Item: The SU basketball scheduling philosophy is starting to take shape for what could be the Jim Boeheim-to-Mike Hopkins transition phase.

Sources confirmed to The Juice Online at the Big East Lacrosse Championship last weekend that Villanova is headed to the Dome this coming season as part of a 1-1-1 series with the game in Syracuse, a return meeting the following season at the Wells Fargo Center, and in the 2015-16 season a game at Madison Square Garden that could be part of a college basketball doubleheader. It will be interesting to see which side the experts who make college basketball picks think will win this tough matchup.

With the previously announced home-and-home series against St. John’s, that means that for the 2013-14 ACC debut season, the ‘Cuse will play at Madison Square Garden against SJU, and in the Washington metro area against Maryland.

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The following year 2014-15, the Orange is slated to take part in the early-season 2K Sports Classic guaranteeing two games at Madison Square Garden, plus the road game against Villanova hitting Philadelphia.

A game in New York is then part of the 2015-16 season with the completion of the three-game Villanova series, ensuring that the Orange make annual appearances in traditional recruiting territories.

In addition, Syracuse is competing in the Maui Classic this November, and we’ve been told SU is eyeing the Battle 4 Atlantis event held Thanksgiving weekend in the Bahamas also for the ’15-16 season.

Throw in a summer trip abroad every four years, this year it’s Italy, and those are pretty nice sweeteners to the overall recruiting package in which it figures Mike Hopkins will be running the program by the time some of these games come to fruition.

It’s also a competitive schedule for next season. 18 ACC games, plus St. John’s, Villanova, the ACC-Big Ten challenge and the Maui Classic featuring old friends Arkansas, California, Gonzaga and Minnesota (Boeheim-Richard Pitino matchup, anyone?), all past NCAA opponents versus Jim Boeheim, along with Baylor, Dayton, and host Chaminade.

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