49ers announce another tough men's basketball schedule
7/2/2012 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
July 2, 2012
LONG BEACH, Calif. - Long Beach State men's basketball coach Dan Monson has announced the 49ers schedule for the 2012-13 season, and for the fourth straight year it will feature one of the toughest non-conference schedules in the country.
The highlight of the schedule is a home game against national power North Carolina on November 16 in the Walter Pyramid. The 49ers and the Tar Heels will meet for the third straight season but for the first time ever in Long Beach. The game will be LBSU's first ever at home against a team from the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC).
LBSU will face three of last year's top six teams in the final ESPN/USA Today Coaches Poll, as well as three schools from the Pac-12 Conference. In addition to playing North Carolina, ranked No. 6 in the final poll last season, the 49ers visit Syracuse (No. 5 last year) on Dec. 6 and Ohio State (No. 3 last season) on Dec. 8.
"We are excited again this year, as we have done in the past several seasons, to announce arguably the toughest preseason schedule in the nation," Monson said. "The schedule is highlighted, of course, by the opportunity to host the North Carolina Tar Heels at the Pyramid, one of the premier programs in the country. This schedule should give us a great opportunity to grow as a team and improve throughout the preseason in hopes of being ready to defend our Big West championship."
Long Beach State begins its Pac-12 adventure with a game at USC on Nov. 13, before traveling to Arizona on Nov. 19 and UCLA on Dec. 18. Arizona, USC and UCLA all qualified for the NCAA Tournament in 2011, with Arizona advancing to the Elite Eight.
The 49ers' schedule has five non-conference home games. In addition to the North Carolina game, LBSU will host a Mountain West Conference team (Fresno State on Dec. 3), while also hosting an ESPN BracketBuster game in February.
Long Beach State will open its season on Nov. 10 at the Walter Pyramid against North Alabama on homecoming weekend. The 49ers then hit the road, playing four of their next five games away from Long Beach, with three of those five games against teams that qualified for one of the postseason tournaments last season.
LBSU starts the streak playing at USC, before hosting North Carolina. After the Tar Heels come to town, LBSU plays the next three on the road against Arizona, Fresno State (Nov. 25) and Loyola Marymount (Nov. 29). The 49ers return home for the back end of the home-and-home series with Fresno State, but then hit the road for the Syracuse-Ohio State road trip. LBSU wraps up its pre-conference season with a home game against BYU-Hawaii (Dec. 15) and the game at UCLA before opening Big West play against Pacific in the Walter Pyramid on Dec. 29.
Monson's teams at Long Beach State have headed into the conference season the last three years with the top ranked non-conference schedule in the country. During his five seasons at the helm of the 49ers, Monson's teams have played 30 teams that have advanced to the NCAA Tournament, including 26 non-conference foes. Of those 26, one won a national championship (Duke 2010), two played for the title (Duke and Kansas 2012), four qualified for the Final Four (Duke, Kansas, West Virginia 2010, and Louisville (2012), seven advanced to the Elite Eight and 10 made it to the Sweet 16. The 49ers played eight NCAA Tournament teams last season and in 2009-10, seven in 2010-11, five in 2008-09, and two in 2007-08.
Monson's teams have squared off against Power 6 Conference teams 23 times in his five seasons. LBSU played seven teams from one of the six conferences in 2009-10, six teams in 2011-12, five teams in 2010-11, four teams in 2008-09 and two teams in 2007-08.
LBSU non-conference schedule vs. NCAA Division I Teams in Dan Monson Era:
2012-13:
at USC
North Carolina
at Arizona
at Fresno State
at Loyola Marymount
Fresno State
at Syracuse
at Ohio State
at UCLA
ESPN BracketBusters
2011-12:
Idaho
at Pittsburgh
at San Diego State (NCAA Tournament)
Boise State
at Montana (NCAA Tournament)
at Louisville (Final Four)
at Kansas (NCAA Runner-Up)
at North Carolina (NCAA Elite Eight)
vs. Xavier (NCAA Sweet 16)
vs. Auburn
vs. Kansas State (NCAA Tournament)
at Creighton (NCAA Tournament)
2010-11:
San Diego State (NCAA Sweet 16)
vs. Clemson (NCAA)
vs. St. Peter's (NCAA)
vs. Iowa
Loyola Marymount
at Washington (NCAA)
at Boise State
at Utah State (NCAA)
at North Carolina (NCAA Elite Eight)
vs. Saint Mary's
at Arizona State
Montana
2009-10:
at Pepperdine
at Notre Dame (NCAA Tournament)
at Green Bay
vs. West Virginia (NCAA Final Four)
vs. Clemson (NCAA)
vs. UCLA
at Texas (NCAA)
vs. Utah State (NCAA)
at Loyola Marymount
at Kentucky (NCAA Elite Eight)
at Duke (NCAA National Champions)
at Idaho
2008-09:
at BYU (NCAA)
at Wisconsin (NCAA)
Weber State
at Idaho State
New Mexico State
Pepperdine
at San Francisco
at Weber State
at Syracuse (NCAA Sweet 16)
Montana State
Temple (NCAA)
at Oregon
Green Bay
2007-08:
BYU (NCAA Tournament)
at Montana State
Idaho State
at Pepperdine
at Washington
at Saint Louis
Loyola Marymount
at Hawaii
San Francisco
at California
vs. Bucknell
at New Mexico State
