Charleston Classic Preview

In its third year, the Charleston Classic is a made-for-ESPN exempt tournament that is played at the Carolina First Arena and hosted by the Southern Conference (Wofford is this year’s host team). Both previous champions have been from the ACC: Clemson in 2008 and Miami last year. The Charleston Post & Courier ran an interview with Dan Shoemaker, the man responsible for creating the Classic, who talks about its origins:

“The College of Charleston played in our inaugural Puerto Rico Tip-Off event in 2007. Coach (Bobby) Cremins was telling me how much he enjoyed the tournament and said if there was an opportunity in the future they’d really be interested in playing in another event. I kind of half-jokingly said, ‘What if we did one of these in Charleston?’ His response was, ‘You’re kidding.’ I said it was something we’d take a serious look at.

Unlike last year’s Glenn Wilkes Classic, the Charleston Classic is both an actual bracket-tournament format and also has 10 of its 12 games televised — four by ESPNU and six by MASN (which TWC doesn’t offer in the Triangle). There’s certainly a “Carolinas” — ever notice the same folks that say “The Carolinas” are the same ones that use the long “a” in Appalachian? — feel to the tournament this year, with three teams each from North Carolina and South Carolina and two from the D.C. area. In addition to State, this year’s eight-team field also includes Coastal Carolina, Georgetown, USC Upstate, Wofford, East Carolina, George Mason, and Charlotte.

ESPN’s Andy Katz picks the potential Georgetown vs. State Championship as one of his 10 must-see exempt-tournament games of 2010.

Based on the Bracket and TV schedule, if State beats the Pahrats on Thursday, then its game Friday would be against the winner of George Mason vs. Charlotte at 6:30 on ESPNU.

Thursday, November 18
Game 1 (Noon, MASN): Coastal Carolina vs. Georgetown
Game 2 (2:30, MASN): USC Upstate vs. Wofford
Game 3 (6:00, MASN): East Carolina vs. NC State
Game 4 (8:30, MASN): George Mason vs. Charlotte

Friday, November 19
Game 5 (Noon, MASN): Game 1 Loser vs. Game 2 Loser
Game 6 (2:30, ESPNU): Game 1 Winner vs. Game 2 Winner
Game 7 (6:00, ESPNU): Game 3 Winner vs. Game 4 Winner
Game 8 (8:30, MASN): Game 3 Loser vs. Game 4 Loser

Sunday, November 21
Championship (7:30, ESPNU): Game 6 Winner vs. Game 7 Winner

You can vote for who you think will win the Charleston Classic in the ESPN SportsNation Poll.

You can discuss this tournament on the SFN Forums.

About LRM

Charter member of the Lunatic Fringe and a fan, loyal to a fault.

10-11 Basketball NCS Basketball

20 Responses to Charleston Classic Preview

  1. 4in12 11/17/2010 at 7:11 AM #

    Thanks for posting. The DVR is set.

  2. lsutton5144 11/17/2010 at 8:19 AM #

    MASN is available on Direct TV.

  3. Pano Fasoulas 11/17/2010 at 8:26 AM #

    Anyone know if those MASN games will be on ESPN3?

  4. wolfonthehill 11/17/2010 at 8:37 AM #

    I guess I picked the wrong week to cancel the SportsPack on DTV…

  5. modobrew 11/17/2010 at 8:59 AM #

    Does anyone know if MASN is offered on U-verse or the U-verse Sports package?

  6. lsutton5144 11/17/2010 at 9:04 AM #

    Wolf,
    I don’t have the Sports Pack and I still get it. Don’t remember the channel number – it’s somewhere between 625 and 645. I’ve been with Direct TV for 13 years, and my package is not even offered anymore to anyone else, but I’ve never subscribed to the Sports Pack.

  7. burnbarn 11/17/2010 at 9:04 AM #

    I called ATT yesterday..no MASN on any package

  8. wesley 11/17/2010 at 9:10 AM #

    I plan on being at some of the games, if they are on MASN, I will try to provide updates throughout the game somewhere on here.

