Bring balance to the court.

That’s the scheduling philosophy Laura Beeman adopted when she took the helm of Hawaii women’s basketball in 2012. Not too easy, not too hard. UH’s 2014-15 slate released Friday is reflective of that.

UH opens on the road — as it did in Beeman’s first two seasons — this time at Colorado State on Nov. 14. But there is a healthy number of marquee home games among the 17 at the Stan Sheriff Center. Stanford and North Carolina battled in last season’s NCAA tournament quarterfinals, and they’ll meet each other again in Honolulu (as well as UH) in the Waikiki Beach Marriott Rainbow Wahine Shootout on Nov. 28-30. California is another big name on the home docket, Nov. 21.

"I think it’s balanced," Beeman said. "We are trying to always set ourselves up for a type of postseason. If we’re not fortunate enough to win our conference tournament, we always want to play postseason. It’s just going to help develop the program.

"We’re trying as a (Big West) conference to improve our overall scheduling so maybe one day we can become a two-bid league as opposed to one automatic. I don’t know if that’s going to happen sooner or never. But I do feel like this is a schedule reflective of what we’re capable of doing financially, pushing us toward limits and preparing us for conference and postseason play."

UH plays an inverted 16-game Big West schedule from last season, meaning instead of playing four of its first five at home like 2013-14, UH goes four of its first five on the road against the same order of opponents. It begins with nemesis Cal Poly on Jan. 8.

"You know, we’re going to be ready," Beeman said. "And if we’re not, we’re going to have to deal with it at the time. But with our preseason … we will play great competition, we will play on the island and off the island. We know exactly what to expect of our conference opponents."

The benefit of the inverted slate is a four-game homestand in the heart of league play against some of the other projected contenders in the league, Cal Poly and Cal State Northridge. It was a brutal four-game road stretch last year.

The Wahine will have two preseason tune-ups: a Green & White scrimmage on Oct. 10 and an exhibition against Hawaii Hilo on Oct. 29.

Avoiding paying too many teams for "guarantee games" is a must for a program on a limited budget, and Beeman was pleased with top assistant Mary Wooley’s selectivity and creativity in crafting the schedule. Nine opponents made the postseason last year, including five to the NCAA tournament.

"For some of the home tournaments where we have some of these power teams here, we have to squeak one or two wins out of them if we can," Beeman said. "That’s a huge part that helps us secure a postseason bid someplace."

UH went 17-14 and qualified for the WNIT in Beeman’s first two seasons.