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• Source institution
  • Western Carolina University
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  • HL_WesternCarolinian_2010-08-20_OE_Vol76_No10_04

August 20, 2010 WESTERN CAROLINIAN Page 4 SPORTS Larry Hunter, WCU mens basketball unveil 2010-11 schedule Catamounts coming off school Division I record, 22-win season a year ago From Staff Reports Western Carolina sixth- year head coach Larry Hunt- er has unveiled his squads 2010-11 schedule which includes an 18-game South- em Conference slate and eight opponents that played in post-season a year ago including Ohio State which was a No. 2 seed in. the NCAA tournament. WCU has released oppo- nents for 29 of the 31 sched- uled dates with two home dates yet to be announced. The Catamounts will play each SoCon North Division teamas well as both Col- lege of Charleston and The Citadeltwice while facing the remaining South Divi- sion foes just once. The sea- son will culminate with the annual Southern Conference Mens_ Basketball Cham- pionship in Chattanooga, Tenn., at the McKenzie Are- na March 3-7. We have assembled an- other top-notch and chal- lenging non-conference schedule. I know this type of schedule excites our players and our fans while making me age more quickly, said Hunter with a smile while re- ferring to his non-conference slate. We will play teams from seven different confer- ences including the ACC, Big East, Big Ten, Confer- ence USA, Missouri Valley, Colonial, Atlantic Ten and the Big South in addition to a highly competitive Southern Conference slate. Coming off its first win- ning season since 1996-97 and its first 20-win campaign since 1971-72, Western Car- olina will open the campaign with three-consecutive road games beginning on Friday, Noy. 12 at Littlejohn Coli- seum against the Clemson Tigers - who are coming off a NCAA berth last season - and first-year head coach Brad Brownell. WCU then travels to Chicago to face the DePaul Blue Demons of the Big East Conference on Nov. 16, marking the programs second all-time meeting on the hardwood. Western Carolina will once again take part in an early-season tournament that will mimic conference and post-season tournament play with multiple games with a short amount of turnaround time. With the same format as last years OReilly Auto Parts CBE Classic, WCU will this year take part in the 12-team Legends Clas- sic, presented by the Gazelle Group. We had a positive ex- perience participating im the O'Reilly Auto Parts CBE Classic last year and look forward to participating in the Legends Classic, which is put on by the same group, this year, Hunter said. The opening round game for WCU will be at Texas-El Paso (26-7 in 2009-10), the defending champion of Con- ference USA, on Nov. 20 before traveling to the sub- regional round at William & Mary in Williamsburg, Va. UTEP was a No. 12 seed a season ago while William File Photo The mens basketball team in the Ramsey Center has won 27 of its last 31 games overall, and 18 of its last 21 SoCon match-ups, & Mary played in the Na- tional Invitational Tourna- ment (NIT) last post-season. WCU will face Mercer in the sub-regional opener at 5:00 pm on Nov. 26 before bat- tling Gardner-Webb the fol- lowing afternoon at 3:30 pm. The Catamounts will close tournament play by facing the host The month of Novem- ber closes with perennial basketball power, Bradley, visiting the Ramsey Center. A year ago, the Catamounts rallied from down 10 points midway through the second half to pull out the 75-67 road win over the Braves. It will mark the first-time that a current member of the Mis- souri Valley Conference has visited Cullowhee in mens basketball. Six of the seven games during the month of De- cember will be played away from the friendly confines of the Ramsey Center. Western Carolina opens a five-game road swing with its first two SoCon games on a North Division swing to Samford (Dec. 2) and Chattanooga (Dec. 4) before three-con- secutive non-conference road dates. The Catamounts travel to Buies Creek, N.C., to face Campbell on Dec. 10 before back-to-back games in Ohio against both Ohio State (Dec. 12) and Dayton (Dec. 18). The Buckeyes, which were a No. 2 seed in last years NCAA tourna- ment, advanced to the Sweet 16 under the direction of former WCU assistant, Thad Matta. December closes with a home date and a visit to mountain-rival, UNC Ashe- ville on Dec. 28. Just as December saw the Catamounts become road-warriors, through the months of January and Feb- ruary, nine of the 16 dates - all in conference - will be played in Cullowhee and the Ramsey Center where WCU has won 27 of its last 31 games overall, and 18 of its last 21 SoCon match-ups. After opening the New Year at Georgia Southern (Jan. 5), the Catamounts will host three-straight home games by entertaining Da- vidson (Jan. 8), Elon (Jan. 13) and archrival Appala- chian State (Jan. 15) ahead of a two-game road swing through Charleston with meetings at the College Jan. 20) and The Citadel on Jan. 22. The month closes with alternating dates with South Carolina Upstate foes, Wof- ford (Jan. 27) and at Furman (Jan, 29.) February opens with a road trip to Elon on Feb. 3 followed by the second three-game home stand as UNC Greensboro (Feb. 5), Chattanooga (Feb. 10) and Samford (Feb. 12) all come to town. After road contests in division at Appalachian State (Feb. 17) and UNC Greensboro (Feb. 21), the Catamounts will..close the regular season by hosting Lowcountry foes The Citadel (Feb. 24) and the College of Charleston (Feb. 26) before traveling to Chattanooga for the 2011 SoCon Basketball Championship. Despite losing five se- niors from last years 22- win squad, WCU returns a solid nucleus including four seniors in posts Blake Gal- lagher and Richie Gordon, as well as guards Anthony Phillip and Mike Williams. The Catamounts also return All-SoCon guard Harouna Mutombo who averaged 16 points per game to earn All- tournament team honors in the conference champion- ship. The squad is countered with four, first-year freshmen and redshirt Trey Sumler. With a lot of road games the first two months of the season, our young players will have to follow the lead of the veterans and grow up fast under some challeng- ing conditions, Hunter said. We have good players with a lot of talent and character - it will be fun to see what happens. Lady