Hickory star verbally commits to women's basketball

Hillary Sigmon, a 6-0 guard from Hickory High, has verbally committed to Charlotte's women's basketball team.

Sigmon averaged 19 points, 7 rebounds, 4.5 steals and 5 assists as a junior for the Red Tornadoes last season. Hickory is 79-9 in her three seasons. She also was a conference MVP and league tournament MVP last season.

49ers to play George Mason in Charleston

The 49ers' men's basketball team will play George Mason in the first round of the Charleston Classic Nov. 18-21. The 49ers' potential opponent in their next game would be N.C. State, which plays East Carolina in the opening round.

The tournament's bracket is expected to be released on Monday. The final two teams in the eight-team field -- Coastal Carolina and USC Upstate -- will also be officially announced then.

The other teams in the field are Georgetown and Wofford.

George Mason was 17-15 last season and lost in the first round of the CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament to Fairfield. The Patriots have one of the top players in the Colonial Athletic Association in guard Cam Long.

Fall baseball practice opens today

-- The 49ers' baseball team opens fall practice today at 1:30 p.m, going again Saturday at noon and Sunday at 5 p.m.

Charlotte is coming off a 39-17 record (20-7 in the Atlantic 10). The 49ers tied school records last season with 17 consecutive home victories and 29 home victories overall. They return players like pitcher Corey Roberts and infielder Justin Roland, who both made All-American teams last season.

The 49ers' pro scout day is Oct. 12 and alumni day is Oct. 23.

-- We'll probably have news over the next few days about which two teams will fill out the Charleston Classic -- the tournament the 49ers' men's basketball team is playing in November --as well as who Charlotte's first-round opponent will be.

-- The 49ers volleyball team hosts three matches today and Saturday. Although it's called the Hilton University Place Classic, it should be called the Ampersand Classic. Charlotte's opponents are William & Mary, N.C. A&T and Alabama A&M.

-- The men's soccer team is playing in a tournament in Birmingham, Ala., against Alabama-Birmingham tonight and Memphis on Saturday.

-- The women are at UNC Greensboro today and home to UNC Wilmington on Sunday. Coach John Cullen's team (3-1) then plays six straight on the road. They're not home again until Oct. 6 against St. Bonaventure.

Men's basketball schedule released

Three games against teams from college basketball's "power" conferences, as well as a return to their rivalry against Davidson, highlight the Charlotte 49ers' 2010-11 men's basketball schedule.

Charlotte opens its season Nov. 13 at Halton Arena against S.C. State. The following week it will play in the Charleston Classic, which includes teams such as N.C. State and Georgetown. Then the 49ers will play at the Pac-10's Oregon State on Nov. 24, against the SEC's Tennessee at Bobcats Arena on Dec. 17 and at the ACC's Georgia Tech on Jan. 2.

Charlotte plays Davidson for the first time since 2007 at the Wildcats' Belk Arena on Dec. 11.
Charlotte opens its Atlantic 10 season Jan 5 at Richmond.

"The schedule is challenging with teams like Tennessee, which could be a top 15 team, and going to Oregon State and to the Charleston Tournament for three games in four days where we will be tested by teams like Georgetown and N.C State," said first-year coach Alan Major. "It’s definitely a schedule that has some BCS flavor.

"You want to put yourself in position by the end of the year that you’ve seen every scenario. I think this schedule is set up that way. We have strong home and road games, a multiple-game format, a cross country trip – hopefully this will put us in the position that we have seen a lot by the time late February, early March rolls around."

Nov. 13, S.C. State; 18-21, Charleston Classic; 24, at Oregon State; 27, Radford.

Dec. 1, at East Carolina; 7, Winthrop; 11, at Davidson; 17, Tennessee (at Bobcats Arena); 22, Wright State; 30, at Mercer.

Jan. 2, at Georgia Tech; 5, at Richmond; 8, at St. Bonaventure; 15, Fordham, 19, Massachusetts; 22, at Duquesne; 26, at Temple; 29, La Salle.

