This season’s men’s basketball schedule was finalized and announced this week in a letter sent by Director of Athletics Jack Kvancz to the team’s season-ticket holders.
While much of the team’s nonconference schedule had been previously reported, a number of new games were included in the letter, as well as the team’s 16-game Atlantic 10 slate.
Among the new games are a trip to Boston University Nov. 17 and a home date against Howard Nov. 2, as well as games at Holy Cross and Harvard on Dec. 28 and Dec. 30, respectively.
These games fill out an out-of-conference schedule that already included home games against UMBC (Nov. 17), Princeton (Nov. 24), Oregon State (Nov. 28), George Mason (Dec. 2) and Providence (Dec. 9). GW will play Navy Dec. 6 at the Verizon Center in the BB&T Classic.
The visits from Oregon State, of the Pac-10, and Providence, from the Big East, will mark the first time GW has hosted teams from college basketball’s so-called power conferences. The Colonials’ last home game against such a team came when Providence played at Smith Center in 2000.
The home portion of GW’s conference schedule will be book-ended by games against two of the A-10’s most prominent members. The Colonials’ first A-10 home game will come Jan. 10 against Xavier, who finished last season ranked No. 15 in the country by ESPN/USA Today, and their final game at Smith Center will be played March 7 against Saint Joseph’s. In between, they will host Richmond, Saint Louis, Duquesne, Massachusetts, La Salle and Charlotte.
The team will begin their season with a road trip to UNC-Wilmington Nov. 15 and play four consecutive road games in December, traveling to Towson (Dec. 12) and East Carolina (Dec. 22) before their aforementioned two-game trip to Massachusetts for dates with Holy Cross and Harvard.
“We hope that this schedule in addition to the improvements to the Smith Center will generate a great deal of fan excitement for all Colonials fans as we launch our season ticket program for the upcoming year,” Kvancz wrote in the letter.
Though the dates are set, several of the games’ start times remained unannounced in the letter, instead of being listed as “TBA.”
This direct outreach by Kvancz comes shortly after Senior Vice President for Student and Academic Support Services Robert Chernak mailed a letter to men’s basketball season ticket holders asking them to continue their support for the program. Chernak’s letter highlighted the schedule as one of several improvements aimed at returning the team to its successful recent history and, like Kvancz, he mentioned an improved Smith Center as an important facet.
Last season the Colonials finished 10-18 overall and 4-12 in conference play.
