Preseason Primer is STF's guide to guide to some of most intriguing storylines heading into the 2007-2008 college basketball season. Today the primer checks out the best of the preseason tournaments.
BEST PRESEASON TOURNAMENTS
Seriously, who doesn't love preseason tournaments? Not only are you introduced to basketball hotbeds like Anchorage and South Padre Island, but you get to see some fantastic out-of-conference match-ups and can basically determine who is contender or a pretender before the start of conference play. So this the STF preview of the best of many, many preseason tournaments.
2K Sports College Hoops Classic
Site: Host Schools, New York
Date: November 5-9, 15-16
Key Teams: Kentucky, Memphis, Oklahoma, Connecticut
The tournament that kicks everything off. I'm calling this the "Show Me" tournament. For Memphis, show me that you are an elite team by disposing of some non-elite teams. For Kentucky and UConn, show me that last season was an aberration and that you will be relevant in 2007. For Oklahoma, give me a reason to pay attention this season.
Preseason NIT
Site:Host Schools, New York
Date: November 12-14, 21-23
Key Teams: Syracuse, St. Joe's, Ohio State, Washington, Texas A&M
The second, but much more famous, of the preseason tournaments at the Garden. Each of the four main teams is trying to prove that they can survive this season without a key contributor from last season (Syracuse:Nichols, Washington:Hawes, A&M: Law, Ohio State: everyone) Someone is going to feel much better than about the upcoming season than they may have in the summer. Watch out for a great St. Joe's-Syracuse match-up in the second round.
CBE Classic
Site: Host Teams, Kansas City
Date: November 10-14, 19-20
Key Teams: Maryland, Michigan State, Missouri, UCLA
Our first look at the great Kevin Love . A UCLA-Michigan State final might be the best tournament final from a loaded November.
Legends Classic
Site:Host Schools, Newark
Date: November 14-18, 23-24
Key Teams:Tennessee, Texas, New Mexico State, West Virginia
Chris Lofton and Vols should take this tournament, but don't be shocked if a streaky offensive team like New Mexico State of WVU gets hot and takes this early season tournament from the brand new Prudential Center.
Maui Invitational
Site: Maui, HI
Date: November 19-21
Key Teams: Duke, Marquette, Illinois
The current king of preseason tournaments is a little weaker than usual. A Duke- Marquette match-up could be the best collection of backcourt talent int he country, but Maui is lacking the Top 10 power that it's had in the past. But since it takes place right before Thanksgiving, you're still going to watch.
Great Alaskan Shootout
Site: Anchorage, AK
Date:November 20-24
Key Teams: Gonzaga, Butler, Western Kentucky, Texas Tech
I've got to admit, I've got a soft spot for the Great Alaskan Shootout. As a kid, I always loved any opportunity to watch basketball past midnight (anyone who knows me or is familiar with my blogging knows that I'm not a fan of sleep) While the quality of competition has slipped in recent years, this year's shootout has three of the best mid-majors in the county in Gonzaga, Butler and an under-the-radar Western Kentucky.
Las Vegas Invitational
Site: Las Vegas, NV
Date: November 23-24
Key Teams: North Carolina, Louisville
While it's technically a tournament, this is all set-up for a potential UNC-Louisville dandy in Sin City. If this game is half as good as Kansas-Florida from last season, we're in a for a treat.
Big 10-ACC Challenge
Date: November 26-28
While it's seems like every conference has now gotten into the act (Pac-10-Big12, Big East-SEC), the Big Ten-ACC match-up is still tops, highlighted by Georgia Tech at Indiana, Wisconsin at Duke, NC State at Michigan State and UNC at Ohio State.
Other Tournaments of Note: Old Spice Classic (NC State, Villanova, George Mason), Puerto Rico Classic (Arkansas, Providence, VCU), Anaheim Classic (Miss State, USC, Southern Illinois)
The Most Useless of the Preseason Tournaments: Gossner Food Classic (Utah St, Furman, Utah Valley State), Drake Invitational (Drake, North Carolina Central), College of Charleston Classic (College of Charleston, Mercer).
Sunday, October 28, 2007
Preseason Primer: The Best Preseason Tournaments
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8 comments:
Can we get some women's college b-ball love too??
Woman's Basketball isn't a real sport. Everyone knows that. If I want to watch tall girls run I'll throw a rat on a runway.
nice summary there, marcos. i'm a bit disappointed with maui, but juiced to see my UW Huskies in the Preseason NIT. last time they were in a high-profile preseason tourney, they won the Great Alaska Shootout and went on to a No. 1 seed in the Dance.
I went to Kansas, and we used to prefer to listen to our great radio team over the TV announcers. But when the Jayhawks were in the Great Alaska, the TV signal bounced back so much more slowly than the radio that we didn't have any tension - the radio guys would call a three "GOOOD!" while it was leaving the shooter's hand.
My top Preseason NIT memory was Kansas playing LSU with Shaq and Stanley Roberts, and somehow winning despite the massive size disparity.
You've got to be kidding. The Gossner, useless? WAC threat Utah State and a 20-win indy with UV State... wish I was going. If you want a real "useless" preseason tourney, try the Hornet Roundball Classic at Delaware State on 11/9-10... two non-D1's and Coppin State, and it's angled so that CSU and Del-State don't play (they're both in the same conference). I've never seen the word "classic" stretched so.
Alex, I'll start to cover Women's basketball when you start to provide weekly updates on where the Stanley Cup is....and the Phillies suck
If I had known about the Hornet "Classic", it clearly would have been #1
The Gossner is not attempting to be a pre-season tourney on the same terms as the others listed. It is played over the Christmas break in beautiful Logan UT, and USU pays minimal for teams to come, resulting in a perfect record in the "Classic". Utah State is also playing in the South Padre in November (along with Vandy and Iowa among others), which is trying to be on the same level as Puerto Rico and Old Spice.
Go Jaycee Carroll for All American
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