2005-2006 Basketball Schedule Released

NC State’s 2005-2006 Basketball Schedule was released yesterday.

20 of State’s 29 games will be televised and all pf the Pack’s conference games except the February 15th Florida State game (in Raleigh). Of course, we all know that one will probably work out as a Wolfpack win.

State’s out of conference schedule is generally more balanced “in the middle” than in past Herb Sendek years, but the University continues to fail to attract any kind of marquee game for the Wolfpack faithful who have generated Top 25 attendance numbers every year since the ESA/RBC has been open. Hopefully the additional opportunities against some decent teams this year will help improve the sickly performance of the program against similar competition over the last nine years.

None of State’s match-ups were of a magnitude that merited mention in ESPN’s article about the ACC schedule,

Atlantic Coast Conference basketball teams will make a record 265 TV appearances, including a rematch of last season’s national championship game between North Carolina and Illinois, the conference announced Tuesday.

The schedule is the first that includes Boston College as the conference’s 12th member. The Eagles, who played in the Big East Conference last season, play their first ACC game at Maryland on Dec. 11.

North Carolina hosts Illinois in the annual ACC-Big Ten Challenge on Nov. 29, a rematch of the Tar Heels’ 75-70 win in St. Louis in April.

The Tar Heels also travel to Kentucky and host Arizona — tough challenges for a young team that bears little resemblance to last year’s champion. North Carolina lost its top seven scorers — including four underclassmen who were first-round NBA draft picks — and will rely heavily on senior reserve David Noel (3.9 points per game) and a highly touted recruiting class.

Among the key nonconference matchups are: Duke against Texas and Indiana; Wake Forest against Wisconsin; North Carolina State against Notre Dame and Alabama; and Miami facing Final Four participant Louisville.

It marks the second straight season that the conference has had more than 250 TV appearances and the 11th consecutive season with at least 200. More televised games could be announced later, the ACC said.

We will have lots of comments and analysis on the schedule in the future days.