Thursday, September 09, 2010

MACON, Ga. – The Atlantic Sun Conference and Comcast/Charter Sports Southeast (CSS) announced the schedule of games for their popular CSS A-Sun Game of the Week television package, marking the ninth consecutive year of A-Sun men’s basketball being featured in primetime.

Last year, the A-Sun conference season proved to be the most hotly contested race in the country as four schools, Belmont, Campbell, Jacksonville and Lipscomb finished in a tie for the regular-season crown. No other conference featured a four-way tie for the top spot. In March, ETSU, who finished a single game in back of first, emerged as the General Shale Brick Atlantic Sun Champion for a second time.

“Building on another exciting season, the Atlantic Sun and CSS have put together a compelling series of games for our CSS/A-Sun Game of the Week series,” Atlantic Sun Commissioner Ted Gumbart said. “CSS has proven to be a great partner for close to a decade and we look forward to another great season of Atlantic Sun basketball on CSS.”

All 11 member schools will be featured at least once during the seven scheduled weeks of broadcasts. The slate of games opens on the first Friday of 2011, January 7 when Kennesaw State travels to Buies Creek, N.C., for a meeting with one of the league’s four reigning regular-season champions. One week later, the conference’s two-most senior members, Mercer and Stetson meet in DeLand. The two met in a CSS Game of the Week at the Edmunds Center a season ago with the home-standing Hatters topping the Bears.

The two-time General Shale Brick Atlantic Sun Basketball Champion ETSU Buccaneers host Lipscomb on Friday, January 21. The Bisons shared the regular-season crown last year and return Player of the Year Adnan Hodzic. The following Friday Belmont welcomes FGCU to the Curb Event Center. The Eagles swept the season series a year ago, the first two wins for the Eagles against the Bruins.

The February slate of games opens with USC Upstate traveling south to take on Stetson on February 4. The conference’s two postseason participants from a season ago, ETSU (NCAA) and Jacksonville (NIT) meet in Johnson City, Tenn., one week later. The Dolphins picked up the league’s first win in the NIT since 1996 with a thrilling, last-second victory at Arizona State. The Buccaneers have won three straight against the Dolphins and eight of 10 since joining the league in 2005.

The regular-season schedule of broadcasts closes with Mercer traveling to Jacksonville to square off with UNF for a battle of the league's freshest coaches. In his first year leading the Ospreys, Matthew Driscoll directed the team to their highest win total (13) and conference wins (eight) since joining the A-Sun in 2005-06. Bob Hoffman, entering his third year at Mercer, led the Bears to their first General Shale Brick Atlantic Sun Championship title game since 1996.

CSS will carry five games of the 2011 General Shale Brick Atlantic Sun Basketball Championships from Mercer’s University Center. Like it has since the men’s and women’s merged into a single event, CSS will provide wall-to-wall action of Semifinal Friday, airing all four contests on March 4. The women’s semifinals air at noon and 2:30 p.m. with the men’s games set for 6:30 p.m. and 9:00 p.m. The women’s title game on Saturday, March 5 concludes the CSS schedule of games.

"CSS is excited to continue our long standing partnership with the Atlantic Sun in 2010-2011," said Mark Fuhrman, Vice President and General Manager of CSS. “We’re pleased that we can offer our viewers a great selection of A-Sun basketball games again this season.” Matt Stewart and Sonny Smith return as the voices for the broadcasts. The CSS A-Sun Game of the Week highlight the conference’s television package with additional matchups featuring some of the league’s top rivalries are expected to be added to the lineup. Last year, Belmont-Lipscomb and UNF-Jacksonville were featured in the rivalry series. Additionally, a regular-season women’s basketball package should be announced later in the fall. The most current television schedule is always available at www.atlanticsun.org.

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The Atlantic Sun Conference is an 11-member league committed to Building Winners for Life. The A-Sun stands for achievement with integrity in both the academic and athletic arenas, with a focus on the balance between the two for our student-athletes. Headquartered in Macon, Ga., the A-Sun boasts five of the top eight media markets in the Southeast. The A-Sun includes a blend of the most prestigious and dynamic private and public institutions in the region: Belmont University, Campbell University, East Tennessee State University, Florida Gulf Coast University, Jacksonville University, Kennesaw State University, Lipscomb University, Mercer University, University of North Florida, University of South Carolina Upstate and Stetson University.

CSS is a 24-hour sports channel carrying a full slate of college sports programming and can only be found on cable. With over 40 live football games including the SEC, Sun Belt, Conference USA, and Gulf South Conferences, the channel offers a comprehensive sports lineup throughout the year. The channel also offers more than 175 men's and women's live college basketball games and over 60 live baseball games, as well as a comprehensive mix of sports news and in-depth sports analysis geared toward fans in the south.

For more information on CSS, or to find out how you can get CSS on your cable system, log on to www.css-sports.com.