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News Nuggets, 10.05.04
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Compiled from staff reports and electronic dispatches

Billikens' 15-game TV package includes visit to Minges

Charter Communications and the Saint Louis University department of athletics last week announced their live telecast schedule for the Billikens' basketball tea.

The Charter Communications Information Network (CCIN) package will feature nine road games and six home dates.

"Charter Communications is an outstanding partner in bringing Billiken basketball to our fans," said SLU athletics Cheryl L. Levick in a statement. "Combining Charter's telecasts with our Conference USA syndication package, we're bringing 17 regular season games into the metropolitan St. Louis market."

The schedule begins with the Billikens hosting Hawaii on Sat., Dec. 4. Except for the Paradise Jam in the Virgin Islands in November, all of the Billikens' road contests will be televised.

CCIN will produce the Gonzaga, Southern Illinois, Charlotte, Southern Miss, East Carolina, Houston, USF and Louisville games. The network will pick up ESPN Regional's production of the Iowa contest.

ESPN Plus will televise the games at DePaul and Marquette as part of C-USA's syndication package. ESPN Plus will also televise the first three rounds of the league tournament in Memphis.

Play-by-play announcer Frank Cusumano enters his fourth season describing the action for CCIN. Former Billikens Scott Highmark and Joe Wiley supply the analysis.

Charter Communications, which reaches more than 500,000 households in the St. Louis metropolitan area, will telecast the games on CCIN, a channel received by all its customers with basic or expanded basic programming service.

SAINT LOUIS BASKETBALL LIVE BROADCAST SCHEDULE
Sat., Dec. 4 vs. Hawaii
Sat., Dec. 11 at Gonzaga
Sat., Dec. 18 vs. Dayton
Tue., Dec. 21 at Southern Illinois
Fri., Dec. 31 at Iowa
Sat., Jan. 8 vs. Cincinnati
Sat., Jan. 15 at Charlotte
Wed., Jan. 19 at Southern Miss
Wed., Jan. 26 at East Carolina
Sat., Jan. 29 vs. Marquette
Wed., Feb. 2 at Houston
Wed., Feb. 9 at USF
Sat., Feb. 12 vs. Charlotte
Sun., Feb. 20 at Louisville
Sat., Feb. 26 at DePaul ESPN+
Wed., Mar. 2 vs. Memphis
Sat., Mar. 5 at Marquette ESPN+
Wed., Mar. 9 C-USA Tournament

Compiled from an SLU athletics report.

Loss yanks West Virginia back down to earth

BLACKSBURG — His team's national title hopes dashed, West Virginia coach Rich Rodriguez searched for a positive to take out of the Mountaineers' loss to middling Virginia Tech.

``We're disappointed and it hurts to lose but this is a good ballclub at their place and we didn't play very well and we lost,'' Rodriguez said. ``The most important goal is to always win the Big East and we haven't even started Big East play yet so everything is still out in front of us.''

Well, not everything.

Going into last Saturday's matchup with former Big East conference foe Virginia Tech, the Mountaineers (4-1) were ranked sixth and starting to entertain thoughts of ending the season undefeated.

With only unranked opponents — most from their lightly regarded conference — remaining on the schedule, the possibility of a perfect regular season didn't seem farfetched.

Virginia Tech put a decisive end to those hopes with a 19-13 win.

``People can say we were pretenders or whatever,'' West Virginia quarterback Rasheed Marshall said. ``We know we have a good team.''

Just not one that will be in the mix for the national title.

The win ended WVU's streak of 11 victories in the regular season. The last time the No. 16 Mountaineers had dropped a regular-season game was a 22-20 loss to Miami on Oct. 2, 2003.

The loss also fueled thoughts that the Big East is a subpar football conference following the departure of the Hokies and No. 4 Miami to the Atlantic Coast Conference this offseason.

And it provided some payback for Virginia Tech.

The Hokies had dropped two straight to the Mountaineers, including a 28-7 loss last season that effectively ended their national title aspirations.

``We needed this,'' said Tech running back Mike Imoh, who finished with 115 yards rushing. ``They got us two years in a row, and it was important that we came back and bounced back strong.''

Both teams seemed to have trouble putting aside their former conference rivalry in the last scheduled game between them in Blacksburg. The Hokies and the Mountaineers committed several personal fouls and were penalized a total of 25 times for 251 yards.

The teams are scheduled to meet only once more — next season at Morgantown.

News Nuggets are compiled periodically from staff, ECU, Conference USA and its member schools, and from Associated Press and other reports. Copyright 2004 Bonesville.net and other publishers. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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