Bucknell has finally made its 2005-06 schedule official.

One major change from our prior post about the Bison's slate. The Nov. 22 game at Northeastern is no longer on the schedule. In its place a date with the Syracuse Orangemen at the Carrier Dome.

That one is interesting because originally the Bison and the Orange were looking at a game at the Whatever-the-latest-bank-name-is Arena in Wilkes-Barre. It was to be sort of a homecoming for Gerry McNamara, who hails from Scranton. That game started to fall through after Bucknell beat Pitt last season and by early summer, it appeared that the 'Cuse wanted nothing of playing the Bison.

Now it is back on the schedule, but at the Dome. I can almost taste the Dinosaur Barbecue already.

Another interesting bit of news from today's release:

The Bison ring in 2006 with their first visit to Duke's famed Cameron Indoor Stadium since 1984. The 4:30 p.m. tipoff on Jan. 2 will be televised live on ESPN. Led by All-America candidates J.J. Redick and Shelden Williams, the Blue Devils are looking to build on a 27-6 season and an NCAA Sweet Sixteen appearance.

Bucknell has a chance to appear on ESPN again on Bracket Buster Saturday on Feb. 18. The 2006 Bracket Buster field has expanded to 100 teams from Division I "mid-major" conferences across the country, and in late January ESPN will select 11 of the 50 series games for national broadcast on ESPN, ESPN2 or ESPNU. The Bison are the first Patriot League team to be invited to compete in the annual event.

Bucknell will also appear twice on the Patriot League's College Sports Television (CSTV) package, though that hardly counts as national TV.