Television Schedule - 9/10/09

DENVER - FSN Rocky Mountain announced the television schedule for Denver men's basketball today, and six of the 16 DU home games will be broadcast on the network.

The Pioneers' games against Montana, Wyoming, Florida International, Seattle, Western Kentucky and Louisiana-Lafayette will be aired. That's one more on the network than last season, which plays into head coach Joe Scott's plan, as he explained to me this afternoon while discussing the FSN schedule.

"A major part of our plan to build a sustainable winning program is to increase the exposure of the Denver basketball program," Scott said. "Adding more home games on television is critical to the development of our program. Hopefully as we continue to improve, we will get more and more of that exposure, which will pay huge dividends down the road. We are fortunate to have a good partner in FSN Rocky Mountain, and hopefully Denver basketball's relationship with them will continue to grow."

Last year, FSN broadcasted some of Denver's most exciting games, including an overtime battle with Northern Colorado and nail biting victories against Colorado State, Western Kentucky, South Alabama and the Ragin' Cajuns. Four of those five games were within five points, and the CSU game was stretched out with free throws at the end. Add those to the double overtime, one-point heartbreaker at Louisiana-Lafayette, which was broadcast on Cox Sports Television, and the Pioneers provided some of the most exciting college basketball on television last season.

Although the schedule was not quite ready to release, Scott was on FSN Rocky Mountain last week during a Colorado Rockies game discussing this year's team with Drew Goodman and George Frazier, a pair of baseball guys who know quite a bit about basketball, too. Goodman, in fact, has called play-by-play for a few Pioneers games in the past and has been spotted in Magness Arena with his kids.

Goodman and Frazier were excited about watching the Pioneers this season, especially since the top eight players - along with 98 percent of the scoring and rebounding - are returning, including All-Sun Belt Conference First Team selection Nate Rohnert.

Select-a-Seat: Anyone considering men's basketball season tickets can head down to Magness Arena tomorrow to check out potential seat locations at Select-a-Seat. DU ticket representatives will be available to answer questions and secure seats for the 2009-10 season.

Season tickets start at just $96 for all 16 games or $64 for half season packages.

Welcome Back: The University welcomed all new freshmen to campus this week for Discoveries, Denver's orientation week. Although the newcomers to the basketball team took summer classes and got a sneak preview, all of them have been given a more in depth look at DU.

The upperclassmen are starting to filter back, as well. In fact, both Hallam brothers were on the court in Magness Arena shooting baskets this afternoon.