BAKERSFIELD, Calif. - CSU Bakersfield head men's basketball coach Rod Barnes has released his 2012-13 men's basketball schedule featuring an all-time high 10 opponents coming off postseason tournament bids last year and at least two nationally-televised games this upcoming season.
"This year we have about half our games against teams that played in a postseason tournament last season including five teams that were in the NCAA Tournament field; Cal, South Dakota State, UNLV, Colorado State and San Diego State," Barnes said. "This caliber of opponents will prepare us and hopefully help us achieve our goals of getting back to the postseason in March."
The Roadrunners, competing as an Independent, will take on teams from 12 different conferences this season, including three teams from the Mountain West Conference beginning with a Nov. 24 trip to Wyoming. The Cowboys will return the trip and play for the first time in Bakersfield on Feb. 6. CSUB's other games against MWC schools will be on the road, Jan. 2 at San Diego St. and Jan. 5 at UNLV.
"This is a highly-competitive schedule that Coach Barnes has assembled and we look forward to the challenge of performing against a schedule that will continue to elevate the status of our program," said Athletic Director Jeff Konya. "The luxury of being a Division I Independent is being able to put together a schedule like this and that would be tough to emulate in most one postseason-bid conferences."
CSUB will open the home portion of their schedule on Nov. 9 at 6 P.M. against 2011 NIT participant UT-Arlington at the Icardo Center. That game is part of a doubleheader with the CSUB women's basketball team who will host Arizona later that evening. CSUB will have a total of 13 regular season home games this season featuring Wyoming, Cal State Fullerton, Utah Valley and Loyola Marymount.
CSUB will play in their first regular-season tournament as a Division I program as well when they head to the Continental Tire Las Vegas Classic Dec. 22-23. CSUB will play the first two games of that tournament at Portland on Dec. 17 and at Colorado State on Dec. 19. The third and championships rounds will be held at the Orleans Arena where the 'Runners will take on North Florida on Dec. 22 at 2:30 P.M., their championship round opponent will be determined by the outcome of that contest.
CSUB is coming off their most successful season since making the NCAA Division I transition posting a 16-14 regular season record and qualifying for the CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament where they lost in the first round to eventual runner-up Utah State.
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