All SEC games to be televised: A minimum of 18 home games, including six against in-state rivals and at least two in the Dick’s Sporting Goods NIT Season Tip-Off, highlight the 2009-10 LSU men’s basketball schedule. In addition, all 16 of the Tigers’ SEC games will be televised for the first time in history. LSU opens the season against Louisiana-Monroe on Nov. 13. The Tigers also play instate rivals Louisiana-Lafayette (Dec. 1), Northwestern State (Dec. 12), Southeastern Louisiana (Dec. 14), Nicholls State (Dec. 17) and McNeese State (Jan. 4); they have 74 consecutive games against state teams. LSU plays host to the South Region of the preseason NIT on Nov. 16-17, facing Indiana State in the first round. Western Kentucky and Milwaukee are the other teams in the region. The winners and losers meet in the second round, with the undefeated team advancing to the semifinals at Madison Square Garden in New York. Ten games will be shown on the new SEC Network, starting with the Jan. 13 game at South Carolina. Two games will be part of ESPN’s Thursday night SEC package (vs. Tennessee on Feb. 4 and at Ole Miss on March 4). The remaining games will be televised on ESPN or ESPN2; the network will be announced later.
LSU’s non-conference home schedule is highlighted by games against Rice (Dec. 19) and Utah (Jan. 2), and the road schedule features games against Washington State in Seattle (Dec. 22) and Xavier (Dec. 29). The Tigers won the SEC’s regular-season title last season, their first under Coach Trent Johnson, and advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament, losing to eventual national champion North Carolina. For a look at LSU’s 2009-10 schedule, click here.
Learn from the best: Aaron Peirsol, who won five Olympic gold medals in the backstroke, will give an informational clinic at Crawfish Aquatics starting at noon Sept. 19. Peirsol got the gold in three backstroke events at the 2004 games in Athens and won two gold medals and a silver at the Beijing Olympics in 2008. He currently holds the world record in the 100- and 200-meter backstroke. Peirsol will be on hand to give swimming advice, answer questions and sign autographs.
Show your Tiger spirit: A new Web site has been set up to raise money to outfit LSU fans with gold pom-poms for road football games. WAFB-TV’s Andre Moreau, who is leading the effort, says the initial goal of getting 5,000 pom-poms has been met. Two thousand will be handed out to LSU fans that travel to Seattle for the Sept. 5 game against Washington. Moreau says he’s hoping to get backing from fans and alumni groups to buy pom-poms for some of the big road games this season, such as the Tigers’ trips to Ole Miss and Alabama. The pom-poms will make LSU fans more visible in opposing stadiums, especially to the TV cameras. To make a donation, click here.
Goodbye wins: The NCAA has stripped the Memphis men’s basketball team of every victory in its 38-win season under coach John Calipari that ended in the national title game in 2008, saying the school used an ineligible player. The announcement came 16 months after the Tigers lost to Kansas in the championship game following the 2007-08 season. School officials were expected to discuss the report later today. It is the second time both Memphis and Calipari had to vacate Final Four seasons. The Tigers were stripped of their 1985 appearance and Calipari’s Massachusetts team lost its 1996 berth.
Calipari is now the head coach at Kentucky, where officials have voiced support for him despite the Memphis scandal. The NCAA did not identify the player by name, though earlier descriptions of him lead to the conclusion it could only be current Chicago Bulls star Derrick Rose. He was taken by the Bulls as the No. 1 pick in the 2008 draft and went on to win the NBA rookie of the year award. The player was accused of having another person take his SAT exam so he would be eligible as a freshman. Memphis argued it did not have enough information to substantiate the allegations in November 2007 and cleared him to play.
