Illini Basketball Non-Conference Schedule Goes Coast-to-Coast...And Is A Tough One
In the midst of the buildup to football season...the Illini basketball non-conference schedule was released late last week.
As usual...I took a quick glance at it...and then upon further review...realized how much traveling Bruce Weber's team will be doing this fall and winter.
After opening with a couple of games at the Assembly Hall in early to mid-November...the Illini will spend November 18th and 19th playing at Madison Square Garden as part of the 2K Sports Classic benefiting Coaches vs Cancer. They will meet the Texas Longhorns on the first night with a matchup against either Pittsburgh or Maryland the following night.
That is the East Coast part of the schedule.
The Illini also play a game on the West Coast in early December against Gonzaga in Seattle. The Zags and the Illini played a classic in Chicago last season and it could be another dandy at Key Arena in the Great Northwest.
In between is the annual Big Ten-ACC showdown... and this time the Illini get to tangle with their old title-game nemesis from 2005...the North Carolina Tar Heels.
Mix in the trip to St.Louis for the Braggin' Rights Game with Missouri right before Christmas... and you have a prettty challenging non-conference slate.
A couple of personal notes about the schedule: I am really looking forward to broadcasting basketball from one historic building (Madison Square Garden) for two nights (Nov 18th,19th)...and then doing play by play of an Illini football game from another historic facility (Wrigley Field) on November 20th.
Also....One of the teams the Illini are playing at the Assembly Hall in December will be Oakland University (Michigan). The play by play announcer for Oakland also serves as the Fox Sports Detroit TV play by play announcer for the Detroit Tigers. I only mention that because Mario Impemba was my radio broadcast partner when we were broadcasting major league baseball games together in Anaheim, California a decade ago. It will be good to visit with him again.
And finally.....people ask me what might be my favorite place from which to announce a basketball game. Any game at the Assembly Hall is great...but the atmosphere in St.Louis for that Illini-Mizzou basketball game is unlike any other. I look forward to it every time.
Speaking of Illini-Mizzou games....the football game is coming up fast.
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