IS ON THE TRADE RUMOR TRAIL
Sorry to bump down the Billy Packer post, but I just got the press release from St. Joe's about the Hawks' 2008-09 schedule and it includes some interesting games.
Of course, they're going to be playing all their games at the Palestra this season because of the Fieldhouse renovations. While specific dates and times weren't included in the email, we can still hope for some doubleheaders with Penn and St. Joe's.
And speaking of the Quakers, one of the Hawks' non-conference home games might draw some interest from folks in the neighborhood around 33rd Street.
The release is pretty short, so I'll just post it straight:
The Saint Joseph's men's basketball opponents have been announced for 2008-09, including the Atlantic 10 Conference slate in which the Hawks will play home and away games against local rival Temple, as well as Massachusetts and St. Bonaventure.
The Hawks will play home games only against A-10 opponents Charlotte, Duquesne, George Washington, Rhode Island and Xavier. Each of those games will be played at the historic Palestra, as SJU's Alumni Memorial Fieldhouse is undergoing construction the renovation and expansion project.
Saint Joseph's, which was the 2008 A-10 runner-up, will travel to Dayton, Fordham, Richmond and Saint Louis, while also visiting La Salle at the Palestra.
In non-conference action, SJU will host Creighton, Cornell, Drexel, Penn, Rider and Siena, and will visit Ball State, Holy Cross, Lehigh, Towson and Villanova.
Saint Joseph's will also participate in the 2008 EA Sports Maui Invitational, from November 24-26 at the Lahaina Civic Center. The tournament features a strong field in its 25th anniversary with SJU being joined by Alabama, Chaminade, Indiana, North Carolina, Notre Dame, Oregon and Texas.
We also now have the schedule information for La Salle, and the Explorers have dates listed for their non-conference games.
La Salle will start with three home games: an exhibition against Philadelphia University (Nov. 8), the season opener against Morgan State (Nov. 15) and a marquee matchup with Florida State (Nov. 18).
Then it's off to the Paradise Jam in St. Thomas to play Connecticut (Nov. 21) and two other games in a field that includes Miami and Wisconsin. That's going to be quite a week for the Explorers.
La Salle gets both non-conference Big 5 games at home: Villanova on Dec. 14 and Penn on Jan. 21. The other home non-conference games are Bucknell (Dec. 2), Rider (Dec. 17), Mount St. Mary's (Dec. 23), Manhattan (Dec. 31) and Howard (Jan. 3).
There are only two non-conference road games other than the Paradise Jam: at Hartford on Dec. 6 and at Cornell on Dec. 20.
The Explorers get Temple, George Washington, Massachusetts for their home-and-away games. They'll also host Dayton, Duquesne, Fordham, Richmond and St. Joe's, though as always they'll play the Hawks at the Palestra.
The other road games will be Charlotte, Rhode Island, St. Bonaventure, Saint Louis and Xavier.
You can read the rest of the A-10's home-and-away-game breakdown in PDF form here. And while we're at it, the Big East's conference game breakdown is here.
So what's the chance that Cornell wins the Big 5 and the Ivy League this season?
