TicketCity Legends Classic (College Basketball Tournament)
Venue: IZOD Center (East Rutherford, New Jersey)
Teams: Texas, Vanderbilt, Oregon State, North Carolina State
Dates: November 19 & 21
This November, the south and west will invade the northeast for one of the biggest pre-season college basketball tournaments all year. This is the fifth year for the Legend’s Classic, and the lineup is truly exciting. Four great teams will rep their power conferences in New Jersey: Texas from the Big 12; Vanderbilt of the SEC; Pac-12’s Oregon State; and NC State, representing the ACC.
The series will be broken down into four games—Vanderbilt vs. NC State and Texas vs. Oregon State on November 19th, then the championship and third-place matches on November 21st.
Texas: The Longhorns begin their rebuilding with the TicketCity Legend’s Classic, the first set of games head coach Rick Barnes will be without Tristan Thompson, Cory Joseph and Jordan Hamilton, all of whom left for the NBA (or the idea of the NBA) after last season. Barnes’ squad will likely be led by the talented freshman point guard Myck Kabongo.
Oregon State: A win for the Beavers in East Rutherford would be instrumental in getting them noticed east of the Rockies. They’ll have junior Jared Cunningham, who in 2011 was included in the All-Pac-10 Second Team and Pac-10 All-Defensive Team. Along with the recently eligible freshman guard Roberto Nelson, head coach Craig Robinson will look to make a big mark in the minds of the rest of the country.
Vanderbilt: The Commodores dodged a bullet the Longhorns could not when its top three players from 2011— John Jenkins, Jeffery Taylor and Festus Ezeli—decided to skip entering last year’s draft and stay in Nashville. That stability is going to help them if they hope to get the two out-of-conference wins that propel them into the tournament to erase the taste of two back-to-back early exits.
NC State: This ACC representative is being coached by Mark Gottfried and looking for a significant contribution from its freshman forward CJ Leslie. Their season ended early last year, being knocked out of the ACC tournament in the first round by Maryland. But with a new coach, star-in-the-making and outlook, the Wolf Pack are looking to take 2011 by storm.