This will be an interesting week coming up for the Towson men's basketball team. The Tigers will wrap up their non-conference season this Saturday, Dec. 29 in Corvalis, Ore. The Tigers will take on the Oregon State Beavers at 4 p.m. EST. Towson, at 4-8, will be looking to wrap up the year with a W.

After the game against OSU, Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) play begins. For the Tigers, the first CAA match-up of the year is a difficult one. The Tigers will take on the Seahawks of UNC-Wilmington. It's tough from several viewpoints. First, it's the most difficult travel trip in the CAA. Second, Seahawks head coach Buzz Peterson has UNC-Wilmington playing much better than last year. And don't think for a second that Peterson won't remind his squad that the only  team Towson beat last year was them.

So logistically, what do the Tigers face? The team will travel down to D.C. Thursday afternoon for a cross-country flight to Portland, Ore. The team will land late Thursday night and then bus about 90 minutes to Corvalis. That gives the Tigers a day to adjust to the time change on Friday. Following the game, Towson buses back to Corvalis for a red-eye home Saturday night.

After Sunday and Monday recovering and practicing, the Tigers will again bus down to D.C. on New Year's day to fly to Wilmington, N.C. for the game against the Seahawks on Jan. 2. Immediately following the game, Towson will bus back to Towson, arriving near dawn at the Towson Center.

This is actually an improvement over past trips to Wilmington. In the past, the Tigers have flown from BWI to Raleigh, N.C. From there, they would bus two hours to Wilmington.  After playing a night game, the Tigers would then bus back to Raleigh, arriving near midnight. The group would then get up around 4 a.m. to get an early flight back to Baltimore. I know for me, it would take a day or two to recover some sense of normalcy. I can imagine how the players who still have play and practice would feel.

This past Thursday night, Damon Lewis and I were lucky to have football coach Rob Ambrose on Tiger Talk. Coach Ambrose talked about recruiting and spring ball. I know that every time I get to speak with Coach Ambrose I can't wait for the next football game.  For the Tigers that will be August 29 against Connecticut. 

The Tigers released their 2013 schedule this past week, and if you are a Tiger fan, you have to be thrilled with this year's home schedule. The Tigers have just one non-conference home game, and that's against old foe Delaware State on September 14. The Tigers' four CAA games at home couldn't be better. Their first two conference home games are against two CAA teams that made the 2012 playoffs in New Hampshire and Villanova - two teams the Tigers beat on the road last year.

The final two home games are against the two schools you could say are the Tigers' rivals - Delaware and James Madison. It should be a great year.

This week there will be no Tiger Talk on Thursday night, but I will be with you on Dec. 29 from Corvalis, Ore. starting at 3:30 p.m.right here on Towsontigers.com. You can also listen on the new and improved Towson Tigers app on your iPhone or Android device.

Again, I hope you all have a great holiday season.