[Bamabeachlivin]

“When I look at our schedule, it’s like, yikes,” Patterson said. “It’s daunting when you look at it from a coaching standpoint, but then I’ve always been about how do we best prepare for a championship season. More than anything, with still having a young team, the wins and losses is not going to reflect how well prepared we hopefully will be.

“It’s not a schedule that’s designed to go undefeated. It’s a schedule that’s designed to make us physically and mentally strong. The biggest thing is when we get to that championship event, we’re never looking over our shoulder or around the gym to see the best teams because, for the most part, we will already have seen them.”

Patterson certainly believes playing an attractive home schedule is important in drawing the crowds of 10,000 and more, as Alabama has done on a regular basis in recent seasons, but there’s more to it than that.

“I want to be the best, so I think we have to compete against the best,” she said. “Hopefully, every time we compete against a team that’s at our level or above our level it raises our level.

“I think that’s how you become good. If we’re not challenged, because we’re a young team, I don’t think we’ll grow as much as we are when we’re facing these big challenges.”
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[Stoney]

That's what champions do is play with the toughest schedules.