Men's Basketball Releases 2008-09 Schedule

Central Connecticut head men's basketball coach Howie Dickenman announced the 2008-09 schedule on Thursday. Entering his 13th season as the head coach at his alma mater, Dickenman and the Blue Devils will play 11 non-conference games and 18 conference games this season. CCSU opens the season with a trip to Boston College on November 14 for the first meeting with the Eagles since the 1997-98 season. The first home game will take place on Monday, November 17 vs. Colgate.

Game times remain to be announced, as CCSU will likely see a few changes in its schedule once the conference television package is announced in a couple of months. Fans can follow all changes by logging on to the official website at CCSUBlueDevils.com.

2008-09 Men's Basketball Schedule

"We prepared a challenging non-conference schedule which includes games against seven different conferences," Dickenman said on Thursday. "It is the first time during my tenure that we will compete against teams from the Pac-10 and ACC and we look forward to those challenges."

Those conferences include the ACC, Pac-10, Patriot League, America East, Colonial Athletic, the Ivy League and the Atlantic-10.

CCSU opens on the road against Boston College on November 14 and will face a team from the ACC for the first time in its history. Following the home opener vs. Colgate the Blue Devils will travel to play at Albany on November 22. Three of the next four games will take place in Detrick Gym as the Blue Devils welcome Binghamton (November 25) and Lafayette (November 30) as well their Northeast Conference opener hosting defending NEC Champion Mount St. Mary's on December 6. On December 3 CCSU travels to Delaware.

Following the game vs. the Mount the Blue Devils will take to the road for five of the next six games. CCSU plays at UMBC on December 10 and at Rhode Island on December 13 before hosting Princeton on December 20 in the second-ever meeting between the two schools. Central Connecticut travels to Arizona State on December 29 and then as the calendar turns they resume league play on the road vs. Long Island on January 3 and at Monmouth on January 5.

The final non-conference game of the season will be played on the road on February 14 at Bryant, a future member of the NEC.

The league schedule is 18 games again this season and will feature a pair of game vs. every league opponent except St. Francis (NY) and Long Island. The Blue Devils will only face St. Francis (NY) at home on February 21 and Long Island on the road on January 3.

The conference tournament, once again being held on the home court of the higher seeds throughout the tournament, begins on Thursday, March 5. The semifinals will be on Sunday, March 8 and the championship game, once again televised by ESPN, will take place on Wednesday, March 11.

For the 12th consecutive season, all men's basketball games will be broadcast on ESPN Radio 1410. In addition the Blue Devils have added ESPN Radio 1300 in New Haven to its lineup to create the first-ever CCSU ESPN Radio Network for the upcoming season and cover most of the state of Connecticut. Every game will also be broadcast online at CCSUBlueDevils.com.