C of C hoops releases 2010-2011 schedule

 A tough early season stretch will test the College of Charleston men’s basketball team as the 2010-11 schedule was announced by head coach Bobby Cremins on Monday.

The Cougars will embark on one of their most challenging non-conference slates in school history as nine opponents reached postseason play a year ago including road dates with three giants of college basketball in ACC regular-season champion and 2010 NCAA participant Maryland, NCAA Elite Eight participant Tennessee and Postseason NIT runner-up North Carolina. In fact, CofC will face eight of those nine opponents prior to Southern Conference play in January.

It is the toughest non-conference schedule assembled since the Cougars faced Arizona State, No. 21 Stanford, No. 8 Kentucky and Oklahoma State during the 1996-97 campaign under former head coach John Kresse. Seven teams on the schedule, including CofC, finished in the top 100 of the NCAA RPI last season.

“We have always played a tough schedule since I’ve been here,” said Cremins, who enters his fifth season at Charleston and led the Cougars to the second round of the 2010 College Basketball Invitational and their second-straight 20-win season (22-12). “I’m very proud of our non-conference schedule. Playing these big games against Maryland, North Carolina and Tennessee is great for our program and being able to play an ACC team like Clemson on our home court is huge. We’ve had some success in the past and we try to be careful not to overschedule ourselves, but we always do.”

CofC will host NCAA Division II Francis Marion in its only exhibition game of the season on Nov. 5 at Carolina First Arena at 7 p.m. (ET). The Cougars will then officially open the year at Maryland as part of the 2K Sports Classic benefiting Coaches vs. Cancer on Nov. 10 in College Park, Md., followed by a trip to the Northeast to take on Holy Cross of the Patriot League on Nov. 13 in Worcester, Mass.

The Cougars will return from the road to take on Postseason NIT participant Coastal Carolina in their season home opener on Nov. 16, which will be part of a doubleheader with the women’s basketball team. CofC continues the 2K Sports Classic with three-straight contests in the Toledo Subregional against Postseason NIT semifinalist Rhode Island on Nov. 19, Illinois-Chicago on Nov. 20 and Toledo on Nov. 21.

After the Thanksgiving holiday break, the Cougars have a much-anticipated rematch lined up with North Carolina on Nov. 28 in Chapel Hill, N.C. UNC will be seeking revenge after Charleston upset the then ninth-ranked Tar Heels in overtime on Jan. 4, 2010, at Carolina First Arena.

SoCon competition begins with back-to-back home matchups with league foes Davidson on Dec. 2 and Georgia Southern on Dec. 4. Four of the Cougars’ last five non-conference tests of the season will come against postseason squads including a pair of home tilts with NCAA Tournament participant and defending Atlantic Sun Conference champion East Tennessee State on Dec. 7 and an in-state rivalry showdown with NCAA Tournament participant Clemson on Dec. 22. CofC will play in-town rival Charleston Southern in between those games on Dec. 15 at the North Charleston Coliseum.

A New Year’s Eve road trip to Tennessee is planned on Dec. 31 in Knoxville, Tenn., followed by ringing in the New Year at CBI quarterfinalist Morehead State on Jan. 2 in Morehead, Ky.

League play continues with a two-game road swing at Furman on Jan. 6 in Greenville, S.C., and at NCAA Tournament and defending SoCon champion Wofford on Jan. 8 in Spartanburg, S.C. CofC will host conference home games with The Citadel on Jan. 15, Western Carolina on Jan. 20, Appalachian State on Jan. 22, Wofford on Feb. 3, Furman on Feb. 5, UNC Greensboro on Feb. 12 and Senior Day against Samford on Feb. 21.

For the second-straight season, the Cougars will participate in ESPN’s BracketBusters event which will be held on either Feb. 18 or 19 with the field being announced in early February. This year’s 2011 SoCon Men’s Basketball Championship will be held on March 4-7 at McKenzie Arena in Chattanooga, Tenn.

“The most important games on our schedule are the Southern Conference games,” said Cremins whose Cougars went 14-4 in league play during the 2009-10 campaign. “The conference is what it’s all about for us. The league has a lot of good teams with a lot of good players back. We lost two good seniors in Tony White, Jr., and Casaan Breeden, but we have a good nucleus of returners coming back in Jeremy Simmons, Donavan Monroe and Andrew Goudelock. This should be an exciting year for us.”

A complete listing of the Cougars’ televised games will be released at a later date.

Men’s basketball season tickets are priced at $210 (all reserve seating) to the general public, while CofC faculty and staff receive a 20 percent discount for men’s season tickets priced at $168. To purchase season tickets, please call 1-843-953-COFC (2632) or click on the ticket link online at www.CofCSports.com.