While plenty of highlights remain for the fall sports season at Towson, thanks in part to the extended season that the men’s soccer team is enjoying in NCAA Tournament play, I wanted to share a change in the Towson Center for fans as we open the 2006-07 basketball season this year.

As you may have read, the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) TV schedule has blossomed this year with more than three times as many league games on TV as a year ago. Including non-conference games, more than 75 CAA games will be broadcast. Towson, which had one TV game last season, will have 12 men’s games and two women’s games on TV this year.

As you may recognize from watching college basketball on TV, it is desirable for the TV cameras to shoot opposite the team benches. Duke and Indiana are exceptions. Our TV partners asked if we could move the benches to the east side of the arena so that the cameras could shoot into the benches. With the cooperation of our head coaches, media relations staff and game management experts, we have made that adjustment. Likewise, the Towson ticket office and marketing staff have contacted season ticket holders to make adjustments in seat location.

The new look worked well in the exhibition men’s basketball game on Wednesday night, and we will officially make the change with Monday’s men’s basketball game at the Towson Center against Hartford.

The moving of the benches was the easy part. Now we can all sit back and enjoy an outstanding season as coaches Kennedy and Mathews prepare their teams to battle the outstanding CAA competition. It should make for some great TV!

P.S. I’ve begun this new site and will take questions. In a future column, I look forward to addressing as many questions as possible.