North Carolina “will be happy to play whichever team shows up” for its basketball season opener at the Smith Center on Nov. 9, associate athletics director Steve Kirschner said.
The question is: Which team will it be?
When the ACC schedule was released Tuesday, Florida International – with new head coach Isiah Thomas – was listed as UNC’s opening-game opponent in the Coaches vs. Cancer Tournament.
But FIU had been expecting to play Ohio State, and is now getting its legal department involved to try to get out of the match-up with the defending national champion Tar Heels, said Rich Kelch, the Golden Panthers’ assistant athletics director for media relations.
FIU athletics director Pete Garcia could not immediately be reached for comment, but he told the Associated Press he felt like the Golden Panthers were being bullied by the organizers of the tournament.
“Would they do what they’re doing to us to Duke, or to North Carolina? No,” Garcia told AP, adding that his team is committed to playing in the tournament. “But they’ll do it to FIU and any other school out there like FIU.”
Regardless of what happens during the event’s early two rounds, the tournament format calls for four hosts – UNC, Ohio State, California and Syracuse – to automatically advance to the semifinals at Madison Square Garden. (UNC’s second opponent in the tournament is NC Central on Nov. 11; it will then play the Buckeyes in the semifinals Nov. 19, with the championship game the following day.)
Rick Giles, president of the Gazelle Group, which organizes the tournament, told the AP said the contract language allows for his organization “to have the sole authority” over sites, dates, times, teams and opponents in the tournament.
The tournament organizers didn’t announce the pairings until after 6 p.m. on Tuesday; there was enough gray area about the field that Kirschner said he contacted the Gazelle Group earlier Tuesday to ask if the game on the ACC schedule should read, “TBD.” But he was told to list FIU.
Kelch said his school didn’t learn it was supposedly playing the Tar Heels until it heard about UNC’s schedule from the media.
Kirschner said the Tar Heels will gladly play whoever they are told to play.
Robbi.pickeral@newsobserver.com or 919-829-8944.
Robbi Pickeral has covered ACC sports for The News & Observer since 2003. She can be reached at 
Comments
Yes, we all know Isiah
Wed, 08/26/2009 - 16:05 — Heels20Yes, we all know Isiah Thomas is such a great coach and deserves to get his way. I mean, hey, look what he did for the Knicks...
Mast schools would rather...
Wed, 08/26/2009 - 09:40 — willncsuplay Duke, UNC, Kentucky, Indiana or any of the other big name bball schools over tOSU in order to get more exposure. FIU is stupid.
I read
Wed, 08/26/2009 - 09:27 — gvillegatr... qoutes on Yahoo where the AD (and of course Isiah Thomas) for FIU was mainly upset b/c they felt they signed up to play OSU from the bginning and a reason they wanted to play at OSU was b/c of alumni in that area.
that is not reported here.
FIU vs UNC
Wed, 08/26/2009 - 11:26 — melvinfurdgatr, I think that's what FIU is saying.
However, espn.com reports, "Gazelle Group president Rick Giles said that he has a contract, signed by Garcia, which stipulates that FIU would play either Ohio State or North Carolina, leaving the choice at the discretion of the Gazelle Group. He said that is the way his company has written contracts for 15 years and fully expects the school to honor its agreement."
yup
Wed, 08/26/2009 - 12:08 — gvillegatrthats what I said.
ok....
Wed, 08/26/2009 - 00:53 — chrismg1I don't see exactly what the big deal is. I guess they feel like they were matched up with the best team in the field and have been written off as a "warm up". But lets be honest here, they would probably lose to whoever they play, though maybe not as badly. You think in these days of teams cutting back on travel expenses they would be happy to play the heels as they are the closest of any of the host teams to Florida.