On Friday, the Charlotte 49ers officially released the non-conference portion of the schedule in full, which included the surprise of seeing Kennesaw State visiting Halton Arena on January 18th. Also on Friday, Green Tinted Glasses got a hold of the 49ers’ Atlantic 10 slate, set to be released officially this week. As always, nothing is official until it’s official but this is the schedule as we understand it to be.

Fri 11/11: NC CENTRAL
Tue 11/15: at Central Michigan
Sat 11/19: at Lamar
Tue 11/22: EAST TENNESSEE STATE
Sat 11/26: at Wright State
Sat 12/3: at East Carolina
Tue 12/6: at Radford
Sat 12/10: DAVIDSON
Mon 12/19: COPPIN STATE
Thu 12/22: MIAMI (FL)
Wed 12/28: at Arkansas
Sat 12/31: at Memphis
Wed 1/4: RICHMOND
Sat 1/7: at Saint Joseph’s
Wed 1/11: at Massachusetts
Sat 1/14: SAINT LOUIS
Wed 1/18:  KENNESAW STATE
Sat 1/21: at George Washington
Wed 1/25: TEMPLE
Sat 1/28: XAVIER
Wed 2/1: at La Salle
Sat 2/4: at Fordham
Sat 2/11: RHODE ISLAND
Wed 2/15: at Dayton
Sat 2/18: at Richmond
Wed 2/22: GEORGE WASHINGTON
Sat 2/25: ST. BONAVENTURE
Wed 2/29: DUQUESNE
Sat 3/3: at Xavier

The 2011-12 schedule includes first time Niner opponents in NC Central, Arkansas and Kennesaw State, a historically-significant opponent in Central Michigan, our first victim in the 1977 NCAA Tournament and also the continuation of two bitter, but lopsided, in-state rivalries with Davidson and East Carolina. The 29 game schedule features 14 home games, including Atlantic 10 front runners Xavier, Temple, Richmond and Saint Louis, along with Miami of the ACC, featuring new Head Coach, Jim Larranaga, coach of George Mason’s 2006 Final Four team. Charlotte closes the regular season with three out of four games at home, which could inject a huge dose of mojo into the Niners heading into the Atlantic 10 Tournament (yes, they will qualify for the A10 tournament this year).

Looking into future seasons, we know East Carolina will be playing in Halton Arena the two following seasons with a return to Greenville in ’14-’15. Davidson and Charlotte are set to swap hosting duties for two more seasons, and probably the foreseeable future. Oregon State, Radford and Lamar will be closing out series with Charlotte in Halton Arena in the 2012-13 season. Charlotte will in all likelihood will visit Miami, as the improbability of an ACC team playing a one-game series at Charlotte is 2^2079460347 to one, against. Considering this staff’s propensity to recruit in Georgia, it would not be a shock to see the Niners make a return to Kennesaw State. Memphis is a one-game deal.

Of course, if you want to catch all of these home games (and maybe even meet the GTGers), go ahead and grab some season tickets at the school’s website.