Men's Basketball: '03-04 Hoop Slate
September 08, 2003 05:55 PM | General
September 8, 2003
MORGANTOWN, W.Va.– West Virginia University athletic director Ed Pastilong has announced the 2003-04 men's basketball schedule.
The 2003-04 schedule features 15 teams that reached postseason play last season, including nine teams that played in the NCAA Tournament. The Mountaineers will play eight games at home against teams that reached postseason play last year, including defending national champion Syracuse and NIT finalists, St. John's and Georgetown.
"In looking at the different teams in the BIG EAST and the players each team has returning, the league will be just as strong if not stronger than last year," said WVU coach John Beilein. "We found out last year in February what a tough league the BIG EAST is."
The BIG EAST has discontinued the two-division format (East and West) beginning this season. Thus, the Mountaineers will play every BIG EAST team once in 2003-04 and three teams (Villanova, Virginia Tech and St. John's) twice.
The Mountaineers will play 28 games, including two games at the BB&T Classic in Washington, D.C. West Virginia will play Florida at the Orange Bowl Classic in Miami.
WVU will open the regular season November 24 at James Madison. The Mountaineers' first home game will be November 29 against Northeastern. Also visiting the WVU Coliseum this year will be Georgetown, Virginia Tech, Boston College, Seton Hall, St. John's, Villanova, Pitt, Syracuse, Duquesne, IPFW, Howard and IUPUI.
West Virginia will play Marshall and Saint Louis in Charleston. The Mountaineers will play one exhibition game against an international touring team on Saturday, November 15.
"We think our non-league schedule has enough balance for the difficult BIG EAST schedule," said Beilein. "We are going to work everyday to improve our positioning in the BIG EAST."
Game times and television games will be announced in October. Basketball practice begins Saturday, October 18.
The complete WVU men's schedule:
* BIG EAST Conference game
+ Toyota Capital Classic
^ BB&T Classic
! Orange Bowl Classic
