Maui Invitational Highlights Oregon?s 2008-09 Men?s Basketball Schedule
EUGENE, Ore. ? The 25th annual Maui Invitational and visits from 2008 NCAA Tournament teams Kansas State, Saint Mary’s and San Diego highlight the 2008-09 Oregon men’s basketball schedule, which was released Tuesday.
Potentially, the Ducks could play 16 games versus 2008 NCAA Tournament teams.
"This is certainly one of the more challenging schedules since I’ve been associated with Oregon both as a player and a coach," said Oregon head coach Ernie Kent.
The Ducks will open 2008-09 with a set of exhibitions at McArthur Court, Nov. 2 against Northwest Christian College and Nov. 9 versus Southern Oregon.
The regular season opens with home games against Northern Colorado of the Big Sky Conference on Nov. 14 and a return game from Oakland University on Nov. 17.
Then the Ducks set out on a road odyssey that will send them through California, Hawaii and Utah. Oregon will stop in Southern California to play at UC Irvine on Nov. 21, before flying to Hawaii to participate in the EA SPORTS Maui Invitational.
Pairings for that event have yet to be announced, but Oregon’s potential opponents are 2008 NCAA Tournament teams Indiana, North Carolina, Notre Dame, Saint Joseph’s and Texas. Alabama and host Chaminade are also in the field.
Oregon’s 13-day road trip concludes with a Dec. 3 game at Utah.
Then the Ducks return to host three straight games versus 2008 NCAA Tournament teams in the State of Oregon.
Kansas State will play at Mac Court on Dec. 7 as part of the Big 12/Pac-10 Hardwood Series. The Ducks defeated the Wildcats 80-77 in overtime last year in Manhattan, Kan.
Then Oregon will host NCAA Tournament Cinderella San Diego Dec. 13 at the Rose Garden in the 11th annual Pape’ Jam. Seeded 13th, the Toreros knocked off No. 4 Connecticut 70-69 in overtime in an NCAA Tournament first round game.
The gamut of NCAA Tournament teams ends with Saint Mary’s visiting Eugene on Dec. 17.
The Ducks close out the month of December by hosting Portland on the 20th and Long Beach State on the 29th. Long Beach State is coached by former Gonzaga and Minnesota head man Dan Monson, whose father Don Monson was the Ducks’ head coach for nine seasons from 1984-1992.
"We’ve got a good group of guys coming in, but we’ll also be a young team, so we’ll look to this preseason schedule to prepare us for another tough challenge in the Pac-10," said Kent.
The Pac-10, schedule, which will altered at a later date to accommodate television broadcasts, has Oregon opening the conference season by hosting USC on Friday, Jan. 4 and UCLA on Jan. 6.
The remainder of the league schedule has the Ducks at the Arizona schools Jan. 8-10, hosting the Washington schools Jan. 15-17 and in the Bay Area Jan. 22-24. In February, Oregon is at Oregon State on Jan. 31, hosts the Arizona schools Feb. 5-7, visits Washington and WSU Feb. 12-14, and then wraps the month at home Feb. 19-21 versus California and Stanford and Feb. 28 against Oregon State.
The Ducks are then in for back-to-back trips to Los Angeles to play USC and UCLA March 5-7 and then for the Pac-10 tournament March 11-14.
First-time Oregon opponents for the 2008-09 season include San Diego, Northern Colorado and potentially Chaminade.
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