Wednesday, June 21, 2006

Three SEC foes, trip to South Padre event, A-Sun Tournament highlight campaign

JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. (June 21, 2006) - Road trips to three Southeastern Conference foes, a venture to the South Padre Invitational, 14 home games, and the Atlantic Sun Conference Tournament highlight the 2006-07 men's basketball schedule announced Wednesday by ETSU head coach Murry Bartow.

ETSU will play an 18-game conference schedule along with 12 non-conference opponents during the regular season. Among the non-conference foes will be SEC teams Tennessee, Auburn and Vanderbilt, along with familiar names such as UNC Asheville and Radford. In addition, the Buccaneers will return to the old days of play in the Southern Conference and Ohio Valley Conference, facing former SoCon rival Chattanooga and former OVC opponents Eastern Kentucky and Morehead State.

"This schedule presents our team with some new challenges and it will definitely test us early on," Bartow said. "Getting to play in the South Padre Invitational is a good opportunity, but we're going to be young this year and that event will be in the middle of a tough seven-game road stretch. We like our home schedule, especially renewing our series with Chattanooga, and playing three quality SEC opponents will be exciting for our players."

The game at Auburn (Nov. 19) is part of the South Padre Invitational opening round, which will then be followed by back-to-back games over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend. Those three games will be part of a daunting seven-game road trip to start the season. However, the good news is that eight of the Bucs next 11 games through December and the first part of January will be played at home.

ETSU's final non-conference game of the season will be Dec. 30 at Tennessee, and the team will then focus on the final 16 games of the season, all of which will be A-Sun contests. That stretch of conference games will begin with visits from A-Sun co-champions Belmont (Jan. 2) and Lipscomb (Jan. 4). The Bucs will again host the Atlantic Sun Conference Tournament inside Memorial Center March 1-3.

"Playing Belmont and Lipscomb at home early in January will be an important week, but the good news is that those games will be played during a stretch where we have eight out of 11 games at home," Bartow said. "Our goal - as it is every year - will be to prepare during the season for the A-Sun Tournament in front of our home fans."

Season tickets for ETSU men's basketball will go on sale later this summer. At that time, fans will also be given an opportunity to purchase 2006 A-Sun Tournament tickets at a reduced rate. Check ETSUBucs.com for more information throughout the season.

2006-07 Men's Basketball Schedule

* -- denotes A-Sun game//home games in BOLD

November

Saturday, Nov. 4         Mars Hill (exhibition)            4 p.m.

Friday, Nov. 10            Virginia-Wise                         7 p.m.

Monday, Nov. 13         at Eastern Kentucky               7 p.m.

Wednesday, Nov. 15  Chattanooga                          7 p.m.

Sunday, Nov. 19          at Auburn                                 TBA

Tuesday, Nov. 21        at Morehead State                   7 p.m.

Friday, Nov. 24            at South Padre Island Invit.     TBA

Saturday, Nov. 25       at South Padre Island Invit.     TBA

Thursday, Nov. 30       at Mercer *                              7:30 p.m.

December

Saturday, Dec. 2         at Stetson *                             7 p.m.

Tuesday, Dec. 5         at Vanderbilt                            7 p.m.

Saturday, Dec. 9         Milligan                                    4 p.m.

Tuesday, Dec. 19       UNC Asheville                       7 p.m.

Thursday, Dec. 21      Radford                                  7 p.m

Saturday, Dec. 30       at Tennessee                          TBA

January

Tuesday, Jan. 2          Belmont *                               7 p.m.

Thursday, Jan. 4         Lipscomb *                             7 p.m.

Sunday, Jan. 7            at Gardner-Webb *                 2 p.m.

Tuesday, Jan. 9          at Campbell *                          7 p.m.

Saturday, Jan. 13        North Florida *                      4 p.m.

Monday, Jan. 15          Jacksonville *                        7 p.m.

Saturday, Jan. 20        Kennesaw State *                 4 p.m.

Thursday, Jan. 25       at Belmont *                            7 p.m.

Saturday, Jan. 27        at Lipscomb *                          2 p.m.

February

Thursday, Feb. 1         Gardner-Webb *                    7 p.m.

Saturday, Feb. 3         Campbell *                             4 p.m.

Thursday, Feb. 8         at Jacksonville *                      7 p.m.

Saturday, Feb. 10       at North Florida *                     4 p.m.

Saturday, Feb. 17       at Kennesaw State *               2 p.m.

Thursday, Feb. 22       Stetson *                                7 p.m.

Saturday, Feb. 24       Mercer *                                 4 p.m.

March

March 1-3                    Atlantic Sun Conference Tournament (in Johnson City)