Jim Baron’s first season as Canisius basketball coach will feature games against Syracuse, Temple, UNLV, Buffalo and St. Bonaventure, according to a source.

The team’s schedule was released today, without including games from an event called the Gotham Classic, a relatively new college basketball pseudo-tournament Canisius will be participating in. From the release:

The Gotham Classic is the nation’s newest men’s college basketball event. The format features two high-profile teams hosting three games on campus before advancing to New York City. The other three teams in the event will play a home-and-away round-robin, giving each participant four games in this multi-team exempt event. Canisius is scheduled to play three of its games in the Gotham Classic on the road with the opponents, dates and times to be announced in the very near future. This marks the first time Canisius has played in an exempt regular-season event since the Griffs traveled to the Southern Miss Christmas Classic during the 2009-10 campaign.

According to a source, Canisius’ Gotham City games will be as follows:

–Dec. 15 at Syracuse
–Dec. 19 at Temple
–Dec. 27 home vs. Alcorn St., 7 p.m.
–Dec. 29 at Detroit

With nonconference games against Longwood on Dec. 17 and at UNLV Dec. 22, the Griffs will have six games packed between Dec. 15 and 29 before MAAC play reopens after the New Year.

Canisius opens the season at home on Nov. 14 against Boston University before hosting local rivals St.Bonaventure and UB. Canisius’ Big 4 games are as follows:

–Nov. 17 home vs. St. Bonaventure, 4 p.m. (men’s/women’s doubleheader)
–Nov. 20 home vs. UB, 8 p.m. (doubleheader)
–Jan. 27 home vs. Niagara, TBA
–Feb. 10 at Niagara, TBA

The MAAC tournament opens March 8 in Springfield, Mass.