Catamounts volleyball team to have 18-match home slate : _ Start season with five road games From Staff Reports Western Carolina head volleyball coach Manuel Concepcions 2010 schedule includes hosting a pair of home tournaments, two trips to the state of Indiana and ar 18-match home slate. We are very excited about the design of our schedule this season, espe- cially since we play so many home games, Concepcion admits. This will help our young incoming freshmen have a smoother transition to the college level, and it will allow the Catamount fans to enjoy the new era of Western Carolina volleyball at its full- est with 18 home games. The Catamounts open the season by hosting the VB Rags Western Carolina In- vitational on Aug. 27. The two-day tournament includes match-ups with Coppin State, Eastern Kentucky and closing the tournament with Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) member North Caro- lina State. The squad then has back-to-back trips to the state of Indiana for tournaments at Indiana State and Evansville. We start the journey with the VB Rags Western Caro- lina Invitational, where we get a chance to battle Cop- pin State, Eastern Kentucky, and NC State, Concepcion said. After that, we travel two weekends in a row to the state of Indiana, where our players will have the oppor- tunity to face Midwest type The Lady Catamounts celebrate a season ending win in the Ramsey Center last year. They will host 18-matches this fall. of volleyball, which is big, strong, and highly skilled. The Catamounts then re- turn home to host the Western Carolina Invitational on Sept. 18, welcoming North Caroli- na A&T and UNC Asheville. Other non-conference ac- tion includes home matches with USC-Upstate, Bethune Cookman and East Tennes- see State. Western Carolina opens Southern Conference action on Sept. 24 by hosting South- ern Conference Champions College of Charleston, which is in the midst of a 10-match home stretch for the Cata- mounts. The club hosts a to- tal of nine conference home matches and travels for eight. Our team will have the opportunity to play against eight different conferences besides the SoCon: Atlantic- Sun, Big South, Missouri Valley, MEAC, OVC, ACC, Horizon, and Big Sky, Con- cepcion said. It will prepare our athletes to face different types of opponents, in order to establish mental tough- ness and consistency in our game. After only admitting four tournament in 2010. to eight teams will give us a program culture in place. WCU womens soccer team to From Staff Reports First-year head womens soccer coach Chad Millers _ 2010 schedule is bookend- ed by hosting both a home, in-season and the Southern Conference Tournament at the Catamount Athletic Complex. The 19-game slate includes nine home dates in- ' cluding five in league play, as _ well as a trip to Southeastern _ Conference (SEC) foe, Au- _ burn. Miller, who was an as- _ sistant coach at WCU from 2006-08, and was part of the 2008 SoCon Championship team, returned to Western _ Carolina in early March to _ direct the Catamount soccer team after spending a year as _ the head coach at Catawba . _ College in Salisbury. File Photo _ be back at Western Carolina, _ Miller said. We will have teams to the Southern Con- ne Wiaieang es a ference Volleyball Tourna- Ciioling sacean Eh oRier to ment in 2009, the league has Gnd success we are counting returned to an eight-team ona lot of the younger play- _ ers to contribute right away The fact that the South- behind the leadership of our erm Conference Tournament upperclassman. format has changed from four | Tam obviously excited to The Catamounts begin | the 2010 campaign with five genuine chance to get into the road matches, including a mix, Concepcion said. This pre-season season. is the second step in _ our rebuilding process, and play at Campbell, mountain- we expect it to be a year of | progress in performance and ag gRC opponent Auburn and implementation of our sys- Conference USAs UAB. The tems, now that there is anew Catamounts then return home to host the second-annual scrimmage at Gardner-Webb and trips to rival UNC Asheville as well Catamount Classic on Friday, Sept. 10 and Sunday, Sept. 12. The tournament is the start of nine home matches for the squad. Our Catamount Classic Tournament includes a great group of teams and should be very competitive, Miller said. As a player and coach it is always motivating and exciting to play teams you normally dont get to play from your region. The tourna- ment is the start of nine home matches, including five with conference opponents. Other non-conference op- ponents include Francis Mari- on and High Point. The il-match slate of Southern Conference oppo- nents leads up to the Southern Conference Tournament that begins Oct. 31. The tourna- ment returns to eight teams after trimming the tournament to just four last year. Higher seeds will host first round games on Oct. 31 with West- ern Carolina playing host for the semi-finals and finals on Nov. 5 and 7. In terms of the tourna- ment, I think everyone is excited to see the Southern Conference Administration to take it back to eight teams this fall, said Miller. There is a lot of quality and depth in our league and with only four teams last year, you felt like someone who was good enough was left out. Obvi- ously hosting the tournament is an honor for us and we look forward to showcasing the SoCon here in Cullowhee.

The Western Carolinian is Western Carolina University's student-run newspaper. The paper was published as the Cullowhee Yodel from 1924 to 1931 before changing its name to The Western Carolinian in 1933.

• Creator
  • Western Carolina University
• Format
  • Publications (documents)
• Type
  • Text
• Date
  • Date original: 2010-08-20
• Extent
  • Dimension: 22.75" x 12.5"
  • Pages: 20
• Subject - Topic
  • College student newspapers and periodicals
  • Cullowhee (N.C.) -- Newspapers
  • Universities and colleges -- North Carolina -- Cullowhee -- Newspapers
  • Western Carolina University -- Periodicals
• Location
  • Jackson County (N.C.)
  • Cullowhee (N.C.)
• Source institution
  • Western Carolina University
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  • WCU Students Newspapers Collection
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  • HL_WesternCarolinian_2010-08-20_Vol76_No10
• Repository
  • Western Carolina University Hunter Library