The Long Beach State men’s basketball team will have a full plate this Thanksgiving.
Head coach Dan Monson’s squad was announced as part of the eight-team bracket for the 76 Classic on ESPNEWS Tuesday morning. The 49ers are slated to play West Virginia in the first game of the tournament at 11 a.m. on Thanksgiving Day (Nov. 26). The contest is scheduled to air on ESPNU.
The Thanksgiving weekend tournament, which will be played at the Anaheim Convention Center, features a star-studded field that includes six teams from the 2009 NCAA Tournament. By the end of the 2009-10 season the 49ers could end up playing seven teams that made the Big Dance last year.
The Mountaineers, coming off last season’s 7th place Big East finish, went 23-12 in 2009. WVU is projected to be as high as third in the powerhouse Big East Conference. The other pairing of the 49ers’ half of the bracket features a tilt between Texas A&M and Clemson at 1:30 p.m.
The Aggies of Texas A&M advanced to last season’s NCAA second round after finishing fourth in the Big 12 Conference, while the Tigers placed fourth in the Atlantic Coast Conference before getting bounced in the first round by Michigan.
On the other side of the bracket, Monson’s former team, the Minnesota Golden Gophers, will take on Butler at 5:30 p.m., while the UCLA-Portland showdown is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.
Minnesota finished 7th in the Big Ten last season, while Butler nabbed an NCAA at-large bid coming out of the Horizon League. The Bulldogs are projected to be included in various preseason Top 25 polls.
The Bruins are coming off a second-place finish in the Pac-10, but lost four of their five starters from the 2008-09 season. Portland placed third in the West Coast Conference, and advanced to the CollegInsider.com postseason tournament.
Minnesota and Butler each made last year’s NCAA field, while UCLA advanced to the second round before losing to Villanova.
ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPNU will televise the 76 Classic. The Beach opens its 2009-10 season Nov. 14 against NCAA Division II opponent Alaska Anchorage.