Courtesy Arizona Athletics

The Wildcats have some big dates on their non-conference schedule, the first of note coming up on Nov. 21 when they travel to San Diego State for a tournament game against the rising Aztecs.

Two days later, Arizona plays a home game against Mississippi.

December’s slate includes two challenging matchups, the first against New Mexico on Dec. 9 and then a Dec. 20 matchup against Georgia Tech.

Arizona closes with UC Riverside and Alabama A &M.

Degree of difficulty: 5.

The sophomore-heavy Cougars are coming out of the gate strong in non-conference play. After opening the schedule with UC Davis, they move to a Nov. 20 road game against Kansas State, followed two days later by a matchup with Nebraska.

Following a Thanksgiving weekend appearance in the UNLV Tournament, Washington State will play four of its final six non-conference games in Pullman, taking on St. Mary’s, Wyoming, Portland and USF.

Degree of difficulty: 5. June Daugherty gets points for a challenging start to the season. WSU should have a winning record by the time the calendar changes to 2010.

Looks like a repeat of last year for the Beavers, who opened conference play with a 9-1 record after playing a confidence-building non-conference schedule.

More of the same would appear to be on the way.

OSU will leave the start twice before Pac-10 play begins, traveling to Houston for dates against Houston and Houston Baptist and a Thanksgiving weekend tournament at Northern Arizona.

On paper, the toughest game on OSU’s preseason schedule is a Dec. 5 date with UC Santa Barbara in Corvallis.

Degree of difficulty: 4. The Beavers want a good record to start conference play. They should have one. What they won’t have is much of a challenge.

The Sun Devils come off their Elite Eight appearance looking for a strong start. ASU plays early, on Nov. 21 at up-and-coming Xavier in Cincinnatti, travels to Hawaii for the Waikiki Marriott Beach Class and then takes part in the Desert Sun tournament in Las Vegas in mid-December against Baylor and Texas A&M.

This is not the toughest non-conference we’ve seen from ASU, who has taken on the likes of North Carolina, Texas and Tennessee in recent years.

Degree of difficulty: 6. It’s hard without knowing exactly who is on the schedule in Hawaii, but it seems like Charli Turner-Thorne has taken things down one notch.

Courtesy USC Athletics

Where many of the teams in the Pac-10 have weakened their schedules, the Women of Troy have gone the opposite way, putting together what might be the second-most difficult non-conference slate in the Pac-10 behind Stanford. It will be a baptism by fire for new head coach Michael Cooper.

Xavier, Fresno State, Gonzaga open the first two weeks, followed by an appearance in the Paradise Jam in the Virgin Islands over Thanksgiving weekend that could pit USC against Rutgers, Texas and Mississippi State.

A Dec. 6 game at Duke and a Dec. 30 home game against North Carolina State round things out.

Degree of difficulty: 8. It’s ambitious and USC can sometimes play below its level of ambition. But it will be interesting to watch, that’s for sure.

The Huskies have played more difficult schedules in recent years than the one Tia Jackson assembled for her rebuilding program. No more repeats of the 58-point loss to Connecticut last fall.

The schedule includes games against Portland State, BYU, South Florida and Central Florida.

The toughest opponents on this slate include Gonzaga (Nov. 22) and Michigan State on the road on Dec. 22. UW will play just four home games in the non-conference before opening the Pac-10 on New Year’s Day at Oregon.

Degree of difficulty: 4. But for a program trying to find its footing, a little success early in the season can only help.

Courtesy Stanford Athletics

The Cardinal want to make a third straight trip to the Final Four, so coach Tara VanDerveer figures, why not play Final Four-level competition during the season to prepare. Eleven postseason teams await.

This is perhaps the most difficult non-conference schedule the Cardinal have ever played. Home games against Gonzaga, DePaul, Utah, Duke, Tennessee, on the road against Old Dominion and Rutgers and then the big one, the Dec. 23 date against sure-to-be top-ranked Connecticut on the Huskies home turf.

Degree of difficulty: 9. If this schedule doesn’t steel Stanford for the postseason, nothing will.

The Ducks, playing their last full season at MacArthur Court, clearly are trying to put their best foot forward before the start of conference play.

New head coach Paul Westhead will not have to run a gauntlet of ranked teams or NCAA opponents to start the season, rather he is going to ease in against the likes of Eastern Washington, Santa Clara Portland State, Portland, Long Beach State, Boise State and Cal State Fullerton.

Montana, which reached the NCAA field, is on the slate for perhaps the Ducks’ toughest non-conference matchup on Nov. 22 as well as Utah and Wisconsin from the Big Ten.

Oregon will play eight of its first nine regular-season games at home.

Degree of difficulty: 3. The Ducks should have a nice record when the Pac-10 begins. How long it lasts will be the burning question.

The young Bears, with seven freshmen on the roster, have put together a schedule that features five NCAA Tournament teams and some opportunities for early success (i.e. winnable games).

Baylor, Ohio State and Texas A & M highlight the Bears’ schedule, meeting the latter two teams in tournaments. The Baylor game on Nov. 22 should be an intriguing matchup, featuring Baylor’s freshman of the year candidate Brittany Griner. These two teams were scheduled to play last December, but the game was cancelled after Baylor was stuck in Oregon in a snowstorm.

Cal will play two Bay Area opponents in St. Mary’s and San Jose State. Idaho State, Long Beach State fill out the schedule, along with a post Christmas tournament with San Diego, Nevada and WNIT semifinalist Boston College.

Degree of difficulty: 5. The young Bears need to settle in. But Baylor and Ohio State will keep things interesting.

UCLA has made an emphatic upgrade in its non-conference schedule, trading up to face as many as 10 teams that played in the 2009 NCAA Tournament this season.

Gone are Northridge and Bakersfield, Fullerton and Nevada, and the penciled-in victories that come with those games..

In are Utah and Kansas and UC Santa Barbara. Texas Tech is back on the slate, as well as West Coast Conference foes in Loyola Marymount and St. Mary’s.

But without a doubt, the biggest game on the Bruins’ non-conference schedule is the November 28 date at Tennessee, which will be Nikki Caldwell’s first trip to Knoxville since she left Pat Summit’s staff two years ago.

Degree of difficulty: 7. The Bruins are talented enough to test themselves. After sitting at Pat Summitt’s side for all those years, Caldwell isn’t afraid to do it.