August 14, 2008

Aug. 14, 2008

NEW HAVEN, Conn. - A visit to the John J. Lee Amphitheater by Pac-10 foe Stanford highlights the 2008-09 Yale men's basketball schedule. The Bulldogs and Cardinal will open the season on Friday, Nov. 14. The game will be the first for new Stanford coach Johnny Dawkins. The Cardinal finished 28-8 overall last year and advanced to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament.

"Stanford is and has always been the leader when it comes to academics and athletics," said James Jones, The Joel E. Smilow, Class of 1954 Head Coach of Men's Basketball at Yale. "To have them in our building gives us the opportunity to go up against the best in a familiar setting."

The Cardinal is the first of two Pac-10 opponents for the Bulldogs, who play at Oregon State on Nov. 24. Other highlights of the non-conference schedule include Yale's first visit to Alabama on Dec. 28 and home dates with New England rivals Holy Cross and Hartford.

"Our scheduling philosophy never changes," Jones said. "We are committed to playing a very challenging non-conference campaign to help prepare our team for the obstacles that we will face in Ivy League play."

Schedule Notes

The 2008-09 schedule features 11 home games and 17 road contests. Nine of the first 11 games are away from home.

Yale is 0-5 all-time against Stanford. All five games were played in California. The Nov. 14 game will mark the first time a Pac-10 school has played the Bulldogs in New Haven. The last opponent from a major conference to play in Lee Amphitheater was Penn State of the Big Ten in 2000-01. Yale hosted ACC foe Wake Forest at the Arena at Harbor Yard in Bridgeport in 2003-04.

When the Bulldogs face Oregon State on Nov. 24, former Brown head coach Craig Robinson will be guiding the Beavers. Robinson, the brother-in-law of Barack Obama, was 2-2 against Yale in his two seasons at Brown.

Yale plays its first game against Alabama on Dec. 28. The Crimson Tide is coached by Mark Gottfried. Gottfried and James Jones served as assistant coaches to Villanova's Jay Wright for the 2007 USA Basketball Men's Pan American Games Team. Among the players the two coached are Georgetown's Roy Hibbert, Michigan State's Drew Neitzel and Indiana's D.J. White.

A familiar face will be on the sidelines when Yale visits Bryant on Jan. 2. Tim O'Shea, who was named Bryant's head coach on June 23, spent two years as an assistant coach at Yale under Dick Kuchen.

Alabama and Bryant are two of three first-time opponents for the Bulldogs. Yale plays at NJIT on Jan. 7.

The 14-game Ivy League season begins on Jan. 16 at Brown. First-year Brown head coach Jesse Agel and Yale Associate Head Coach Curtis Wilson worked together on Tom Brennan's staff at Vermont.

Five of Yale's first six Ivy League games are on the road.

The Bulldogs play defending Ivy champion Cornell on Jan. 31 in Ithaca and host the Big Red on Feb. 20 at Lee Amphitheater.

Related Links

2008-09 Yale Men's Basketball Schedule

2008-09 Yale Men's Basketball Roster & Bios

Report filed by Tim Bennett, Yale Sports Publicity