I was looking for information on next season's men's basketball schedule and found a few things:

Athletes in Action Basketball Classic-Belmont, Portland St., Washington, Wright St.(Nov. 13-15)

Belmont@Kansas (Dec. 29)

Just wondering if anyone else knew anything about how the '09-'10 schedule is shaping up?

I just remembered reading somewhere that we play Lipscomb at home in January. I know that isn't earth shattering news, but it narrows down the month.

I saw where Mercer announced confirmation of road games with Georgia Tech and Alabama. They also confirmed a homecoming game with Florida State. I would love to see Belmont schedule a major D1 team at home. I know they have tried, but can't get anyone to come to the Curb.

So do you see Belmont getting out of the ASun and moving to a better conference ... or are they stuck because of the lack of football?

(06-15-2009 02:30 PM)kevster Wrote:  So do you see Belmont getting out of the ASun and moving to a better conference ... or are they stuck because of the lack of football?

I think we are stuck for the time being. Lipscomb is studying the possibility of football, but I would be surprised if they attempted it. Belmont is struggling for space for it's current outside sports, so building a football stadium would be a challenge.

I think in the coming years we may move to a non-football conference. I would be surprised if the move wasn't coordinated with ETSU or Lipscomb or both.

I just ran across a fan web site for St. Louis. They have Belmont as one of their "known" opponents with no date. This is far from official, but someone there must have heard something.

According to last year's RPI and our list of 2009-2010 opponents, here is how we match up so far.

11. Kansas
13. Washington
98. Wright State
116. Portland State
118. Belmont
128. St. Louis

So far, it looks like a fairly solid out of conference schedule. I hope our boys are ready to play. In the Athletes in Action tournament, we have to play 3 games in 3 days. We start with Portland State Nov. 13, then Washington on the 14th, and Wright State on the 15th.

I'm thinking Belmont might be the only current ASun team (by current, I mean "not already planning to leave) with a shot of moving up in the foreseeable future. Nationally, Belmont seems to be much more respected than Lipscomb.

ETSU has already indicated they're not interested in a move - at least until there's a change in administration.

I would only be interested in moving to another conference if Lipscomb, and maybe even ETSU could come too. It just wouldn't be as much fun to break up the rivalries.

I'm guessing - and it's only a guess - that if ETSU ever moves, it won't look to go with Belmont. Most ETSU fans wouldn't consider Belmont a chief rival.

Historic ETSU rivals include Chattanooga and Appy State

I don't consider ETSU to be Belmont's chief rival either, but the matchup has been heated the past few years. Lipscomb will always be our archrival, and I would not want us to change conferences without them. If ETSU came, it would just be an added bonus.

Gotcha. Frankly, I don't think the Bucs have much to choose from.

I don't see the Southern Conference ever inviting them back - and folks don't get too excited about the OVC. It's not that big of a leap over the ASun - except they do have football.

ETSU fans have dreams of Conference USA, but that will never happen. I thought, when ETSU dropped football and we were told that meant an upgrade to basketball, that Conference USA might be one of our options. Like many other Buc fans, we learned that was never on the table.

I think Belmont will have more options than ETSU. But, other than the OVC, I don't think they will include both schools.

You can now add Tennessee State to our schedule. They are scheduled to visit the Curb on Nov. 30.

Belmont has a tough time getting people to play at the Curb because most teams now recognize Belmont as a tough team to beat, especially at home. Also, if we were to do a home-and-home, or 2-for-1 deal, the other team would always want to host first. Then either wait a couple years for the return game and end up buying it out, or just keep putting it off.

It's really tough to put together a challenging schedule in this position.