Wolves Add Hoop Game With Willamette

Western Oregon to tackle four Division I schools and local rivals in 2006-07.

Salem-News.com

SALEM - Add the Willamette Bearcats to Western Oregon’s 2006-07 men’s basketball slate.

Western Oregon University men’s basketball coach Craig Stanger has announced his schedule, a slate that features four NCAA Division I opponents, some longtime local rivals and the always tough Great Northwest Athletic Conference.

The contest with valley rival Willamette, on December 19th at WOU, was added recently to wrap up the schedule. “Gordy's (Willamette coach Gordie James) programs are always solid and we are looking forward to playing them again.” The Wolves and Bearcats last met in 2003, with WOU taking a 69-65 victory. Willamette holds a slight edge in the all-time series, 43-42.

The Wolves will also host the Red Lion Hotels Classic, which this year includes perennial national power North Dakota, who is in the process of moving to Division I.

“As the only NCAA Division II university in the state of Oregon, we want to be able to play the best teams that we can schedule,” said Stanger, who will begin his second season as the Wolves leader. “We want to be able to provide our players with the opportunity to play against top programs.”

This will be the first time in school history that WOU has had four division I teams on its schedule. The first two of those contests are exhibition games—Nov. 2nd at Boise State and Nov. 4th at Portland State, while the other two are regular season contests—Dec. 11th at Oregon State and Dec. 22 at Brigham Young.

The Wolves will also play traditional non-league rivals Corban, Concordia and Southern Oregon, and will play in tournaments at Chico State and Humboldt State.

“I think that our schedule offers a good mix of playing against good Division I and II schools, along with games against local teams,” Stanger added. “All of this will help us when we begin play in January in one of the toughest Division II conferences (GNAC) in the country.”

WOU was 9-18 in Stanger’s first year at the helm, but he welcomes back four starters in 2006-07 to go with a very solid recruiting class. “We should be a much better team this coming year after an excellent recruiting year,” Stanger confirmed. “We will have good size, more depth and be much improved.”

The Wolves season will begin with the exhibition game at Boise State on Nov. 2nd. WOU’s first regular season games will be Nov. 24-25 in Chico, Calif. against the host Wildcats and Humboldt State.

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