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Bucs beef up hoops schedule

By Kelly Hodge
Press Managing Sports Editor
khodge@johnsoncitypress.com

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If East Tennessee State gets back to the NCAA basketball tournament again next March, it likely won’t be as a 16-seed.

Coach Murry Bartow has beefed up the upcoming schedule with heavyweights like Louisville, Arkansas and Tennessee. There’s also a date at Alabama-Birmingham to honor Bartow’s father, Gene, who founded the program there, and games with three old Southern Conference rivals who always stir the emotions.

All in all, it’s a schedule that should pay off if the Bucs can play well enough to defend their Atlantic Sun Conference championship and earn a spot in March Madness. They battled top-seeded Pittsburgh to the wire at the tournament last season.

“The schedule all kind of fell into place,” Bartow said Tuesday. “We certainly wanted to challenge ourselves, and I think we’ve done that. Quite frankly, we were disappointed in being a 16-seed a year ago. Who knows where the new season will end, but if we can get in a position to make the tournament again, maybe we’ll be in a better position with this schedule.”

The season begins with some intrigue on Nov. 14 as Appalachian State and coach Buzz Peterson return to Memorial Center. It will be the second go-around with the Mountaineers for Peterson, a former ETSU assistant and one of Bartow’s best buddies in the business.

The schedule then gets very dicey, with road games at Chattanooga, Morgan State and Louisville before College of Charleston comes to town. Three of the next four are on the road – at Arkansas, Tennessee and UAB.

“It’s always hard as a mid-major to get off to a good start,” said Bartow, “and this will be the toughest start since I’ve been here. We’ve got seven games jammed into the first two weeks, and several teams coming off NCAA appearances.”

The most attractive non-conference home dates are App State, Charleston (Nov. 25) and Murry State (Dec. 12).

“Murry State and College of Charleston will probably both be favored to win their respective leagues,” said Bartow. “Both are home-and-home series, so we’ll be going to their places next year.”

The Bucs will travel to Morehead State on Dec. 18. The Eagles won here last season on their way to the Ohio Valley Conference championship.

Key A-Sun matchups in the Dome: Jacksonville on Dec. 21 and Belmont on Feb. 1.

There are 31 games in all because four – App State, Morgan State, Louisville and Arkansas – were packaged as part of the Hall of Fame Showcase.

“The rules say you can play 27 regular-season games plus a multi-team event,” said Bartow. “This will be like the Charleston tournament last year, only a different format. Considering who we’re playing, I don’t know if it’s a good thing or not.”

For some added spice, the Bucs will play a “throwback” game in Brooks Gym against North Georgia on Dec. 10. They’ll wear uniforms patterned after the 1968 team, and ETSU legend Tom Chilton will return to have his jersey number re-retired. (The No. 42 was worn the past two seasons by Kevin Tiggs.)

“I think that will be a really interesting deal,” said Bartow. “We’re going to bust out retro uniforms and Tom is going to come back. There’s just endless ideas for a game like that. I envision a packed gym.”

The Bucs went 23-11 last season but have lost three starters from that team. Courtney Pigram scored over 2,000 points in his career, while Tiggs surpassed 1,000 in just two seasons, so the offensive void is obvious.

The first couple of months will be a learning experience, and the lessons could be hard. Bartow wishes he was preparing for another trip to Canada, like the one his team took over Labor Day last summer, to help get the chemistry going.

“It would be a good year to have it, with all the new faces,” he said. “They’ve now outlawed those, so we caught the Canada trip just in time.”

The Bucs will play two exhibition games – against Milligan on Nov. 3 and Carson-Newman on Nov. 9.

ETSU SCHEDULE

(Home games in CAPS)

x-exhibition

November

3 – x-MILLIGAN, 7 p.m.

9 – x-CARSON-NEWMAN, 7 p.m.

14 – APPALACHIAN STATE, 4 p.m.

17 – Chattanooga, TBA

19 – Morgan State, TBA

21 – Louisville, TBA

25 – COLLEGE OF CHARLESTON, 7 p.m.

27 – Arkansas

29 – NORTH FLORIDA, 4 p.m.

December

2 – Tennessee, TBA

4 – Alabama-Birmingham, TBA

10 – NORTH GEORGIA, 7 p.m.

12 – MURRY STATE, 4 p.m.

18 – Morehead State, TBA

21 – JACKSONVILLE, 7 p.m.

January

4 – USC Upstate, TBA

7 – Kennesaw State, TBA

9 – Mercer, TBA

14 – STETSON, 7 p.m.

16 – FLORIDA GULF COAST, 4 p.m.

21 – Lipscomb, TBA

23 – Belmont, TBA

27 – CAMPBELL, 7 p.m.

30 – LIPSCOMB, 4 p.m.

February

1 – BELMONT, 7 p.m.

4 – Florida Gulf Coast, TBA

6 – Stetson, TBA

12 – KENNESAW STATE, 7 p.m.

14 – MERCER, 4 p.m.

19 – Campbell, TBA

21 – USC UPSTATE, 4 p.m.

25 – North Florida, TBA

27 – Jacksonville, TBA

March

3-6 – Alantic Sun Conference tournament, Macon, Ga.