Friday, November 03, 2006

JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. (Nov. 3, 2006) - The ETSU men's basketball team took time out of its busy preseason schedule for Media Day 2006-07 Friday inside Memorial Center.

The Buccaneers, who will play Mars Hill in an exhibition game on Saturday beginning at 4 p.m., enter the upcoming season with a much younger squad than in recent campaigns. With five true freshmen and a 14-player roster that includes just eight upperclassmen, head coach Murry Bartow will be faced with quite a challenge in 2006-07.

Compounding those issues is the loss of senior Travis Strong (Memphis) for the season to a knee injury and the departure of three seniors that accounted for over 70 percent of the team's offense a year ago - one of those seniors being the program's all-time leading scorer in Tim Smith.  Despite those losses, the Bucs are still picked to finish third in the Atlantic Sun Conference by both the league's media and coaches.

Fans are encouraged to come out and get a sneak peek at the Bucs on Saturday. Tickets are available on-line at ETSUBucs.com or at the ticket windows located on the west side of Memorial Center. In addition, fans unable to attend the game live can watch the live video feed by visiting ETSUBucs.com and clicking on the video streaming logo on the right.