The hype continues to build for the 2012-2013 basketball season. On the ‘heels’ of this related entry, NC State’s 2012-2013 basketball schedule could be released as early as this coming week…but, a large portion of the schedule has come to shape and was reported by the N&O this week:
The Wolfpack will play home-and-home games with North Carolina, Duke and Wake Forest during the 2012-13 season.
Coach Mark Gottfried’s second team also will play two games against ACC tournament champion Florida State, Clemson, Georgia Tech and Boston College next season. The Pack will play Miami and Virginia Tech only at home, with road-only games against Maryland and Virginia.
[snip]
N.C. State’s nonconference schedule includes a spot in the Puerto Rico Tip-off in November, with Oklahoma State and Tennessee, a Big Ten challenge game at Michigan and a return home game with Stanford.
The N&O omitted the great news that NC State will play in Madison Square Garden this December against UConn in the Jimmy V Classic! (Click here)
In addition to all of the obvious things to LOVE about playing in the Jimmy V Classic, I particularly like THIS specific game for us as we get to play a national name, Big East opponent in a year that they should be pretty bad, or at least not nearly as good as their annual reputation.
NC State doesn’t necessarily ‘need’ another ‘Top 20′ style opponent next season as the blend of our pre-season ranking, ACC slate and overall scheduling difficulty (just with the names mentioned in the aforementioned quote) is more than acceptable. So, having the opportunity to be positioned to WIN a big game on the big stage over a big name couldn’t be more welcome!!
I guess we should look at the Jimmy V Classic like this — NC State defeated both Texas and Georgetown on neutral floors last season. So, their game is kind of the ‘losers bracket’ and we’ve already advanced to what we can call the championship 🙂
SFN’s Basketball Message Forum has been the home of a lot of ‘real-time’ conversations about our upcoming schedule in recent months, including this thread from last month specifically designed to de-construct the schedule.
