The College of Charleston men’s basketball team will travel to Fairfax, Va., to take on George Mason of the Colonial Athletic Association in the ESPN BracketBuster game Feb. 20 at the Patriot Center. The game will air at 8 p.m. on ESPN2.
“They have a great program year in and year out,” said Head Coach Bobby Cremins. “It’ll be an honor to go up there and play. [George Mason Head Basketball Coach] Jim [Larranaga] and I go way back. We are both from the Bronx and played basketball in the Catholic School League. We both used to play tennis together on summer recruiting trips.”
The Cougars are 2-1 in BracketBuster games. Charleston faced Western Michigan in its first BracketBuster appearance in 2004, and fell to the Broncos, 78-83. The Cougars defeated Virginia Commonwealth, 85-75, in 2005 in their second appearance, and in their last BracketBuster game came away with an 83-75 win over Georgia State in 2006.
As part of the BracketBusters contract, each team agrees to a home-and-home series with its opponent, with the return game to be played in November or December of the following season. The College of Charleston will host the Patriots next season.
Head Baseball Coach Monte Lee watched his team practice Feb. 11 for the last time before the season opener against Radford.
The C of C baseball team opens the 2010 season this weekend against Radford. The Cougars are 1-0-1 against the Highlanders.
After hosting Radford, the team will play 17 of its first 18 games at home. The stretch includes a three-game series with Radford, UNC Asheville and Alabama and mid-week games against Holy Cross, Charleston Southern, Toledo, Ball State, Coastal Carolina and Jacksonville. The Cougars were 18-9 in 2009 against non-conference opponents.
During the home stretch the Cougars open the Southern Conference season with a home-stand against Samford. The 2009 squad was 17-13 in league play, finishing fifth in the conference standings. Charleston will also host Georgia Southern, Elon, Wofford and The Citadel as part of the SoCon schedule. The 2010 Baseball Championship will be held in Charleston at Joe Riley Park in May.
Seven starters and 16 lettermen return from last season, including SoCon Player of the Year Joey Bergman, who led the squad batting .452 and scoring a league and school record 88. Returning on the mound for the Cougars is Louisville Slugger Freshman All-American David Peterson who notched a 7-3 record in 13 starts last season, second behind team-leader Jesse Simpson.