The North Carolina men's basketball schedule has been announced, giving fans another excuse to talk about the highly anticipated season even though it is still two months away.

"Late Night with Roy Williams" is Oct. 24, and the Tar Heels have one exhibition game Nov. 8 against UNC Pembroke. Carolina will officially kick off its national championship campaign Nov. 15 with a home game against Ivy League "giant" Pennsylvania. The showdown with the Quakers is one of 30 games on the schedule, all of which will be televised. Twenty-five of the contests will be televised nationally.

UNC will get tested early in the EA Sports Maui Invitational, which takes place Nov. 24-26. Texas, Notre Dame, Indiana, Oregon and Alabama are among the teams competing this year in Hawaii.

For those looking to set their schedules, circle Feb. 11 and March 8 as the Duke games, with Cameron the first destination and Tyler Hansbrough's Senior Night closing the regular season. As far as tough stretches go, coach Williams may be eyeing a streak in mid-January that sees Carolina travel to Wake Forest and Virginia, then host Miami and Clemson before two more road games at Florida State and N.C. State.

That month aside, the toughest week for UNC will undoubtedly be in February when the Heels play away to Duke and Miami, back-to-back.

Carolina will see three non-conference opponents that made it to the NCAA Tournament last year -- the Heels host Kentucky (Nov. 18) and Summit League champion Oral Roberts (Dec. 13), and they travel to Michigan State for the ACC-Big Ten Challenge. The Spartans-Heels game will be played Dec. 3 at Detroit's Ford Field, the site of next year's Final Four. That weekend, by the way, is April 4-6.

Francona coming

Boston Red Sox manager Terry Francona, who has led his club to two of the last four World Series titles, will be the featured guest speaker at Carolina baseball's first annual First Pitch Banquet, set for Jan. 31, 2009, at the Carolina Club on the UNC campus.

The event will serve as the kickoff of the 2009 baseball season, which will be the first in the Tar Heels' new home -- Bryson Field at Boshamer Stadium. Highlights of the memorable 2008 season, which featured a third straight trip to the College World Series, will be shown, and Carolina's players, coaches and support staff will be introduced.

Clinic set

The 2008 Roy Williams North Carolina Basketball Coaches Clinic will be held on Nov. 1, Williams and the Tar Heel coaching staff announced last week.

The annual clinic for basketball coaches of all levels will include presentations by Williams and the Carolina assistant coaches, a UNC basketball practice and more.

If not this year ...

Fenway Sports Group has announced an in-house scheduling error will make it impossible to host the 2009 ACC Baseball Championship. In the immediate future, the ACC will look to secure a new venue to host the 2009 championship. Further information on the 2009 event will be released directly by the conference office as soon as it's available.

"It's disappointing that this scheduling error has resulted in the upcoming championship not being played at Fenway Park, but we look forward to being at Fenway in 2010," said ACC Commissioner John Swofford. "In terms of this year's event, we are moving swiftly to find a quality venue to host one of our premiere conference championships."

Although the originally-scheduled 2009 championship is not able to be played in Fenway, the ACC and FSG have agreed to terms to bring the 2010 ACC Baseball Championship to Boston and Fenway Park.

BRIEFLY ...

North Carolina head coach Butch Davis made sure the East Chapel Hill football players had a good spot to watch UNC's home opener on Saturday. Davis got his son Drew and his Wildcat teammates some 40 tickets to join the sell-out crowd at Kenan Stadium and cheer on the Tar Heels. ... Former Carolina safety David Bomar, whose goal-line stop against N.C. State in 1999 clinched the Tar Heels' 10-6 win in Charlotte's Ericsson Stadium, is set to be wed to Brooke McCauley in October. Carolina fans can expect some athletic talent to be produced if the couple decides to have children: Bomar is the son of quarterback Gayle Bomar, who captained the 1968 UNC team and accounted for more than 3,000 yards in two years as the Tar Heel QB. McCauley is the daughter of Don McCauley, the former All-America running back who ended his Kenan Stadium career by running for an NCAA record 279 yards and five touchdowns against Duke in 1970.