Hoosiers announce schedule for upcoming 2004-05 season

The IU men's basketball 2004-05 schedule was released Wednesday, highlighted by a non-conference schedule including a Dec. 1 home game vs. North Carolina in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge and a Dec. 4 visit to Storrs, Conn., to take on the defending national champion Connecticut Huskies. \nFollowing the UConn game, IU continues with rivals Notre Dame in Bloomington and then travels south to take on Kentucky in the 48th edition of the Border War in Louisville's Freedom Hall. The Hoosiers end the most challenging part of their non-league lineup with a trip west to tangle with Missouri and a home date with Charlotte. The first Big Ten tilt is a Jan. 5 trip to Northwestern.\nIU coach Mike Davis said the 2004-05 edition of the Hoosiers is young, but talented. IU finished 14-15 last season and didn't make the NCAA tournament for the first time since 1985.\n"We have all learned a lot from last season, which has made us hungry to get back at it this year," Davis said in a statement. "Our summer workout program has been as intense and competitive since I have been here. All of this is only going to help us."\nLast season, IU was the only team in the country to face six-straight 2003 NCAA Tournament teams. This year's schedule boasts a bevy of tough competition as well and a similar stretch beginning when North Carolina comes to town in the fifth year of the ACC/Big Ten Challenge. IU is 2-1 in Challenge games after being trounced last season by Wake Forest 100-67. North Carolina is 1-3, including a 79-66 loss to IU in 2001 in Chapel Hill.\nThis year's Challenge game will be the first in Assembly Hall and will feature two of college basketball's most storied programs. Davis said the Tar Heels are one of the most talented teams in America.\n"We have a lot of respect for Coach (Roy) Williams and the whole North Carolina program," Davis said. "Raymond Felton, Sean May and Rashad McCants are, without a doubt, three of the best players in the country. And then, you have (Jawad) Williams, Melvin Scott and Jackie Manuel, along with the guys that they signed. They are going to be really good."\nWhile UConn lost NBA lottery picks Emeka Okafor (Charlotte) and Ben Gordon (Chicago), they still boast frontcourt players Charlie Villanueva and Josh Boone and a National Championship trophy. This year's contest begins a four-year series with the Huskies. UConn will visit Bloomington next season before two neutral site games in Hartford, Conn., and Indianapolis the next two years.\nThe Hoosiers still have one more spot available in its non-league schedule.\nFollowing the non-conference season, IU will play 16 Big Ten games opening and closing the conference season with Northwestern before the Big Ten Tournament in Chicago's United Center March 10-13. IU struggled in Big Ten play last season, posting a 7-9 league record. \nIU faces Michigan, Minnesota, Northwestern, Ohio State, Purdue and Wisconsin both home and away. Michigan State and Penn State just come to Bloomington, while IU travels to Illinois and Iowa. The Illini and the Hawkeyes do not visit Bloomington in the '04-'05 campaign.