College of Charleston To Host Inaugural Charleston Classic
11/11/2008 5:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Charleston, S.C. -- The College of Charleston will host the inaugural Charleston Classic men's basketball tournament in the school's new Carolina First Arena beginning Friday, November 14.
The event will include 12 games in three days, with six games being broadcast on CSS. The Southern Conference, based in Spartanburg, S.C., will serve as the event's sponsoring conference.
The 2008 Charleston Classic field includes eight teams: College of Charleston, Clemson, East Tennessee State, Hofstra, Southern Illinois-Edwardsville, Temple, TCU and Western Michigan. Two of the teams, Clemson and Temple, played in the 2007-08 NCAA Tournament.
In the first round of action, TCU will take on Western Michigan in the first game to be played at Carolina First Arena. Also in the first round, ETSU will face Temple, SIU-Edwardsville will meet College of Charleston, and Hofstra and Clemson will square off.
“We're pleased to have a competitive field and exciting matchups in the inaugural Charleston Classic,” said Pete Derzis, senior vice president and general manager, ESPN Regional Television. “We expect this new event to provide a terrific off-the-court experience for the student-athletes, coaches and staffs while giving fans a great opportunity to watch college basketball in the great destination of Charleston.”
Each team will compete in one game per day, advancing through a bracket-tournament format. The two teams that remain undefeated throughout the tournament will face off in a championship match Sunday, Nov. 16, at 4 p.m. ET on CSS. Complete matchups are listed below.
“I am very excited about the Charleston Classic opening our new Carolina First Arena,” said Bobby Cremins, head coach of College of Charleston. “This will bring college basketball to our beautiful Low Country and downtown Charleston area. Clemson will be the headliner, but there are other exciting teams that should challenge them for the first Charleston Classic championship.”
“We are excited to be part of showcasing college basketball in Charleston for the tip-off of the season,” said Clemson head coach Oliver Purnell. “This tournament also gives our fans, of which we have many in the Charleston area, an opportunity to see our team play three straight days to open the season."
2008 Charleston Classic Schedule
(Home team listed second; College of Charleston will be home team in each of its games)
Date, Time (ET), Game, Network
Fri., Nov. 14
12:30 p.m. -- TCU vs. Western Michigan
3 p.m. -- East Tennessee State vs. Temple
7 p.m. -- SIU-Edwardsville vs. College of Charleston (CSS)
9:30 p.m. -- Hofstra vs. Clemson (CSS)
Sat., Nov. 15
11:30 a.m. -- Game #5
2 p.m.-- Game #6 (CSS< delayed*)
5:30 p.m. -- Game #7
8 p.m. -- Game #8 (CSS)
Sun., Nov. 16
10:30 a.m. -- Game #9 (7th/8th Place)
1 p.m. -- Game #10 (4th/6th Place)
4 p.m. -- Game #11 (Champion/2nd Place) (CSS)
6:30 p.m. -- Game #12 (3rd/5th Place)
(*) Game will air on CSS on Sat., Nov. 15, at 10 p.m. ET.
ESPN Regional Television/Event Ownership
The nation's largest syndicator of collegiate sports programming, ESPN Regional Television (ERT) annually produces more than 900 sporting events. Programming includes football, basketball, NCAA events, golf and NHRA events accounting for more than 2,200 live and/or original hours of programming. In addition to event ownership, ERT is the production headquarters for ESPNU, the 24-hour college sports network; syndication rights-holder and producer of national, regional and local shows for college conferences (e.g. ? BIG EAST, Big 12, Mid-American, Sun Belt, WAC).
ESPN Regional Television markets and/or owns several other sporting events, including collegiate football events: the St. Petersburg Bowl; the Papajohns.com Bowl; the Bell Helicopter Armed Forces Bowl; the Sheraton Hawai'i Bowl; the Pioneer Las Vegas Bowl, the New Mexico Bowl; the MEAC/SWAC Challenge; and The Home Depot College Football Awards; collegiate basketball events: the O'Reilly Auto Parts All-College Classic (Oklahoma City); the Old Spice Classic (Orlando, Fla.); the SEC/BIG EAST Invitational; the Anaheim Classic (Calif.); the O'Reilly Auto Parts Puerto Rico Tip-Off (San Juan); and the O'Reilly ESPNU BracketBusters; as well as the ESPN National Golf Challenge presented by Callaway. For more information, visit www.espnplus.com.
