City of Basketball Love

Josh Verlin (@jmverlin)
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Rowan will honor the 20th anniversary of its 1996 national title this fall by welcoming back former head coach John Giannini and his current team, La Salle University, a source tells CoBL.

And it won't be an exhibition game.

While it's not too uncommon for a Division I team to play a Division III program as a regular-season game, it is certainly rare for a D-I program to travel to a smaller school for any type of contest, preseason or otherwise.

But it's certainly a special circumstance, with Giannini returning to the school that he led to national prominence two decades ago, before he left for the University of Maine on the heels of that triumph.

Current Profs head coach Joe Cassidy has been in charge of the program since taking over for his former boss, working under Giannini for the five years prior to assuming the head coach role. 

One possible date for the game, according to the source, was November 28, but that date has not yet been finalized. 

Last season, La Salle went 17-16, with an 8-10 record in Atlantic 10 play. Rowan, who plays in the New Jersey Athletic Conference (NJAC), is coming off a 16-10 season, with a 10-8 mark in league play.

CoBL will have more on this story as it becomes available