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ST. LOUIS -- The Missouri Valley Conference and the Mountain West Conference announced today an agreement in principle to the formation of an annual Mountain West/Missouri Valley Challenge for men’s basketball. All 19 members of both leagues will participate in the Challenge, which will feature head-to-head competition between nine Mountain West and nine Missouri Valley teams annually.

ESPN Regional Television announced today the schedule of matchups for the inaugural Charleston Classic, set for Nov. 14-16 at the new Carolina First Center in Charleston, S.C.

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.

NEW YORK - The 16-team field for the 2008 Dick's Sporting Goods NIT Season Tip-Off Tournament was announced today by C.M. Newton, chair of the NIT Selection Committee.

"Once again, the NIT Season Tip-Off Tournament features an outstanding field and we look forward to another exciting start to college basketball," commented Newton.

The 2008 NIT Season Tip-Off teams and brackets are as follows:

Texas will face Villanova, and Davidson will face West Virginia in the 14^th annual Jimmy V Men’s Basketball Classic on Tuesday, Dec. 9, ESPN and the V Foundation announced today. The Horns and Wildcats are scheduled to tipoff at 9 p.m. Eastern at Madison Square Garden, while Davidson and West Virginia is slated for

MAUI, Hawaii, Aug. 5, 2008 – The EA SPORTS Maui Invitational today announced the official bracket for the 2008 edition of the nation’s premier early-season college basketball tournament. Marking its milestone 25^th year, the eight-team competition will return to Maui’s ocean-front Lahaina Civic Center Nov.24-26.

The Wright State men's basketball team will take a trip in December off the mainland for the first time since 1993 as the Raiders have signed a contract to be part of this year's San Juan Shootout December 20-22. Murray State, South Florida and Oral Roberts have also been confirmed.

2008 San Juan Shootout

Dec. 20 South Florida vs Murray State and WSU vs Oral Roberts

Dec. 21 Oral Roberts vs Murray State and WSU vs South Florida

Dec. 22 WSU vs Murray State and Oral Roberts vs South Florida

Even if there is only one game that will likely feature two teams that are worthy of at-large bids, there are still plenty of interesting match-ups and plenty of teams that we will see in March in this edition of BracketBusters. The number one goal is exposure for the teams and that exposure is good for the fans as well who can start scouting some potential NCAA Tournament teams that they may not have seen yet this year. Yet, more important than exposure is momentum. Grabbing a big win against a quality team can do great things heading into the conference tournaments.

2008 O'Reilly ESPNU BracketBusters Television Matchups

Friday, Feb 22
Davidson at Winthrop
UCSB at Utah State

Saturday, Feb 23
Creighton at Oral Roberts
George Mason at Ohio
Kent State at St. Mary’s (Ca.)
Marist at Cleveland State
Miami at Valparaiso
Nevada at Southern Illinois
Rider at CS Northridge
Siena at Boise State
UWM at Bradley
Virginia Commonwealth at Akron

Sunday, Feb 24
Wright State at Illinois State

2008 O'Reilly ESPNU BracketBusters Non-Television Matchups
* Times to be Announced

Albany at Canisius

 

There is a reason February is the shortest month of the year. It makes March come quicker than we expect and that means BracketBusters is coming soon and the bubble watch is in full swing. This week, those topics dominate what “Welser Wonders…”

 

Michael Beasley (Kansas State)

OJ Mayo (USC)

Derrick Rose (Memphis)