To say Eastern head men’s basketball coach Rick Samuels is excited to kick off the 2001-2002 season Thursday with a home exhibition game against BC Albacomp out of Budapest, Hungary would be an understatement.

“It’s the greatest time of all. It’s basketball season,” Samuels said. “Our fall sports have been great. Our volleyball team is doing well and our football team has been tremendous, but there nothing quite like basketball season.”

But this basketball season will be different from others in the past. Coming off last year’s NCAA Tournament appearance, it’s no secret Samuels would want to play a stronger schedule this season.

In fact, the Panthers’ first home game Nov. 16 against St. Joseph’s will mark the start of one of, if not the most, grueling schedules in the program’s history.

“I’ve been here so long that my memory gets shorter each year,” said Samuels, who is entering his 22nd season at Eastern’s helm. “But this certainly as demanding of a pre-conference schedule as we have ever played.”

Five of Eastern’s 30 games will be televised regionally. The Panthers will also face five teams that appeared in the NCAA Tournament a year ago with the possibility of facing a sixth in Iowa State when Eastern travels to the Las Vegas Invitational over Thanksgiving Break.

Following the home opener against St. Joseph’s, the Panthers will travel to Champaign to take on the the University of Illinois. The Fighting Illini were the No. 1 seed in NCAA’s Midwest Regional last season and have been ranked No. 3 in the Associated Press Preseason Poll.

“I think they’re deserving of a high ranking and there’s no question they’re one of the top 2-3 preseason teams in the country,” Samuels said. “It will be a challenge. They come at you hard defensively and they are a very physical aggressive team.

“We’ll have to withstand that challenger to have any chance in being in the position for an upset.”

After that, Eastern will travel to Nevada where they will take on Georgia Tech in the Las Vegas Invitational. Following the game with the Yellow Jackets, who were the No. 8 seed in the West Regional a year ago, the Panthers will take on a pesky Penn team.

“We have to go into those kinds of games with the idea that we can compete and we can go and play with them,” Samuels said.

“Penn is hard to play because of all the back-door stuff they run and they have a very talented 6-foot-6-inch forward who will probably be player of the year in Ivy League.”

Following the Thursday and Friday games in Vegas, the Panthers have the possibility of facing Hartford, Saint Louis, Southern Illinois or Iowa State, depending how they fair in the tournament.

Saint Louis received 10 votes to be ranked in the preseason Top 25 while Iowa State was the No. 2 seed in the West regional in last year’s NCAA Tournament.

Following that demanding tournament, the Panthers will return home for a Nov. 28 home contest against Indiana State, who made an upset run in the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament last season, earning them a No. 13 seed in the Big Dance.

Eastern will then host Division III Augustana before traveling to Evansville and Western Illinois. The Panthers will then return home to face Loyola-Chicago before playing what could prove to be their two roughest road games of the season at Oklahoma and Ohio State.

“Oklahoma is ranked 25th in the AP poll and I have a vote in the USA Today/ESPN poll and I ranked them in the Top 25. They will be a very formidable opponent,” Samuels said. “Then we’ll go to Ohio State, which is one of the toughest places to play in the country.”

Eastern will then have a week off before traveling to Northern Illinois before kicking off its conference season Dec. 31 at Austin Peay.

“It’s a testing schedule that will help us, without question, in our preparation for our conference season,” Samuels said.

The Panthers are a preseason pick to finish third in the Ohio Valley Conference after tying for second and winning the conference tournament a year ago. Defending regular season champion Tennessee Tech was picked to finish first while perennial OVC powerhouse Murray State was selected second.

“Tennessee Tech returns four of its starters from last season and I think they probably should be the preseason favorite,” Samuels said. “And the mystique of Murray State is still there, but I certainly think we’re contenders. We want to continue to play well, and we want to be a power in the OVC for years to come.”

Following the conference opener at Clarksville, Tenn., the Panthers will host Southeast Missouri, Morehead State and Eastern Kentucky before playing six of their next seven OVC games on the road.

Eastern finishes up the season with four of their final five conference games at home, including a Feb. 14 contest against Murray State and the final regular season game against Tech.

“In our years in the OVC, we’ve shown that we’re a decent, if not good road team,” Samuels said. “And I’d certainly rather be at home late in the season than on the road late.”