January 28, 1999
Release: Upon Receipt

FURMAN CANCELS SATURDAY BASKETBALL
GAME AGAINST THE CITADEL

GREENVILLE -- The Furman University men's basketball team will cancel its game against The Citadel on Saturday, January 29 in order to not exceed the NCAA's limitation on the number of allowable contests, it was announced today.

Furman had scheduled 29 games for the 1999-2000 season. The NCAA allows 28 games to be played during the regular year.

The decision on canceling tomorrow's game was made the Southern Conference's Executive Committee acting on a recommendation by the league's basketball committee. The Men's Basketball Committee includes Larry Travis, athletics director at Western Carolina University; Dr. William Moore, faculty athletic representative at the College of Charleston; Henry Dickerson, the head men's basketball coach at Chattanooga; Jim Murphy, athletics director at Davidson; Dr. Alan Hauser, faculty athletic representative at Appalachian State; and Walt Nadzak, athletics director at The Citadel who sat in on the proceedings for Dr. John Block, athletics director at Furman, who was excused from the decision.

When the seeds are set for the Southern Conference tournament, which begins March 2 in Greenville, SC, The Citadel will have the cancelled game figured into its won-lost record as a win. Furman will have the cancelled game computed as a loss. No win or loss will appear on either team's overall or conference record.

"The mistake (in scheduling) was our fault, and this arrangement, in my opinion, is very fair," said Furman vice president for intercollegiate athletics Dr. John M. Block.

"I'm not happy about having to take away a game from our schedule, but we made an honest mistake and now we have to pay for it and move on," said Furman head coach Larry Davis.

"The committee chose to cancel a home game because it did not want to penalize another school from a financial standpoint," said Southern Conference Commissioner Alfred White. "The committee tried to select a game that would have the least amount of impact on the conference race and the tournament seedings."

Furman, which is currently 8-13 on the season and 1-6 in Southern Conference South Division play, returns to action Monday when it takes on UNC Greensboro in Greensboro, N.C. Game time is set for 7:30 p.m.