So this year we are treated to a slate that should be slightly more competitive.Maryland gets to find out what life is like without Greivis Vasquez against a team that discount jerseys won 22 games last year and returns three key starters: the Bobby Cremins-coached College of Charleston.The more intriguing game for the Longhorns, and the one where they have to be especially on guard against an upset, is their game two nights later against Louisiana Tech.Presbyterian in the first round.Also being played on Wednesday, before Texas/Louisiana Tech, is another game with at least a chance of an upset.Kansas State on Friday November 12th, a game that has no chance of an upset, and on Sunday, Duke, fresh off a National Championship Game where they held off a bunch of scrappy, plucky white guys at Butler, will host the scrappy, plucky white guys from Princeton, who should be in the mix for an Ivy League title this year.I call it the "Gardner-Webb rule" nike shox r4 because this format was enacted after Gardner-Webb upset Kentucky in this same tournament, depriving the poor tournament organizers the chance to profit from the strong contingent of traveling UK fans.Cancer classic (which again has a misleading title as the schedule includes no games where coaches take on cancer; when I was a kid, I was a water boy for the cancer team).

Slightly.Finally, ESPNU (so farm — more games are likely to be added) will be showing a pair of non-Coaches vs.Texas slipped badly last season, finishing sixth in the Big 12 behind rivals Texas A&M and historical doormat Baylor, clocking in at 9-7 for the second year in a row.This year, however, Pitt returns seven of their top eight scorers, and it will be tough for the Rams to keep up.Sadly, though, David Robinson (ankle, old age) will not be suiting up for Navy.Sadly, Karl Malone (ankle, old age) will not be suiting up for Tech, but this is a strong team that finished fourth in the tough WAC last year and made the postseason themselves, losing to eventual champion Missouri State in the CollegeInsider.

As I wrote last year, the tournament has scrapped the traditional 16-team knockout method in favor of a complicated round-robin mess that ensures that the four "host" schools (this year, it's Pitt, Maryland, Illinois, and Texas) make it to the finals in Madison Square Garden.Nowhere is this more true than in the first game of the year, when Pitt takes on Rhode Island.It would've been even better last year, when Rhode Island knocked off Providence and Oklahoma State en route to an NIT season where they made the semifinals.The college basketball season tips off November 8th this year, once again, with the Coaches vs.Cancer games the first week: James Madison vs.The nightcap on September 8th is more like what we are used to seeing in this tournament, although at least the underdog has name recognition: Navy at Texas.To give them a microscopic grain of credit, however, nike shox oz this year they seem to have realized that guaranteeing the four host schools a trip to the finals in New York means they do not have to schedule ridiculous laughers like Duke vs.While they are rebuilding, this game has a great deal of upset potential.

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