LSU, NSU release 2010 basketball schedules

Football season hasn’t even reached its midway point, but basketball is already preparing to begin its new season.

The Nicholls and LSU men and women’s basketball teams have all released their 2010-11 schedules with each team slated to begin in early-to-mid November.

MEN:

The Nicholls men’s team will begin its season in a Nov. 12 tilt against Houston.

Along the way, the Colonels will face non-conference opponents like Houston, LSU, Oklahoma State, Tulane, Mississippi State, Wichita State and Texas A&M.

The Tulane game will be in Stopher Gymnasium. The other contests will be decided on the road.

“Obviously, getting a Conference USA-level school to come to our gym is huge for us,” Nicholls men’s basketball coach J.P. Piper said. “I’m really excited to have Tulane here. I have a lot of respect for their basketball tradition.”

The team the Colonels will feature in the new season will be sprinkled with returnees from last year’s team, including senior Anatoly Bose, who was one of the leading scorers in America last season.

“This is the most talented team we’ve put on the floor since I’ve been here,” Piper said. “Right now, there isn’t a team in the conference that we can’t beat, especially on our own floor.”

Just up the road in Baton Rouge, the LSU men’s basketball team is also facing a difficult non-conference schedule in 2010-11.

LSU will also face Wichita State and Houston, as well as other nationally prominent programs like Memphis and Virginia before taking on Tennessee, Florida and Kentucky in Southeastern Conference play.

Unlike Nicholls, returnees will not be as easy to find on LSU’s roster, as the Tigers have lost their two leading players from last season, Tasmin Mitchell and Bo Spencer.

But the Tigers did rebound with one of the best recruiting classes in America, which has LSU men’s basketball coach Trent Johnson thinking long-term success beginning this season.

“Our schedule this coming season is very challenging,” Johnson said. “With four incoming freshmen, no matter who we play, when we play or where we play, our schedule is very tough and very competitive. That being said, our basketball team is one our fan base can grow with and watching their development over the next couple of years will be exciting.”

The Tigers and Colonels will also run into one another during the season.

The two teams will play an early-season matchup Nov. 16 at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center.

WOMEN:

While the LSU and Nicholls game will be just an ordinary game on the men’s side, it will be extraordinary for the Lady Tigers and Colonels’ women’s teams.

That’s because LSU freshman and Vandebilt Catholic product Theresa Plaisance will be returning to the Tri-parish area.

And she’ll be facing off against her mother’s team while she’s there.

The Lady Tigers and Colonels will square off in Stopher Gymnasium Nov. 30 in a matchup that will pit the younger Plaisance’s Lady Tigers against the team her mother, DoBee coaches, the Colonels.

“I can’t even imagine what that’s going to be like,” DoBee Plaisance said of the matchup last season when Theresa had just signed with LSU. “That’s not going to be an easy night to be a coach.”

For LSU, the Nicholls game will be one of several difficult road games the Lady Tigers will face in the season.

LSU will play 11 games against 2010 NCAA Tournament teams. The Lady Tigers will play games against Northwestern (Illinois), Massachusetts, Seton Hall, Connecticut, UCLA and Tennessee on the road.

“We better be ready to play once the season starts. With teams like Connecticut, it is the kind of schedule our fans will love and it will give us a chance to compete against the best,” LSU women’s basketball coach Van Chancellor said. “If we want to go where we want to go in the NCAA Tournament, we have to get tougher mentally. The way to do that is to play a tough road schedule, especially in non-conference. I love the challenge.”

The Colonels’ schedule isn’t as difficult on paper as LSU’s, but it will still be difficult, as well.

In addition to the matchup with LSU, the Colonels will play Ole Miss, St. John’s and Stony Brook all away from home.

The team will also take part in the Tulane Doubletree Classic in late December.

Here are the schedules for the Nicholls State and LSU men and women’s basketball teams. Bold denotes conference games.