Now down to business.

GAME 1 of 2K Sports Classic

Georgia Southern vs. Houston @ Cameron Indoor (4pm)

ABOUT HOUSTON

The Cougars return eight lettermen but only one starter (junior guard Kelvin Lewis) from last season’s team which finished with a 24-10 record and advanced to the semifinals of the inaugural 2008 College Basketball Invitational.

ABOUT GEORGIA SOUTHERN

Georgia Southern finished with a 20-12 overall record (13-7 in Southern Conference) in 2007-08. Sophomore guard Willie Powers enters the year as the team’s leading returning scorer with 11.5 points per game and was named to the league’s All-Freshmen Team.

GAME 2 of 2K Sports Classic

Presbyterian Blue Hose vs. Duke Blue Devils @ Cameron Indoor (7pm)

Jeff Mezydlo of AOL Sports

This will be Duke’s first meeting with Presbyterian, a small South Carolina school which is coming off a 5-25 first season in Division I.

The Blue Hose, who have never defeated a Division I school on the road, will play as a member of the Big South Conference for the first time this season.

Al’Lonzo Coleman, a 6-foot-7 sophomore center who led the Blue Hose with 11.2 points and 10.0 rebounds per game last season, returns for a team picked to finish last in the Big South’s preseason poll.

Barring an upset, Duke will face either Georgia Southern or Houston in the tournament’s regional championship Tuesday in Durham. That winner of that contest advances to the semifinals of the Classic at Madison Square Garden on Nov. 20.

Could be a rough 40 minutes for the Blue Hose.

Presbyterian lost to DII Augusta State last thursday. Moral victories fellas, remember the moral victories.

Ok, my breaking down of the games is over. The originality fountain is now dry.

BTW, the 2K tournament bracket is here.

It’s on!

Post from: EveryJoe

Season begins TODAY!!

The tournament begins with regional games on Nov. 10-13 with the semifinals and finals on Nov. 20-21 at Madison Square Garden.

Duke, UCLA, Michigan and Southern Illinois will serve as regional hosts.

The Durham Regional at Cameron Indoor Stadium has Duke facing Presbyterian and Houston playing Georgia Southern.

The Carbondale Regional at the SIU Arena features Southern Illinois vs. California (PA) and Massachusetts vs. Arkansas-Monticello.

At the Ann Arbor Regional, Michigan hosts Michigan Tech and IUPUI (I’m not spelling that out) plays Northeastern at the Crisler Arena.

Out west at Pauley Pavillion in Los Angeles, UCLA faces Prairie View A&M and Miami (OH) plays Weber State.

Of course the ESPN networks will be all over this televising 10 games, including the semifinals and finals.

Since the tournament began in 1996, more than $4 million has been raised for Coaches vs. Cancer and the American Cancer Society.

Post from: EveryJoe

UCLA and Duke Headline 2K Sports Classic