George Washington University Athletics
GW Men's Basketball Sets Challenging 2011-12 Schedule
9/6/2011 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Sept. 6, 2011
2011-12 MBB SCHEDULE (HTML) | 2011-12 MBB SCHEDULE 
Lonergan Completes Scheduling Puzzle at GW (Washington Times, 9/7/11)
WASHINGTON - The George Washington men's basketball program will play an elevated and challenging schedule for the 2011-12 season under first-year head coach Mike Lonergan. The 30-game schedule will feature 15 teams which advanced to postseason play last March and 12 teams rated inside the Top 100 of the final 2011 NCAA Ratings Percentage Index (RPI).
"We'll be challenging our student-athletes with very difficult non-conference games to go along with the rigorous Atlantic 10 schedule," said Coach Lonergan. "This schedule should prepare us to be at our best heading into the A-10 Tournament and for what hopefully will be some important late-season games come March. Our players are up for the challenge, and I know our fans will be excited to see the Colonials play such quality opponents."
The Colonials will play 14 of their 30 regular-season games at the Charles E. Smith Center, as well as a home preseason exhibition against Bowie State on Sunday, Nov. 6. Of those 14 home contests, six will come against teams that reached the postseason in 2011, including NCAA Tournament participants UAB, Richmond and Xavier.
Season tickets and Partial and Flex Plans are now on sale. For pricing and plan details, please visit GWsports.com/tickets. Single game tickets will be made available beginning Wednesday, October 12 at 9:30 am. To purchase your seats today, please call 202-994-7325.
At least seven regular-season games are slated to be televised, with four games set for national or regional broadcast on the CBS Sports Network, two games on ESPNU, and the BB&T Classic on MASN. Additional televised contests and game times will be announced at later dates.
Highlights of the 16-game away slate include marquee non-conference matchups against the University of California on Sunday, Nov. 13 as part of the 2011 CBE Classic; at Kansas State on Thursday, Dec. 1; against 2011 NCAA Final Four participant VCU in the 17th annual BB&T Classic at Verizon Center on Sunday, Dec. 4; at preseason nationally ranked Syracuse in the Carrier Dome on Saturday, Dec. 10; and at Harvard on Saturday, Jan. 14.
Half of the Colonials' 16-game Atlantic 10 schedule will be against teams that reached postseason play in 2011. GW will host postseason teams Xavier, Richmond, Duquesne and Rhode Island, along with Massachusetts, Saint Joseph's, Charlotte and La Salle at Smith Center. The Colonials travel to postseason programs at Richmond, Temple, Dayton and St. Bonaventure, as well as Fordham, Saint Louis, Charlotte and La Salle.
"We're very excited about this schedule and looking forward to testing ourselves against these high-caliber teams," said senior guard Tony Taylor, a Second Team All-Atlantic 10 selection in 2011. "Our goal is to compete for an A-10 title, and the support from our fellow students, alumni and fans in making the Smith Center a difficult place to play will go a long way toward helping us achieve that goal."
The Mike Lonergan era will officially begin on Friday, Nov. 11 at home against the University of Maryland Eastern Shore.
GW then plays its next six games away from Smith Center beginning with four games in the 2011 CBE Classic between Nov. 13- 23. The Colonials travel to Berkeley, Calif., to meet the Pac-12 Conference's Cal Golden Bears on ESPNU on Nov. 13, followed by three games in three days at the Bowling Green Subregional in Bowling Green, Ohio, from Nov. 21-23. GW will face Detroit on Nov. 21 and Austin Peay on Nov. 22, before completing the event against the host Falcons on Nov. 23, all at BGSU's new Stroh Center.
The road swing continues in Manhattan, Kan., on Dec. 1 against the Big XII Conference's Kansas State Wildcats, then concludes three days later against the VCU Rams in the annual installment of the BB&T Classic benefiting the Children's Charities Foundation.
GW returns to Smith Center for the first time in nearly a month by hosting Loyola (Md.) on Wednesday, Dec. 7. The matchup will feature a meeting of former collegiate teammates and roommates turned coaches between Lonergan and Greyhounds' head coach Jimmy Patsos, both of whom played at Catholic in the mid-1980s.
The contest most emblematic of GW's revamped scheduling efforts comes on Dec. 10 at Big East titan Syracuse. The Colonials square off against the Orange for the ninth time overall and first since a 111-104 overtime victory in the 1994 Preseason NIT. Maurice Joseph, Assistant Director of Operations on Coach Lonergan's staff at GW, is the older brother of Orange forward Kris Joseph.
GW then enters a four-game home stretch from Dec. 15 to 31 as student-athletes enter final exams and winter break.
The Colonials host perennial Missouri Valley Conference contender Bradley on Thursday, Dec. 15, followed by 2011 College Basketball Invitational postseason participant James Madison a week later. GW completes a home-and-home series by welcoming 2011 NCAA Tournament participant UAB on Wednesday, Dec. 26 after last year's visit to Birmingham, Ala.
The home non-conference schedule concludes with a New Years Eve matinee against Delaware State on Saturday, Dec. 31.
GW ushers in 2012 by delving into A-10 play with back-to-back road games at St. Bonaventure on Wednesday, Jan. 4, and Saint Louis on Saturday, Jan. 7. Coach Lonergan makes his home league debut on Wednesday, Jan. 11 against Rhode Island in a game that will air regionally on CBS Sports Network.
The entire non-league slate wraps with another completed home-and-home series at Harvard on Saturday, Jan. 14.
The focus then shifts solely on the final 13 games of the conference schedule as the Colonials seek to make a third straight A-10 Championship appearance and return to Atlantic City, N.J.
League play is headlined by home games against Richmond on Wednesday, Jan. 18; Xavier on Wednesday, Feb. 1, in a game that will air regionally on CBS Sports Network; and Duquesne on Saturday, Feb. 25. The A-10 road docket includes Temple on Wednesday, Feb. 8, for a regional CBS Sports Network broadcast; Richmond on Saturday, Feb. 11, on ESPNU; and Dayton on Saturday, March 3, on national CBS Sports Network.
The 36th A-10 Championship will begin at campus sites on Tuesday, March 6, before moving to Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City March 9-11. The championship game will be televised live on CBS.
Opponents in postseason play in 2011
Kansas State (NCAA)
Syracuse (NCAA)
VCU (NCAA)
UAB (NCAA)
Xavier (NCAA)
Richmond (NCAA)
Temple (NCAA)
California (NIT)
Harvard (NIT)
Dayton (NIT)
James Madison (CBI)
Austin Peay (CBI)
Duquesne (CBI)
Rhode Island (CBI)
St. Bonaventure (CBI)
Opponents ranked in 2011 NCAA RPI Top 100
Syracuse (20)
Kansas State (22)
Xavier (25)
Temple (27)
VCU (31)
Richmond (33)
UAB (37)
Harvard (40)
California (75)
Dayton (79)
James Madison (90)
Rhode Island (99)
