UNCGFans.com

Just on paper, this is what I see:

Date Site Time
Nov. 13 at Duke TBA (L)
Nov. 17 at Virginia Tech TBA (L)
Nov. 20 CLEMSON 7 p.m. (L)
Nov. 24 at USC Upstate TBA (W)
Nov. 28 EAST CAROLINA 4 p.m. (W)
Dec. 5 *at Samford 2 p.m. (L)
Dec. 7 *COLLEGE OF CHARLESTON 7 p.m. (W)
Dec. 13 PRINCETON 1 p.m. (W)
Dec. 18 at Akron TBA (L)
Dec. 21 at Richmond TBA (L)
Dec. 28 WAKE FOREST 7 p.m. (L)
Dec. 31 N.C. STATE 6 p.m. (W)
Jan. 3 MARYLAND 2 p.m. (L)
Jan. 7 *WOFFORD 7 p.m. (W)
Jan. 9 *FURMAN 4 p.m. (W)
Jan. 11 *at Chattanooga TBA (L)
Jan. 14 *at Western Carolina TBA (W)
Jan. 16 *at Appalachian State TBA (L)
Jan. 21 *CHATTANOOGA 7 p.m. (W)
Jan. 23 *SAMFORD 4 p.m. (W)
Jan. 28 *ELON 7 p.m. (W)
Feb. 4 *at Furman TBA (W)
Feb. 6 *at Wofford TBA (W)
Feb. 8 *APPALACHIAN STATE 7 p.m. (W)
Feb. 15 *WESTERN CAROLINA 7 p.m. (W)
Feb. 18 *at Elon TBA (L)
Feb. 20 *at The Citadel TBA (L)
Feb. 25 *at Davidson TBA (L)
March 1 *GEORGIA SOUTHERN 7 p.m (W)


15-13 overall if all things go as planned and everyone worked really hard over the summer. I will say that 12-16 would be a huge year over year improvement for this squad from the previous year.

Here's what I think ...

Date Site Time
Nov. 13 at Duke TBA (L)
Nov. 17 at Virginia Tech TBA (L)
Nov. 20 CLEMSON 7 p.m. (L)
Nov. 24 at USC Upstate TBA (W)
Nov. 28 EAST CAROLINA 4 p.m. (L)
Dec. 5 *at Samford 2 p.m. (L)
Dec. 7 *COLLEGE OF CHARLESTON 7 p.m. (L)
Dec. 13 PRINCETON 1 p.m. (W)
Dec. 18 at Akron TBA (L)
Dec. 21 at Richmond TBA (L)
Dec. 28 WAKE FOREST 7 p.m. (L)
Dec. 31 N.C. STATE 6 p.m. (W)
Jan. 3 MARYLAND 2 p.m. (L)
Jan. 7 *WOFFORD 7 p.m. (W)
Jan. 9 *FURMAN 4 p.m. (W)
Jan. 11 *at Chattanooga TBA (L)
Jan. 14 *at Western Carolina TBA (L)
Jan. 16 *at Appalachian State TBA (W)
Jan. 21 *CHATTANOOGA 7 p.m. (W)
Jan. 23 *SAMFORD 4 p.m. (L)
Jan. 28 *ELON 7 p.m. (W)
Feb. 4 *at Furman TBA (W)
Feb. 6 *at Wofford TBA (L)
Feb. 8 *APPALACHIAN STATE 7 p.m. (W)
Feb. 15 *WESTERN CAROLINA 7 p.m. (W)
Feb. 18 *at Elon TBA (W)
Feb. 20 *at The Citadel TBA (L)
Feb. 25 *at Davidson TBA (L)
March 1 *GEORGIA SOUTHERN 7 p.m (W)

That works out to 13-16 (10-8 ). That's a lot of improvement, especially with that early OOC schedule.

No A&T?

I wonder what happened?

Basically what happened was that A&T had scheduling conflicts and couldn't work it out with our limited amount of availiability. UNCG was having a hard enough time trying to work out the schedule with the already jammed OOC schedule so they didn't have a lot of room to work with. So at the end of the day A&T couldn't be worked in

That's a shame. Our two schools should be playing each other every year.

I absolutely agree.

However, reading the forums @ BDV, I think some of the A&T fanbase doesn't exactly agree. Why do they not like the series being restarted?

Dash, I was trying to find where you were talking about as far as the BDV forum. What kind of comments were said? Do you have a link for me? You got me interested in wanting to know what is being said

http://bluedeathvalley.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=band&action=display&thread=4990

From a couple of months ago. Their board seems to be split about wanting to play us.

