When Appalachian State coach Buzz Peterson takes the Mountaineers to Charlotte for the Southern Conference basketball tournament next week, he'll be going home -- literally.
Peterson has a condo nine miles from the Holmes Convocation Center in Boone, N.C., but his house, his wife and his children remain in Charlotte while his eldest daughter finishes her senior year of high school.
"I've made that trip down Highway 321 many times," Peterson said during the Mountaineers' day off Tuesday. "It's not something I'd want to do very often. I know that it's exactly 114 miles from the arena to the house."
And it's only a few miles from his house to Time Warner Arena -- site of the SoCon tourney semifinals and finals -- where he worked for two season with the Charlotte Bobcats. And it's a few miles from Bojangles Arena, site of the opening rounds, which is where he and his North Carolina teammates began their run to the 1982 NCAA championship.
"We almost lost to James Madison," Peterson recalled of the 52-50 win. "Back then, it was called the Charlotte Coliseum."
The Mountaineers (18-11, 11-5) have locked up the No. 1 seed from the North Division, so they will play only one game where Peterson once played. With a win, they'd move across town to where his office used to be.
"After working there, you know everybody in the facility and that's going to be interesting," Peterson said. "It's going to be a neat experience. I've been asked for quite a few tickets. I'm real excited and looking forward to it."
But he's not overlooking the final two games of the regular season. ASU can win its second outright divisional title since he guided the Mountaineers to the crown at the end of his four-year stint in 2000.
"We're still striving for 20 regular-season wins and the outright championship," Peterson said while preparing for Thursday's home game against the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. "Plus, Chattanooga is the only team in the North that we haven't beat."
Peterson will remain in coach mode for as long as he's coaching in the tournament, going so far as to stay at the team hotel instead of at the house with his kids.
He'll have all summer to spend with them enjoying the Uptown area.