Men's Basketball: 2005-06 Slate Released
September 08, 2005 04:58 PM | General
September 8, 2005
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. - West Virginia University and the BIG EAST have announced the 2005-06 men's basketball schedule.
The Mountaineers will have at least nine regular season games on national television this season. West Virginia will have three games on CBS (at UCLA, Connecticut and Louisville), five games on ESPN (Notre Dame, at Pitt, at Syracuse, Pitt and at Cincinnati) and at least one game on ESPN2 (vs. Oklahoma). Should the Mountaineers win their regional in the Guardians Classic, both games in Kansas City are slated for ESPN2.
Additional ESPN/ESPN2 games may be selected at a later date. ESPN Classic, ESPNU and ESPN Regional selections have not been made yet. The BIG EAST championship will be televised by ESPN/ESPN2.
"We're very excited about our television schedule," says WVU Head Coach John Beilein. "To go from one or two national games a year to possibly double-digit games on national television is good news, but you can't get on television unless you play the top teams in the country. It speaks well about the direction of our program."
This season, each BIG EAST team plays 10 teams once and three teams twice. West Virginia will play home and home games with Pitt, Georgetown and Cincinnati. The Mountaineers will not play regular season games against DePaul and Rutgers.
West Virginia will open the season at home against Louisiana-Monroe in the Guardians Classic on Saturday, November 12. The Mountaineers will face either Wofford or Fairleigh-Dickinson the following day. BIG EAST schools visiting Morgantown will be Georgetown, Marquette, Providence, Notre Dame, Cincinnati, Connecticut, Louisville and Pitt. LSU, Washington & Jefferson, UMBC, Duquesne and Canisius will visit the Coliseum in non-league action.
The Mountaineers will play league road games at South Florida, Villanova, St. John's, Pitt, Georgetown, Seton Hall, Syracuse and Cincinnati. In addition, WVU will travel to UCLA, play Oklahoma in Oklahoma City, face St. Bonaventure in Rochester, N.Y., and play its annual game against Marshall in the Toyota Capital Classic in Charleston.
"When you combine our conference and non-conference schedule, it is probably the most difficult schedule in West Virginia basketball history, perhaps one of the Top 10 in the country this season," adds Beilein. "We'll work hard each day to continue to build the program in a positive direction."
West Virginia still could fill one additional spot on its schedule. The Mountaineers will play an exhibition game in early November. Game times and the rest of the television games will be announced in October. Basketball practice begins Saturday, October 15.
The complete WVU men's schedule:
Saturday, Nov. 12, Louisiana-Monroe #
Sunday, Nov. 13, Wofford or Fairleigh-Dickinson #
Monday, Nov. 21, Guardians Classic $
Tuesday, Nov. 22, Guaridans Classic $
Saturday, Nov. 26, LSU
Wednesday, Nov. 30, St. Bonaventure (Rochester, N.Y.)
Saturday, Dec. 3, Washington & Jefferson
Wednesday, Dec. 7, UMBC
Saturday, Dec. 10, Duquesne
Thursday, Dec. 22, Oklahoma ^ (Oklahoma City, Okla.)
Friday, Dec. 30, Canisius
Thursday, Jan. 5, South Florida * (Tampa, Fla.)
Sunday, Jan. 8, at Villanova *
Wednesday, Jan. 11. Georgetown *
Saturday, Jan. 14, Marquette *
Tuesday, Jan. 17, Providence *
Saturday, Jan. 21, at UCLA
Wednesday, Jan. 25, Marshall + (Charleston, W.Va.)
Sunday, Jan. 29, at St. John's *
Wednesday, Feb. 1, Notre Dame *
Saturday, Feb. 4, Cincinnati *
Thursday, Feb. 9, at Pitt *
Sunday, Feb. 12, at Georgetown *
Tuesday, Feb. 14, at Seton Hall *
Saturday, Feb. 18, Connecticut *
Monday, Feb. 20, at Syracuse *
Saturday, Feb. 25, Louisville *
Monday, Feb. 27, Pitt *
Saturday, Mar. 4, at Cincinnati *
Wed-Sat, Mar. 8-11, BIG EAST Championship (New York, N.Y.)
# Guardians Classic
$ If WVU wins first two games in Morgantown, it would play two games against the winners of the Iowa, Texas and Kentucky regionals.
^ O'Reilly All-College Classic
* BIG EAST Conference game
+ Toyota Capital Classic
