A-10 in Early Season Tournaments

[Obadiah]

One of the disappointments of the Baron years was the lack of any URI participation in the most attractive early season tournaments or special events even after Baron had 20+ win seasons. Fortunately, this scenario is changing under Dan Hurley.

In the upcoming season, the only A-10 schools not in tournaments are Duquesne and Fordham. St. Bonaventure is playing in an inaugural event, Gulf Coast Showcase in Naples, FL, but that tournament has no BCS schools included in its eight team field.

Here is a summary of A-10 schools participation in such tournaments/special events:

Code: Select all

School	        Tournament/Special Event	      Location	          First Round Opponent	     Dates

UMass	        ESPN College Hoops Tip-Off	    Amherst, MA	            LSU	                 Nov. 12
La Salle	     ESPN College Hoops Tip-Off 	   Philadelphia, PA	       Quinnipiac	          Nov. 12
VCU	          ESPN College Hoops Tip-Off	    Charlottesville, VA	    Virginia 	           Nov. 12
URI	          NIT Season Tip-Off	            Tucson, AZ	             TBD	                 Nov. 18
VCU	          Puerto Rico Tip-Off	           San Juan, PR	           Florida State	       Nov. 21-22
UMass	        Charleston Classic	            Charleston, SC	         Nebraska	            Nov. 21, 22, 24
La Salle	     Paradise Jam	                  St. Thomas, VI	         Morgan State	        Nov. 22-25
Richmond	     Hall of Fame Tip-Off	          Mohegan Sun	            North Carolina	      Nov. 23-24
Dayton	       Maui Invitational	             Maui, HI	               Gonzaga	             Nov. 25-27
St. Louis	    Cancun Challenge	              Cancun, Mexico   	      Wisconsin	           Nov. 26-27
St. Joseph’s	 Old Spice Classic	             Lake Buena Vista, FL	   LSU	                 Nov. 28 – Dec. 1
GW	           Wooden Legacy	                 Fullerton/Anaheim, CA	  Miami (FL)	          Nov. 28 – Dec. 1
GW	           BB&T Classic	                  Washington, DC	         Maryland	            Dec. 8
George Mason	 BB&T Classic	                  Washington, DC	         Oklahoma	            Dec. 8
UMass	        Orange Bowl Classic	           Sunrise, FL	            Florida State 	      Dec. 21
George Mason	 Diamond Head Classic	          Honolulu, HI	           Iowa State	          Dec. 22, 23, 25
VCU	          Brooklyn Hoops Winter Festival	Brooklyn, NY	           Boston College	      Dec. 28

[bressler3south]

Thanks, Obadiah!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Look at the great locales, great competition!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[ATPTourFan]

Yes, thx Obadiah for highlighting this for us.

[reef]

This is really good stuff !!

[Hal Kopp]

Tuscon for Rhody is a great locale?

[Justns11]

Damn UMass is in 3 different early season tournaments.

[rambone 78]

True, but our tourney is a 4 game affair, but confusing as all hell.

We are the ONLY A10 team in a tourney, that still doesn't know their 1st round opponent.

Also, we don't know if we'll be home for the last 2 games, or in NY. Then if we're in NY, we have to play GM at their place the day after the final.

Message to Dan: Skip this one next year!

[districtballer]

Damn UMass is in 3 different early season tournaments.

VCU is as well.

[rambone 78]

Being in several Nov.-Dec. tourneys helps, when you can't get good teams to play you OOC, especially at home.

URI might have to go that route starting next year.

[Iggy1979]

Like the Brooklyn tournament -- would be a good fit for URI some year.

[Obadiah]

Iggy, I agree on a good fit for URI. This Brooklyn event is not a traditional tournament. It is a one day, triple header event at Barclays. Besides the BC-VCU game, the other pairings are St. John's-Columbia and Kansas State versus Tulane.

[Rhody74]

The Paradise event on St. Thomas would make a nice destination tournament to visit.

[Obadiah]

Over the last several years, a URI fan has to be disappointed with URI Athletics' scheduling capability on tournament appearances. Some say we didn't get good schedules or tourney invites because we had two bad years. Well, a look at history shows we didn't do any better with marquee events when Baron had his four straight 20+ win seasons.

'07-'08: Record: 21-12 Participated in the Glen Wilkes (?) tournament - faced UAB, USF in Florida.
'08-'09: Record: 23-12 Participated in Philly Hoops Classic, faced Villanova in Philly, also Penn State
'09-'10: Record: 26-10 No tournament
'10-'11; Record: 20-14 Participated in 2k Sports Classic, faced C. of Charleston, and continued next two rounds in Toledo.

Whoopee, in four years only name school we played in three tournaments was Villanova and in their hometown! And if you were looking for an attractive destination tournament, it didn’t happen. The critical point of this record is that Baron and staff and, therefore, URI did not have the contacts and the networking skills that are key elements in getting prime dates/opponents, tournament invites, TV exposure, etc. etc.

OK, that was then and now with Dan Hurley we have a more demanding coach with higher aspirations. I am sure Hurley plus his excellent staff have the contacts and networking skills to change this situation. He made a good start last year with the HOF at Mohegan Sun. This year the NIT is also good, though I am a bit turned off by the disorganization of the NIT given that at this late date the details of the complete field are not known. The future looks brighter.