, for all parties involved,” DuDonis said. “So let’s catch up with the times a little bit. It feels like we’re a little stuck in the anecdotal, ‘We don’t want to play school in the MAAC.’ Don’t look at us as that \u2014 we’re a top 50 program. I think people are trailing what the math is telling us.”<\/p>\n
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COLUMBUS, OHIO – MARCH 21: guard KK Bransford (14) of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish dribbles the ball as guard Alli Campbell (21) of the Fairfield Stags defends during a first round game of the 2026 NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament.<\/p>\n
Jay LaPrete\/NCAA Photos\/NCAA Photos via Getty Images<\/p>\n
After taking a season to establish their new culture in Fairfield, DuDonis and the Stags staff cultivated a very precise approach to schedule-making ahead of the 2023-24 campaign. DuDonis examined the highest-seeded mid-major entrants in the previous year’s NCAA Tournament and determined the average opponent NET ranking for a non-conference win (182.32) and non-conference loss (33.68), working to recreate these schedules in the aggregate \u2014 it’s all very “Moneyball,” down to the average NET rankings scrawled on a faded whiteboard in DuDonis’ office.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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The 36-year-old coach quickly observed that winning these high-end non-conference games wasn’t that significant, with No. 12 seed South Dakota State losing all five games against top-150 opponents in the 2022-23 season, while Florida Gulf Coast only managed to take down a 12-19 Kentucky squad.<\/p>\n
If anything, as the Stags started picking off power-conference opponents \u2014 Fairfield downed\u00a0Villanova in consecutive seasons while taking out Arkansas and Wake Forest last year \u2014 DuDonis’ struggles in scheduling these all-important games have compounded<\/p>\n
Much like triple-option programs in college football, Fairfield’s unique, five-out style of play has been an additional barrier in scheduling these contests.\u00a0 Fairfield is taking and making more 3-point shots than any team in recent women’s college basketball history, even tasking its front-court players with burning teams from the perimeter, which creates a difficult matchup for many taller, larger centers on power conference rosters.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“We’ve had power four opponents say to us, ‘Man, we do not play against that ever,’ ” DuDonis said. “‘We don’t really want to try to figure it out. And it doesn’t help us, because we’re not going to see it again.'”<\/p>\n
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Another ACC coach gave a curt email reply after DuDonis inquired about a potential home-and-home series: “Absolutely not, my friend. Thanks for asking, and best of luck finding a game.\u00a0LOL.”<\/p>\n
College basketball programs can add two additional games to their non-conference schedules by participating in multi-team events, or MTEs, with popular examples being the Maui Invitational and the Battle 4 Atlantis. These tournaments generally provide excellent neutral-site opportunities for DuDonis and Fairfield to score quality wins, but their collective nature often leads to even more prejudice against the Stags.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Last month, DuDonis and a promoter for a quality MTE expressed mutual interest in adding Fairfield to the Thanksgiving-weekend event. These negotiations crumbled when the promoter ran Fairfield’s inclusion past the power-conference programs already scheduled into the tournament, who all flatly refused a potential matchup with the Stags.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Just got denied entry into a Thanksgiving tournament because non of the P4 teams already signed up were willing to play us \ud83e\udd37\ud83c\udffd\u200d\u2642\ufe0f <\/p>\n
We were a Q2 win for the 4 regular season losses we had this season, so don\u2019t want to hear about it not being a useful game. <\/p>\n
We\u2019ll keep trying!<\/p>\n
\u2014 Blake DuDonis (@BlakeDuDonis) March 22, 2026<\/a><\/p>\nFairfield ultimately constructed the No. 8-ranked non-conference strength of schedule this season, including matchups against eventual top-4\u00a0seeds North Carolina and Iowa, which helped the Stags earn their highest NCAA Tournament seed since the competition’s expansion to 64 teams. DuDonis is still hunting for a multi-team event and a marquee non-conference opponent for this upcoming season, but he expects to achieve a similar ranking in 2026-27 as Fairfield prepares for its first regular-season trip to the West Coast in two decades.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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As Fairfield continues to ascend in the college basketball ranks, DuDonis ultimately aims to fill at least half of his schedule with Quadrant 1 and 2 opponents, an ambitious goal for which the Stags assistant is work-shopping a few outside-the-box solutions. DuDonis hopes to someday arrange a high-profile non-conference\u00a0matchup in February during Fairfield’s gap in MAAC play, and he’s even looked into\u00a0scheduling a game during the week-long break between the Stags’ conference tournament final and the NCAA Tournament Selection Show, a chance for the committee to take one more look at his squad.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“I’m hopeful moving forward,” DuDonis said. “I’m not frustrated \u2014 well, some days I am. For the most part, I’m just antsy. Let’s all get on sync. Let’s all be operating on the same conversation field.”<\/p>\n
For now, DuDonis finally got to break out his summer-wear on a trip to Phoenix for the 2026\u00a0WBCA Convention this past weekend, where opposing coaches had to be on high-alert, as the Fairfield staff looked to pounce on a potential non-conference opponent.<\/p>\n
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