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2010 Old Spice Classic

at the ESPN Wide World of Sports

2010 Dates and Pricing

November 25-28 
 

Five years ago a new early season basketball tournament entered the hoops universe, and Arkansas beat West Virginia for the inaugural Old Spice Classic crown. This November a new crop of teams will huddle up with one goal: the 2010 Old Spice Classic championship. Boston College, California, Georgia, Manhattan, Notre Dame, Temple, Texas A&M and Wisconsin will vie for bragging rights in the fifth annual tournament to be held on Thanksgiving weekend at the Milk House at ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex near Orlando, Fla. The event will feature 12 games through three days, Nov. 25, 26 and 28, with each team competing in one game per day and advancing through a bracket-tournament format. The two teams that remain undefeated will face off in a championship match Sunday, Nov. 28. Last November, Florida State edged Marquette.

2010 Bracket

THE FIELD

BOSTON COLLEGE
Nickname: Eagles
Conference: Atlantic Coast
Location: Chestnut Hill, Mass.
2009-10 Record: 15-16

Steve Donahue is in his first season as coach at Boston College after leading Cornell to three consecutive Ivy League titles and an NCAA Sweet 16 appearance in 2009-10. Senior forward Joe Trapani, who averaged 14.1 ppg and and 6.4 rpg last season, headlines a list of four returning starters, including junior guard Reggie Jackson (12.9 ppg) and senior forward Corey Raji (11.4 ppg). Boston College has reached the NCAA Tournament seven times in the last 10 seasons.
 

CALIFORNIA
Nickname: Bears
Conference: Pac-10
Location: Berkeley, Calif.
2009-10 Record (postseason result): 24-11 (NCAA 2nd round)

California won its first conference championship since 1960 last season, going 13-5 in Pac-10 play before falling to Washington in the championship game of the Pac-10 Tournament. Cal earned a No. 8 seed in the NCAA Tournament and defeated Louisville in the first round before falling to eventual national champion Duke in Round 2. Mike Montgomery became the first Cal coach to surpass 20 wins in his first two seasons with the team. The Golden Bears have to replace four starters from 2009-10, including Pac-10 player of the year Jerome Randle, Cal’s all-time leading scorer.

GEORGIA
Nickname: Bulldogs
Conference: Southeastern
Location: Athens, Ga.
2009-10 Record: 14-17

Under new coach Mark Fox, Georgia improved its win total by two games and its SEC total by three games despite playing the 16th-most difficult schedule in the nation. The Bulldogs toppled three teams ranked in the AP top 25 at the time: No. 20 Georgia Tech, No. 8 Tennessee and No. 18 Vanderbilt. Forward Trey Thompkins, a junior this season, earned first team All-SEC honors by leading the team in scoring (17.7 ppg), rebounding (8.3 rpg) and blocked shots (36). Georgia’s number-two scorer and rebounder also returns: junior guard Travis Leslie (14.8 ppg, 6.8 rpg).

MANHATTAN
Nickname: Jaspers
Conference: MAAC
Location: Riverside, N.Y.
2009-10 Record: 11-20

Manhattan will have many new faces on its 2010-11 squad, including four homegrown New York City natives among its six-man recruiting class. The Jaspers have to replace all-MAAC guard Rico Pickett, who led the conference with 17.7 ppg last season. Manhattan has reached at least the quarterfinal round of the MAAC Tournament in each of coach Barry Rohrssen’s first four years. Last season the Jaspers led top-seed Siena at halftime before bowing out in the quarterfinal round. The Old Spice Classic marks the first out-of-state neutral site tournament for Manhattan since the 2002 Billy Minardi Classic in Louisville, Ky.

NOTRE DAME
Nickname: Fighting Irish
Conference: BIG EAST
Location: South Bend, Ind.
2009-10 Record (postseason result): 23-12 (NCAA 1st round)

Notre Dame reached the NCAA Tournament for the third time in the last four years and the sixth time in 10 seasons under coach Mike Brey. The Irish were an NCAA bubble team before running off six consecutive wins to reach the BIG EAST Championship semifinal round, losing by two points to eventual champion West Virginia. Notre Dame has won 20 or more games in four straight seasons, the longest such streak since doing so six times in a row from 1983-89. This year’s team returns a pair of double-digit scorers in seniors Tim Abromaitis (16.1 ppg) and Ben Hansbrough (12.0 ppg).

TEMPLE
Nickname: Owls
Conference: Atlantic 10
Location: Philadelphia
2009-10 Record (postseason result): 29-6 (NCAA 1st round)

Temple won its third-consecutive Atlantic 10 title under conference coach of the year Fran Dunphy. The team’s 29 wins were the third-highest total in school history. The Owls rode a 10-game winning streak into the NCAA Tournament before falling to Cornell in the opening round. Lavoy Allen, who will be a senior this season, became the first Temple player to average a double-double (11.5 ppg, 10.7 rpg) since Ollie Johnson in 1970-71. Junior guard Juan Fernandez also returns after being named most outstanding player at the A-10 Championship.
 

TEXAS A&M
Nickname: Aggies
Conference: Big 12
Location: College Station, Texas
2009-10 Record (postseason result): 24-10 (NCAA 2nd round)

Texas A&M is one of only two schools in the nation to win at least one NCAA Tournament game in each of the last five years (Pittsburgh is the other). Mark Turgeon became the first coach at any Big 12 school to win at least 24 games in each of his first three seasons. While the Aggies must replace their top scorer and rebounder from last season, three starters return, led by point guard Dash Harris, a member of the Big 12 all-defensive team. Texas A&M spent last Thanksgiving at the 76 Classic in Anaheim, Calif., going 2-1, with all three opponents later reaching the NCAA Tournament.
 

WISCONSIN
Nickname: Badgers
Conference: Big Ten
Location: Madison, Wis.
2009-10 Record (postseason result): 24-9 (NCAA 2nd round)

Wisconsin beat Wofford in the first round of the 2010 NCAA Tournament for coach Bo Ryan’s 600th career victory. It marked the Badgers’ 12th consecutive season reaching the NCAA Tournament. The season included wins over top 10 teams Duke, Ohio State and Michigan State. Forward Jon Leuer (14.8 ppg) was named the top returning player in the conference by the Big Ten Network. This will be the fifth time in the last six seasons that Wisconsin has headed south for an early-season tournament (they also played in the 2005 and 2008 Paradise Jam in the Virgin Islands, the 2006 South Padre Invitational and the 2009 Maui Classic).