Charlotte 49ers History

Charlotte 49ers release men's basketball schedule

Niners to play 14 games vs. 2003 post-season teams; two vs. NCAA final four
August 21, 2003

Charlotte, N.C. -- The Charlotte 49ers men's basketball team will face yet another difficult schedule in 2003-04, but one that head coach Bobby Lutz feels will put them into position to gain an NCAA Tournament berth. The slate includes 14 games against teams that participated in the 2003 post-season, including NCAA champion Syracuse and NCAA Final Four participant Marquette. In all, the 49ers will play nine games against teams that advanced to the NCAA Tournament.
"It shapes up as the type of schedule that we like to play at Charlotte," said 49ers head coach Bobby Lutz, whose teams have played schedules that rank on average among the 40 toughest in the country over the last five years. "It's the type of schedule that if we take care of business and win the games we need to win, we'll be in position to be in the NCAA Tournament and that's what we're trying to do."

In Lutz' five seasons, which includes three NCAA Tournament trips and one NIT invitation, the 49ers strength of schedule according to the RPI has been rated, chronologically, 17, 33, 72, 22 and 49 (an average of 38.6).

"It's a very challenging conference schedule when you have Cincinnati, East Carolina and Saint Louis as your three mirror games (the 49ers play those teams twice)," Lutz said. "We never have won at Saint Louis or Cincinnati and that speaks for itself. We have a great home conference schedule with the likes of Marquette and Louisville in addition to the other opponents that we have. We have a tough stretch with some away games, but I think the conference schedule is very fair to us and we're looking forward to the challenges that it presents. When you combine (the C-USA schedule) with the non-conference schedule, where our road games are so difficult and we have some quality home games against people who beat us last year, it makes for the type of schedule that we look for at Charlotte."

Of note, five of the 49ers eight home conference games are against teams that went to post-season, last year. In addition, five of the 49ers six non-conference road games are against teams that went to the post-season, last year.

The schedule includes nationally-televised home contests against Louisville (ESPN2) and Cincinnati (ESPN) as well as three games to be televised as part of the ESPN-Regional syndicated package. The 49ers local TV package has not been released, yet.