June 10, 2002
CLEVELAND - Half of Cleveland State University men's basketball games in Cleveland during the 2002-03 season will be feature teams that participated in post-season tournament play last season while travel highlights for the Vikings will be a trip Iowa for the BCA Invitational and a visit to Michigan State.
In all, the Vikes could compete with up to 10 post-season teams in the coming year.
In their home opener on Saturday, Nov. 30, the Vikings welcome the University of California-Berkeley to Goodman Arena. The Bears went 23-9 last season and advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament before being bounced by Pittsburgh.
In addition, CSU will play host to three other squads that made an appearance in last year's "Big Dance", including intra-state rival Kent State University, Boston University and league rival, the University of Illinois-Chicago. The Vikes will face off with the Golden Flashes, who advanced to the Elite Eight in March, on Saturday, Dec. 14 as part of a doubleheader with the women, who take on Bowling Green State University that day. America East champion Boston U. comes to Cleveland on Dec. 21 while Horizon League tournament champ UIC makes its return to the city on Feb. 20.
The Vikings also will return to the Rock-N-Roll Shootout at Gund Arena where they will face NIT participant Bowling Green State University on Saturday, Dec. 28. The contest will mark the sixth appearance in the shootout and the second time the Vikings and the Falcons have met in Gund Arena.
Detroit and Butler, also NIT teams, will visit Cleveland as part of the Horizon League slate.
"Without question, this is the toughest schedule in school history with 10 teams that advanced to post-season play, including seven we have to play at home," said Head Coach Rollie Massimino, who enters his seventh year at CSU. "The level of competition early on will prepare us for both league play and hopefully put us in position to have the opportunity to advance to post-season play."
The Vikes open the season by traveling to Iowa City, Iowa for the BCA Invitational, to be hosted by the University of Iowa November 14-16. In addition to the Hawkeyes, who played in the NIT last spring, the field includes NCAA participant Marquette University along with Cornell University, Sacramento State University, Colorado State University, Chicago State University and Furman University.
In early December, the Green & White will travel north to take on another Green & White, the 2001 NCAA Champion Michigan State University. The Vikes play the Spartans, a perennial NCAA squad, on Sunday, Dec. 8 in East Lansing, Mich.
Schools from 12 different conferences in addition to the Horizon League appear on the 29-game schedule. The Big Ten, Atlantic-10, Pac-10, Mid-American, Mid-Continent, America East, Mountain West, Southern, Conference-USA, Mid-Eastern Athletic and Big Sky conferences along with the Ivy League are represented this season.
The Vikes tip off Horizon League action at home this year when they play host to the schools from Wisconsin. The University of Wisconsin-Green Bay visits Cleveland on Thursday, Jan. 2 followed by the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee on Saturday, Jan. 4. UW-Milwaukee will be the host for the 2003 Horizon League Men's Basketball Championship, which will begin with first round play on Friday, March 7 at the U.S. Cellular Arena in Milwaukee, Wis. Quarterfinals will be held Saturday, March 8 while semifinals will take place Sunday, March 9. The Horizon League championship game will be played on Tuesday, March 11 and aired live on ESPN.
Cleveland State returns 10 letterwinners - seniors Andre' Williams and Tahric Gosley, juniors Jermaine Robinson and Pape Badiane and sophomores Walt Chavis, Percell Coles, Pete Ritzema, Tyler Reynolds, John Rabb and Jerrod Calhoun - from last year's squad that finished 12-16 overall. In addition, swingman Jack Higgins, who practiced last season with the Vikes, will see his first action after sitting out last year with a medical redshirt. They will be joined by recent signees Modibo Niakate, a 6-2 guard from Hutchinson (Kan.) Community College, and 6-8 forward Amadou Koundoul from Highland (Ill.) Community College along with transfers Jonathan Burge, a 6-1 guard who played at Cleveland South and Tyler Darr, a 6-0 guard from Coshocton, Ohio.