I think most A&T fans were upset with what seemed like UNCG's refusal to do a home and home series. I think UNCG will have to agree to play in the Dawg Pound every other year in order for this series to re-start.

Other than the obvious point of having a home court advantage, I still don't see where a home and home (when G was playing at Fleming) would be beneficial to either school. In the coliseum, both UNCG and A&T could sell the event as a home game with season ticket packages. There would be 10k there every year. I can see where A&T would look at G as trying to benefit from a bigger Aggie fanbase, but every other year A&T would get to benefit too. I could only guess at this (since I don't know what kind of cut the GC would want), but I think it would make more sense to have a game at the GC with 10k than a game in Corbett with 5k.

Some posters seemed to suggest some racial issues, but I think I disproved that pointing out that G had played recent series' with other HBCU's. There may be some personal history that I don't know about. I also think that some A&T fans are lumping G in with an overall dislike of the N&R.

Whether or not a home and home (GC & Corbett) happens now I think depends on how hard the leadership at A&T wants to demand that and how much G thinks it's worth.

I don't care if we want our home game to be held at the downtown YMCA. If UNCG is serious about renewing a deal with A&T then they should be willing to come wherever our home venue is.

BTW: I'm not sure if A&T and UNCG ever drew 10,000 fans to the GC back in the 90s. That number might be unrealistic in the short term.

I believe that kind of crowd is very realistic. I know u can try and compare the past but in reality uncg has not been division 1 that long so to compare what the games would be like now to those from the 90's doesn't really work. Even the number of students alone is very different from the 90's.

1996 was one of the lower attended years and they had over 7500 at that game (newspaper article synapsis below). The attendance was lower because A&T won every meeting from 1989 until 1994-95 and most of those rather handily.

In 1994-95 over 9000 watched UNCG light up A&T for a 73-55 win. UNCG won again in 95-96 and then again in 96-97 and again in 97-98 and the A&T kids and alums started to lose interest, or at least it seemed.

A&T did manage small margin wins in 98-99 and 99-00 but it wasn't enough to keep the interest as G won the matchup in 2000-01 and 01-02 (much closer then as well).

What we need is a good UNCG team and a good A&T team going head to head in the GSO Coliseum. G would be stupid to play at Corbett, where we'd get no tickets and then open up the GSO Coliseum to seat all of the A&T fans that want tickets. It'd be like playing an away game and then a neutral site game. G would never get a home court advantage.



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The News & Record (Piedmont Triad, NC), December 5th, 1996


Byline: JOHN A. NAGY

If you were to choose an announcer for this game, it might be the guy who does the commercials for monster truck rallies.

SATURDAY NIGHT!!!! GET READY FOR THE MAINNNNNN EVENNNNNNT!!!

UNCG vs. N.C. A&T.

West Market Street vs. East Market Street.

"Building a tradition of excellence" vs. "A tradition of excellence."

Cast it however you wish. Saturday night's fifth annual Wrangler/Nat Greene Basketball Classic is about one thing: the right to be called Greensboro's best college basketball team.


===============================================================

The News & Record (Piedmont Triad, NC), December 8th, 1996


Byline: BRIAN TOMLIN Special to the News & Record

UNCG 65

N.C. A&T 62


The Wrangler/Nat Greene Basketball Classic is, as anyone will tell you, much more than just a basketball game between N.C. A&T and UNCG.

It is East Market Street against West Market Street. It is two schools that, besides being in the same town and the same state university system, have practically nothing in common.

It is, in other words, all about loyalty - and that loyalty was surely tested in UNCG's 65-62 victory Saturday night.

The 7,531 fans witnessed

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If G vs. Curry can draw 11,000; G vs. A&T with two decent squads and similar advertising can draw 12K. Put it on a week night not close to exams when the kids are at school (late January); advertise it like the Davidson game and see what happens.

This game was a prize fight in the mid 90s. It was dunking and flexing and going nuts in the stands. Eric Cuthrell dunked on a guy and grabbed his stuff and hung on the rim and got T'd up for it. It was A&T dudes in the stands picking fights and then getting carried out by police singing "What's the best way to go? Black Cop". It was drinking before the game and sneakin it in during the game (for a lot of folks).

It was loud and it was fun (for the winning team). I really wish we could have kept it up and would start it again.

This is off-topic, but this sort of reminds of something I read about why Georgetown and Maryland don't play one another in basketball.

I'm with everybody else in that I would like to see us play A&T on a yearly basis. I would be in favor of G going over to Corbett if I knew that when A&T came to the Coliseum, it wouldn't be a partisan-Aggie crowd. It's not A&T's fault that they have more supporters than we do, but now that we have a chancellor that actually cares about athletics, that could change.