Feb. 2, Xavier; 5, George Washington; 12, at Rhode Island; 16, Dayton; 19, at Saint Louis; 23, George Washington; 26, Richmond.

March 2, at Xavier; 5, Saint Joseph's; 8 (campus sites), 11-13, Atlantic 10 tournament (at Atlantic City, N.J.).
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Labor Day weekend wrapup

Back from a long Labor Day weekend:

-- The complete men's basketball schedule might be released as early as this afternoon.

-- Charlotte's T.J. Beaulieu, who had a goal and an assist in the 49ers' two games last week, is the Atlantic 10's men's soccer player of the week. Beaulieu, a junior forward, scored Charlotte's only goal in a 1-0 victory Saturday against Elon and assisted in the 49ers' 2-1 season-opening loss against UNC Greensboro.

Charlotte's next games are this weekend in Birmingham, Ala., against Memphis and Alabama-Birmingham.

-- It was a great weekend for the volleyball and women's cross country teams. The volleyball team won the Patriot Invitational at Fairfax, Va., beating George Mason, West Virginia and Army. Charlotte, which is at Duke tonight, hosts its own tournament Friday and Saturday.

The women's cross country team won the USC Upstate Eyeopener at Spartanburg, with 42 points. Senior Keara Thomas finished second individually with a 5K time of 18:05. Laura McCary, Janet Barry and Aurora Trujillo all finished in the top 10.

-- The men's cross country team finished 4th in the same meet, with Daweet Dagnachew finishing 14th.

Both teams are back in action Sept. 17 at the Clemson Invitational.

-- The women's soccer team split weekend home games against the Pac 10's Arizona State (losing 1-0) and the Big East's Pittsburgh (a 2-1 victory). Charlotte takes a 3-1 record into games this week at UNC Greensboro on Friday and home against UNC Wilmington on Sunday.

Basketball reunion Friday

New 49ers men’s basketball coach Alan Major is having a reunion dinner Friday for former Charlotte players, managers and coaches.

The dinner will be at the south Charlotte home of Jeff Gruber, who played on Charlotte’s 1977 Final Four team.

Major got the idea for the reunion dinner from Thad Motta, his old boss at Ohio State. Major said more than 200 former Buckeyes players attended last year’s reunion in Columbus.

“There’s so much honor and tradition in our program,” said Major. “I want it to be really special for these guys. They can give me history lessons. I’m sure the scoring averages will go up 10 of 15 points with all the stories we’ll hear.”

Former stars like Curtis Withers, Lew Massey, Rodney White and George Jackson plan to attend, as does former coach Jeff Mullins. Here’s who’s planning on attending:

Jerry Anthony (‘66-69); Joe Badgett (‘85-87); Ben Basinger (‘67-70); Demon Brown (‘01-04); Todd Crowley (‘77-79); Byron Dinkins (‘86-89); Eric "Slim" Duncan (‘86-89); Tremaine Gardiner (‘96-00); Butch Gilbert (‘62-65); Jeff Gruber (‘75-78); Gary Gummerson (‘62-65); Roderick Howard (‘94-97); Lane Hurley (’67); George Jackson (‘74-75); Jimmy James (‘62-66); Kevin King (‘76-79); Jarvis Lang (‘91-95); Lew Massey (‘75-78); Jeff Mullins; Jermaine Parker (‘92-95); Daniel Plondke (‘87-88); Michael Pulley ( ‘86-87); Johnathan Shaw; Ron Stallings (‘87-91); David Taylor; T.J. Tison (’96); Michael Washington (‘86-89); Rodney White (’01); Lee Whitfield (‘77-78);
Curtis Withers (‘03-06).

Walk-on tryouts set for Sept. 15

The 49ers men's basketball team will hold tryouts for walk-ons on Sept. 15 at 6 p.m. in Halton Arena.

Candidates must be full-time students at UNC Charlotte and must provide a transcript and physical to the men's basketball office by 10 a.m. Sept. 14. Sickle cell checkups will also be performed today and Sept. 8.