Head Men's Basketball Coach Page Moir proudly announces the 2015-16 schedule announced this week.  They will be playing in four regular season tournaments, three in November to start the year.
 
"We are looking forward to 2015-16 with tremendous excitement, and just a touch of reflection," said 27-year ODAC coaching veteran Page Moir. "Our last season with the Bast Center as home to Maroon Basketball is upon us. We are all looking forward to the opening of the Cregger Center in the fall of 2016. Many institutions talk about having some the finest facilities in the nation, but in our case, that statement is going be true."
 
Roanoke will open the season at the Penn State-Harrisburg Tip-Off Tournament on Nov. 14-15.  The season-opening weekend will feature the tournament-host, PSH, Rutgers-Camden and Lebanon Valley (PA).  Rutgers-Camden posted the most wins since 2001-02 and advanced to the ECAC Metro Region Quarterfinals last season.  It was the Scarlet Raptors first post-season appearance in program-history.  Lebanon Valley, the 1994 NCAA Div. III National Champions, have been to the post-season eight times in its storied history.  The Dutchmen posted their best record since 2011-12, and joins Roanoke College in an elite group of schools with over 1,000 program wins.
 
The next weekend, Roanoke will host the Dick Leftwitch V-Foundation Classic Nov. 21-22.  It will feature Dallas, St. Joseph's-Brooklyn and Ferrum in a fundraising tournament for cancer research.  The Univ. of Dallas produced an 18-9 record, a six-win improvement from the previous year and tied the school-record as well.  St. Joseph's-Brooklyn (18-10) finished with its third-straight winning season, including its second-straight year with 18 victories.
 
The Maroons will stay at home and play host in the first annual Turkey Weekend Classic Nov. 28-29 at the Bast Center.  Their opponents will be Goucher (MD), PSU-New Kensington and Mt. Aloysius.  Tom Rose will enter his first year as head coach at Goucher, while PSUK finished 10-11 last season, a three-win improvement from the previous year.
 
"We are hosting three tournaments that feature both long-time rivals and opponents we have never played," Moir said.  "We want to make this another memorable chapter, with six non-conference games.  It's going to be a great swan song for Bast."
 
In December, the men have three games to round out the 2015 portion of their schedule.  They will host Eastern Mennonite (12/2) and Shenandoah on Dec. 10 before traveling to Maryland to take on Frostburg St. on Dec. 20 before the holiday break.  The Royals finished 17-10 and placed fourth in the ODAC, while Shenandoah enters its fourth year as a member of the ODAC.  Frostburg St. had a seven-win improvement from the previous season.
 
Roanoke will round out non-conference play on Jan. 2-3 as they host the Creger Classic at the Bast Center.  The participants will be Kenyon (OH), Montclair State (NJ) and McDaniel (MD).  McDaniel has enjoyed three-straight winning seasons, while second-year coach Daren Rowe will lead Montclair St. into Salem.  Montclair St. is a familiar foe to Roanoke, as they faced each other in the 1981 and 1982 NCAA Regionals.  This will be the second meeting ever against Kenyon.
 
Washington and Lee, Virginia Wesleyan, Hampden-Sydney and Randolph-Macon and Shenandoah will be on Roanoke's slate twice in 2015-16.  The Generals placed seventh in the ODAC and defeated the Maroons three times last winter.  The Marlins (27-6) finished #9 in the NCAA Div. III poll and was runner-up in the ODAC Tournament.  The Tigers, who made a trip to the NCAA Tournament in 2013, finished 16-11 last season.  The Yellow Jackets won both the ODAC regular season and tournament titles and advanced to the NCAA Tournament Quarterfinals with a 28-3 record.
 
Rounding out the conference games in 2016 are at Emory & Henry (1/20), vs. Randolph (1/27), at Guilford (2/3), Bridgewater (2/13) and at Lynchburg on Feb. 17.  David Willson enters his third season with the Wasps, as he has defeated the Maroons in his first two seasons.  Randolph has been in back-to-back ODAC Championship games (2011-12) and earned its first trip to the NCAA Tournament in 2013.  Bridgewater will be led by new head coach Shawn Postiglione, while Guilford finished 18-9 last winter.  Lynchburg is led by RC Alum Hilliary Scott '94, who had guided the Hornets to four-straight seasons with at least 15 wins, the best four-year mark in nearly 40 years.
 
"We want to send the Bast Center out right," said Moir, who recently served as NABC President. "Playing in the ODAC already provides us a challenging home schedule."