The Long Beach State’s 2009-10 men’s basketball schedule has been officially finalized, showcasing what may one of the toughest non-league schedules in school history. We ran a story with most of the schedule before (and you can read Tucker Savoye’s analysis here), but the schedule is officially final, with the addition of CSU Monterey Bay at home on December 12th.  The schedule also is very road-heavy, with 18 games out of LB and only 11 in.  The 49ers will face as many as 14 teams that advanced to postseason play last season, including up to 10 games against teams that played in the 2009 NCAA Tournament.

After opening at home against Alaska Anchorage and at Pepperdine, LBSU will travel to Notre Dame and Green Bay.  The 49ers then return to California to play in the “76 Classic” in Anaheim where they will face West Virginia in the first round before playing either Texas A&M or Clemson in the second round.  The Beach travels to Texas, Kentucky and Duke before opening league play, while also hosting 2009 Western Athletic Conference champion Utah State before Christmas.  

“I think the preseason is meant to improve your basketball team and to challenge them,” head coach Dan Monson said.  “We know we are going to be challenged, now the job I have is to make sure we improve through that challenge.  It’s a fine line between challenging your team and hurting your confidence.”  

“Having so many returning players, we had a challenging preseason last year that I thought paid dividends,” Monson continued. “We started the league 5-0 and I thought our guys had a grasp of what it took to play at a higher level.  I think this will definitely accomplish that with these guys.”

Below is the complete 2009-10 Long Beach State men’s basketball schedule.

Date        Day        Opponent        Time

Nov. 14        Saturday        Alaska Anchorage        4:05 pm

Nov. 17        Tuesday        at Pepperdine        7:00 pm

Nov. 19        Thursday        at Notre Dame        4:30 pm

Nov. 21        Saturday        at Green Bay        11:00 am

Nov. 26        Thursday        vs. West Virginia!        11:00 am

Nov. 27        Friday        vs. Clemson or Texas A&M!        TBA

Nov. 29        Sunday        76 Classic!        TBA

(Butler, Clemson, LBSU, Minnesota, Portland, Texas A&M, UCLA, West Virginia)

Dec. 7        Monday        at Texas        5:00 pm

Dec. 12        Saturday        Cal State Monterey Bay        4:05 pm

Dec. 18        Friday        Utah State        7:05 pm

Dec. 21        Monday        at Loyola Marymount        8:00 pm

Dec. 23        Wednesday        at Kentucky        TBA

Dec. 29        Tuesday        at Duke        4:00 pm

Jan. 2        Saturday        at UC Riverside*        7:00 pm

Jan. 7        Thursday        at Cal State Fullerton*        7:05 pm

Jan. 9        Saturday        UC Irvine*        4:30 pm

Jan. 14        Thursday        UC Santa Barbara*        7:05 pm

Jan. 16        Saturday        Cal Poly*        4:05 pm

Jan. 21        Thursday        at UC Irvine*        7:35 pm

Jan. 28        Thursday        at Cal State Northridge*        7:05 pm

Jan. 30        Saturday        UC Davis*        4:05 pm

Feb. 4        Thursday        Cal State Fullerton*        7:05 pm

Feb. 6        Saturday        Cal State Northridge*        4:05 pm

Feb. 11        Thursday        at Cal Poly*        TBA

Feb. 13        Saturday        at UC Santa Barbara*        7:05 pm

Feb. 17        Wednesday        Pacific*        7:05 pm

Feb. 20        Saturday        at BracketBuster        TBA

Feb. 25        Thursday        at UC Davis*        7:00 pm

Feb. 27        Saturday        at Pacific*        7:05 pm

March 6        Saturday        UC Riverside*        4:05 pm

Home games in Bold

!76 Classic (Anaheim, Calif.)/*Big West Conference Game/All Times Pacific

From LBSU reports