Men's Basketball: WVU in 2010 Puerto Rico Tip-Off
November 20, 2009 04:05 PM | General
November 20, 2009
SAN JUAN, PUERTO RICO - ESPN Regional Television, Inc., a subsidiary of ESPN, announced here Friday the field for the 2010 O’Reilly Auto Parts Puerto Rico Tip-off led by five-time NCAA Champions North Carolina.
The 12-game, bracketed collegiate basketball tournament features eight schools. The games in 2010 will be played the week before Thanksgiving weekend at the Coliseo de Puerto Rico. Tournament pairings and game times for the 2010 event on November 18, 19 and 21 will be announced at a later date.
Joining the Tar Heels of the Atlantic Coast Conference in the 2010 O’Reilly Auto Parts Puerto Rico Tip-off field are Davidson (Southern), Hofstra (Colonial), Minnesota (Big Ten), Nebraska (Big 12), Vanderbilt (Southeastern), West Virginia (Big East) and Western Kentucky (Sun Belt).
The eight schools in the 2010 O’Reilly Auto Parts Puerto Rico Tip-off field combined for a 189-80 record during the 2008-2009 season with four NCAA participants (Minnesota, North Carolina, West Virginia and Western Kentucky) and two NIT teams (Davidson and Nebraska). Six of the eight schools also won more than 20 games each with North Carolina topping the list with 34 wins.
“Once again, an outstanding field will represent conferences from around the country for the O’Reilly Auto Parts Puerto Rico Tip-off,” said Pete Derzis, senior vice president and general manager, ESPN Regional Television. “The O’Reilly Auto Parts Puerto Rico Tip-off showcases quality competition and an outstanding off-court experience for the student-athletes, coaches and staff. Fans will have an opportunity to spend the weekend watching college basketball and enjoying all that Puerto Rico has to offer.”
The Big East Conference again serves as the host for the O’Reilly Auto Parts Puerto Rico Tip-off at the 18,000-seat at the Coliseo de Puerto Rico. The O’Reilly Auto Parts Puerto Rico Tip-off features four games each day, with the two undefeated teams competing in the championship game on one of the ESPN “family” of network outlets on the final day.
Along with the O’Reilly Auto Parts Puerto Rico Tip-off, ESPN Regional Television stages four other eight-team exempt basketball events: the 76 Classic in Anaheim; the Old Spice Classic at Disney’s Wide World of Sports near Orlando; the Charleston Classic in South Carolina; and the newly created Diamond Head Classic, which will debut this December in Honolulu.
Tickets for the 2010 O’Reilly Auto Parts Puerto Rico Tip-off are expected to go on sale next summer. For more information, visit the official Web site: http://puertoricotipoff.com/.
The 2009 O’Reilly Auto Parts Puerto Rico Tip-off began Thursday at the Coliseo de Puerto Rico with five schools in the event currently being ranked nationally along with the eight-team competition being listed as one of the top five “in-season” tournaments this year. Schools from the Atlantic Coast (Miami, Fla.) and Atlantic 10 (Xavier) Conferences won the first two tournaments in 2007 and 2008, respectively.
The 2009 O’Reilly Auto Parts Puerto Rico Tip-off features Boston University (American East), Dayton (Atlantic 10), George Mason (Colonial), Georgia Tech (Atlantic Coast), Indiana (Big Ten), Kansas State (Big 12), Mississippi (Ole Miss, Southeastern) and Villanova (Big East).
Dayton and Villanova earned berths in the 2009 NCAA Tournament while George Mason and Kansas State competed in the NIT. Villanova advanced to the 2009 NCAA “final four” and lost to eventual champions North Carolina in the semi-finals at Detroit.