  9. Sw0rdf1sh 11/17/2010 at 9:23 AM #

    Thank you UNCW for helping us get MASN down here. It might be one of the only things we get the triangle doesn’t…..besides waves.

  10. pack80 11/17/2010 at 9:51 AM #

    MASN on Dish network, channel 432

  11. BJD95 11/17/2010 at 9:53 AM #

    One could make a visit to your friendly local sports bar. There’s also an NFL game Thursday night that nobody with cable (locally will get). So, there’s some efficiencies of scale going on.

    I don’t necessarily want to think about the last time we played the Pie-rats outside of Raleigh (shudder). But I’m looking forward to the final against Georgetown this weekend. Should be fun. And maybe Mason/CLT can give us a competitive game on Friday, too.

    As far as November tourneys go, not too bad. Certainly an improvement over last year’s “classic.”

  12. IMFletcherWolf 11/17/2010 at 10:00 AM #

    MASN is DirecTV channel 640.

  13. 61Packer 11/17/2010 at 10:44 AM #

    MASN is also on DirecTV’s basic package. Always has been. The News & Observer will not list MASN (or the Big Ten Network, among others) in its daily tv sports lineup, so thanks to this website for alerting us about the MASN broadcasts. Having cable for your sports these days is like choosing black and white tv over HDTV.

  14. RednWhite17 11/17/2010 at 10:56 AM #

    *** UPDATE ***

    Katz also lists our games against Syracuse and at home against Duke among the must-see games that definitely will happen. Granted a lot of games are listed, but hey its still pretty sweet.

  15. PapaJohn 11/17/2010 at 3:46 PM #

    Hey, let’s not hang that trophy yet.
    One game at a time. We’ve got the talent to do well, but this is only our second game of the season. And we are relying heavily on freshmen. And Tracey slept through most of the first game.

    Not to be pessimistic, but there’s a long season ahead of us.

    Come on guys, play well three games in a row!!!!

    GO PACK!!

  16. wbnation 11/17/2010 at 5:20 PM #

    I think time warner is owned by the devil….I hate that company with a passion…..and yet I keep giving them my money. So I think I may hate myself more.

  17. ADVENTUROO 11/17/2010 at 9:14 PM #

    WOW….

    Great info here. We are going to Charleston and will be hanging out in our Motor Home with DirecTV HD. Have the Booster tickets so we will be at all the NCSU sessions….plus RAYCOM is running THE game locally on Broadcast TV @ Noon. Weather looks great….lets hope that BOTH WP teams look as great as the forecast is.

    GO PACK…

  18. ppack3 11/17/2010 at 10:05 PM #

    Signed up for direct tv today! Bye bye, TWC!

  19. packalum44 11/18/2010 at 11:03 AM #

    I’m very excited for this tournament, it is easily winnable. I’ve seen G-Town play and can say they are very beatable. The fact they are missing 2 key players adds confidence. We really need to beat them b/c our OCC schedule gets tougher with Wisconsin and Syracuse. Those will be tough wins to come by.

    I don’t know much about AZ this year. At the very least we must win 1 of those 4 games if we want to have a decent shot at the dance. Win 2 or more and we could go 8-8 in ACC and still likely get the nod. No VA Tech OCC worries for the Pack!

  20. wolfy85 11/19/2010 at 12:36 AM #

    I would like to take the time to thank Time Warner Cable for not giving us the MASN channel and the game tonight. TWC is now on it’s third appeal with the FCC, after having been ordered twice already by the FCC to air MASN on the standard viewing package. It appears they are repeatedly appealing to avoid the end result. TWC refuses to give out the channel because they want people to buy their sports packages and refuse to give out any sports channels that will in any way effect that and/or provide the joy and happiness of seeing your favorite team play. Also note, this is the same reason they do not carry the NFL network. Looks like I’ll be using Directv or Dish Network in the future.

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