Head Coach Chuck Moore Releases 2017-18 Richard Bland Schedule
2017-18 Men's Basketball Schedule
SOUTH PRINCE GEORGE, Va. -- Richard Bland College fifth-year men's basketball head coach Chuck Moore has announced his program's 29-game schedule for the upcoming 2017-18 season. The campaign features a 20-game Region X (10) Conference regular season, 14 home games in Statesman Hall and contests against four NJCAA Division I schools. The Statesmen, who finished fourth at last year's NJCAA Division II National Tournament, will open at home against DI Clinton (S.C.) on Wednesday, November 1, at 7 p.m.
"This schedule is a very challenging, but fun schedule in that we're going to be tested early," said Moore. "Having four Division I non-conference opponents is going to show our guys the level that they can play. It shows that we want to play against the best because we want to be the best."
The other three Division I games include a home contest versus Cape Fear (N.C.) on Nov. 15 at 6 p.m., a neutral-site game against Monroe (N.Y.) College on Nov. 18 at 1 p.m. in Baltimore, Maryland, as well as a road contest at USC Salkehatchie on January 6 at 2 p.m. in Allendale, South Carolina.
"Playing these Division I games will show our guys what the expectation level is and that this is the level that we want to play," explained Moore. "Monroe out of New York is a team we lost to by 12 points last year at their place, and Salkehatchie is great, a program that has always moved players on to four-year schools."
Richard Bland will host 10 Region games, beginning with Pitt (N.C.) on Nov. 29 at 7 p.m., followed by league home contests against rival Louisburg (N.C.) on Jan. 17 at 7 p.m., Wake Tech (N.C.) on Jan. 20 at 3 p.m., in-state rival Patrick Henry on Jan. 24 at 7 p.m., Guilford Tech (N.C.) on Jan. 27 at 3 p.m., Lenoir (N.C.) on Jan. 28 at 3 p.m., Catawba Valley (N.C.) on February 10 at 3 p.m., Bryant & Stratton on Feb. 21 at 7 p.m., Fayetteville Tech (N.C.) on Feb. 23 at 7 p.m. and Vance-Granville (N.C.) on Feb. 25 at 3 p.m.
The Statesmen have 10 Region road games, beginning at Vance-Granville on Nov. 20 at 7 p.m., followed by league away contests at Catawba Valley on December 2 at 3 p.m., Guilford Tech on Dec. 10 at 2 p.m., Fayetteville Tech on Dec. 13 at 7 p.m., Pitt on Jan. 10 at 7 p.m., Lenoir on Jan. 13 at 3 p.m., Bryant & Stratton on Jan. 31 at 7 p.m., Louisburg on Feb. 7 at 7 p.m., Patrick Henry on Feb. 14 at 7 p.m. and Wake Tech on Feb. 17 at 4 p.m.
"Region 10 is one of the toughest conferences in the United States for Division II," stated Moore. "It showed last year with Louisburg making it to the national championship and we made it to the Final Four, but it doesn't mean that the rest of our conference is weak. None of the games will be easy … it's always tough against Louisburg, Patrick Henry is always good … Catawba Valley, Pitt … those are usually the top half of the conference. It's always an exciting and challenging time whenever you play a conference opponent because the regular season champion gets an automatic bid to the national tournament."
Additional non-region home games include Southern Maryland on Nov. 10 at 7 p.m. and CCBC Catonsville (Md.) on Dec. 15 at 6 p.m. Other non-region contests away from home include CCBC Dundalk (Md.) on Nov. 4 at 4 p.m. and Northern Virginia on Nov. 8 at 6 p.m., along with a neutral-site game against Monroe (N.Y.) Community College on Nov. 17 at 6 p.m. in Baltimore, Maryland.
"Our non-conference schedule is as tough as we can make it," said Moore. "The Maryland teams are always tough and scrappy. If you go up there, you never know what you are going to get and the environment is always challenging, but we also have a couple of them come here, so it's good to have our home crowd. We know that we have to bring our best game against them. Our non-conference schedule will get us ready for our conference teams."
Richard Bland will once-again host the first round and quarterfinals of the Region 10 Conference Tournament on March 3-4 in Statesman Hall.
"It's great to play at home in the tournament and I think we put on a good show," said Moore. "We get our home crowd and it's definitely an advantage, so we're willing to host these games and take advantage of it."
The Region 10 semifinals and championship will be played on March 9-10 at Sandhills Community College in Pinehurst, North Carolina. The NJCAA Division II National Tournament will be played on March 20-24 at the Mary Miller Center on the campus of Danville Area Community College in Danville, Illinois.
Richard Bland has attained an outstanding four-year record of 104-31 (.770) since men's basketball was reinstated at the College in 2013, following a 20-year hiatus. The Statesmen are an even more impressive 51-8 (.864) at home over the past four seasons under Coach Moore, who led the program to an overall record of 30-6 during 2016-17, including the Region X Tournament Championship. Richard Bland won the 2014-15 NJCAA Division II National Championship while compiling a school-record of 32-4. A return trip to Illinois again this year would be the program's third in four years.
"It's an expectation that we're going to be playing out in Danville," added Moore. "We don't let our players think anything less than that. We know that our goal is to win our conference, qualify for Danville and go out there and make some noise. It's definitely a goal and expectation for our program each and every year, and we couldn't do it without great players and the great coaching staff that I have here at Richard Bland."