Bulldogs Face Minnesota At 76 Classic
Butler will face Minnesota in the first round of the 2009 76
Classic basketball tournament, which will be held Thanksgiving
weekend, Nov. 26, 27 and 29, at the Anaheim (Calif.) Convention
Center, adjacent to Disneyland. The eight-team tournament
will be broadcast on ESPN2 and ESPNU.
The Butler (26-6)-Minnesota (22-11) game will be the third contest
on Thursday, Nov. 26, and is slated to start at 5:30 p.m. (PT, 8:30
p.m. ET) on ESPN2. The first game of the day will pit West
Virginia (23-12) against Long Beach State (15-15) at 11 a.m. (PT),
and will be followed by a 1:30 p.m. contest between Texas A & M
(24-10) and Clemson (23-9). The final game of the opening
round will match UCLA (26-9) against Portland (19-13), starting at
7:30 p.m.
All eight teams will be back in action in the second round of the
bracketed tournament, beginning at 11 a.m. (PT) on Friday, Nov.
27. The teams then will get one day off, before returning to
the court for their final game on Sunday, Nov. 29. The
championship contest is slated for 7 p.m. (10 p.m. ET) and will be
telecast on ESPN2.
Seven of the eight teams in this year’s 76 Classic reached
postseason play in 2008-09. Butler, UCLA, Texas A & M,
Clemson, Minnesota and West Virginia all participated in the 2009
NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Championship, while Portland
competed in the CollegeInsider.com Tournament. No eight-team,
regular-season tournament has ever had more than seven postseason
teams from the previous year.
This is the third year for the 76 Classic (originally called the
Anaheim Classic). USC won the first tournament title in 2007,
while Wake Forest defeated Baylor for the championship in 2008.
Tickets for the 2009 76 Classic will go on sale in early
September, at www.Ticketmaster.com, or by calling (714)
704-2000. Packages include all 12 games for $90 or
single-session tickets for $20.
