Regional Hosts Set For 2009 Legends Classic

Michigan State, Rutgers, Florida and UMass have been announced as the four regional hosts for the 2009 Legends Classic men's college basketball tournament. The event will tip-off with Regional Round games November 18-22 and conclude with the four host schools automatically advancing to the Championship Rounds at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, NJ on November 27 and 28. The doubleheaders are scheduled to begin at 5:30 PM ET on both Friday and Saturday.

Championship Round tickets go on sale Friday, July 24 at 12:00 PM ET. Tickets start at just $10 and can be purchased at the Boardwalk Hall box office, all Ticketmaster outlets, online at Ticketmaster.com or by calling 800-736-1420.

Head Coach Tom Izzo, of Michigan State, returns Kalin Lucas, Raymar Morgan and Delvon Roe to a team that won the Big Ten regular season and reached the National Championship game.

Fred Hill, of Rutgers, will look for Mike Rosario, Corey Chandler and Gregory Echenique to lead the Scarlet Knights in the always competitive Big East.

Florida's Billy Donovan is three years removed from back-to-back National Championships and has taken his team to the postseason in each of the last twelve seasons. The Gators return three starters, including the leading rebounder and second leading scorer, Alex Tyus.

In his second year at the helm at UMass, Derek Kellogg will look to his talented backcourt of Ricky Harris and Anthony Gurley to lead the Minutemen through the challenging A-10 schedule.

In the 2008 Championship Game, Pittsburgh defeated Washington State, 57-43. Pittsburgh went on to reach the Elite Eight and held the number one ranking on two separate occasions throughout the course of the season.

#4 PITT BEATS WASHINGTON STATE FOR LEGENDS CLASSIC TITLE

Sam Young scored 15 points and Levance Fields added 14 to lead No. 4 Pittsburgh to a 57-43 victory over Washington State on Saturday night in the championship game of the Legends Classic.

The Panthers (7-0) were able to win despite shooting 35.4 percent from the field (17-of-48). They did it with solid inside defense over the final five minutes, holding the Cougars (5-1) to three points in that span.

Pittsburgh forced 15 turnovers and turned them into 17 points, while Washington State was able to get just two points off the Panthers' eight miscues.

Daven Harmeling had 12 points for Washington State, which had won 21 straight games against nonconference opponents dating to 2006-07.

DeJuan Blair had seven points, 10 rebounds and three blocks for the Panthers, who are off to a 7-0 start for the seventh straight season. Young, who was named Legends Classic MVP, also added eight rebounds.

TEXAS TECH... A SCORING MACHINE

Two games and a total 265 points. That is what Texas Tech has done in the first two games of the Legends Classic.

After hanging 167 points on East Central Oklahoma on Thursday, the Red Raiders came back and scored 97 more against Eastern Kentucky. Alan Voskuil led Texas Tech with 28 points on 8-of-11 shooting from three-point range.

They got heavy visibility on ESPN for the 167 the other night, but the other issue is their points allowed. They have allowed 200 points in those games.

All of those points should catch the eye of Pitt Head Coach Jamie Dixon and how to stop the vaunted Red Raiders attack.

ARE THEY TEXAS TECH OR LOYOLA MARYMOUNT

The Red Raiders scored 167 points... that's right 167... in beating East Central Oklahoma tonight in the Legends Classic.

Texas Tech put 10 players in double-figures with Trevor Cook leading the way on a career-high 20-point night. They scored 77 points in the first half and 90 in the second half.

No surprise that the Red Raiders broke their all-time record for points in a game. What is a shock is that they broke their record by 39 points and set the new mark with 7:43 left in the game.

HDNet To Broadcast Legends Classic Championship Round

HDNet will broadcast the Championship Round games of the Legends Classic on Nov. 28 & 29 from the Prudential Center in Newark, NJ.

The games will include a doubleheader each day beginning at 5:30 pm ET. The first night will see Mississippi State battle Washington State, followed by Pitt against Texas Tech. The winners will meet the following night in the Championship Game with the 3rd Place game being played first at 5:30 pm ET.

Good doubleheader with Pitt (pre-season Top 10), Washington State (Sweet 16 last year), Mississippi State (sleeper in SEC w/ national defensive player of the year Jarvis Vanardo) and Texas Tech (first full year w/ Pat Knight as coach).

BTW... the broadcast crew include current CBS studio analyst and SI writer Seth Davis, along with former Duke standout Jim Spanarkel. Play-by-play is being done by Michael Reghi.