Princeton,
NJ (September 21, 2004) – The Gazelle Group is pleased
to announce a new expanded format for the Coaches vs. Cancer Classic,
the nation's premier preseason college basketball tournament. This
year's event features 16 teams from 16 conferences competing at four
regional sites hosted by top-ranked teams - Syracuse, Memphis, Cal
and Mississippi State (in Birmingham, AL). Regional action begins
November 11th - 13th. The winners from each site will advance to
play in the Championship Rounds at Madison Square Garden in New York
City on November 18th - 19th. All four Championship Round games will
be nationally televised on ESPN2.
Teams scheduled
to participate at the regional host sites include: Alabama A&M,
Belmont, Birmingham-Southern, Bucknell, Fairfield, George Mason,
IPFW, Northern Colorado, Princeton, Savannah
State,
St. Mary's and UC Riverside. Outlined below are the dates, locations
and match-ups for the event (Click
here for a complete bracket):.
Regional Rounds:
November 11th & 12th, 5:30 PM EST
Carrier Dome, Syracuse, NY
Syracuse vs. Northern Colorado
Princeton vs. Bucknell
November
11th & 13th,
Time TBA
FedExForum, Memphis, TN
Memphis vs. Savannah State
George Mason vs. IPFW
November
11th & 12th,
5:30 PM PST
Haas Pavilion, Berkeley, CA
California vs. UC Riverside
St. Mary's vs. Belmont
November 11th & 12th,
6:00 PM CST
Birmingham Jefferson Convention Complex, Birmingham, AL
Mississippi State vs. Fairfield
Alabama A&M vs. Birmingham-Southern
* All opening round games to be played at each host site on November
11th. All regional Consolation and Championship Games in Syracuse,
Birmingham, and Cal will be played on November 12th. Consolation
and Championship Games in Memphis will be played on November 13th.
Championship Rounds:
Semifinals:
November 18th, 7:00 PM EST
Madison Square Garden
Regional Winner (Memphis) vs. Regional Winner (Cal)
Regional Winner (Syracuse) vs. Regional Winner (Mississippi State)
Finals:
November 19th, 7:00 PM EST
Madison Square Garden
Consolation Game
Championship Game
ESPN.com's Andy
Katz featured Syracuse(#5), Mississippi State(#11), and Memphis(#19)
in his Summer Sizzling 50 rankings
and all three
teams are projected to appear in the "Top 25" at the start
of the season. This year's Event will include five John Wooden preseason
All-America candidates on its rosters: Gerry McNamara (Syracuse),
Hakim Warrick (Syracuse), Sean Banks (Memphis), Lawrence Roberts
(Mississippi State), and Leon Powe (California).
The Coaches vs. Cancer program, created by the American Cancer Society
and the National Association of Basketball Coaches exists to leverage
the strength, community leadership and celebrity of our country's
basketball coaches to raise awareness and in turn, reduce cancer
risk through education programs while raising funds for the American
Cancer Society. Since 1995, The Gazelle Group, producer of the
Coaches vs. Cancer Classic, has raised over $2.2 million for Coaches
vs. Cancer.
Ticket information:
Syracuse: 1-888-DOMETIX or www.dometix.com (Individual game tickets
on sale Oct. 13th)
Memphis: 1-888-867-UofM or www.gotigersgo.com (Individual game tickets
on sale Oct. 15th)
California: 1-800-GO-BEARS or www.calbears.com (Individual game tickets
on sale Oct. 1st)
Birmingham: Tickets can be purchased through Mississippi State now
(1-888-GODAWGS or www.mstateathletics.com) or through Ticketmaster
beginning Oct. 1st.
Championship Round tickets at Madison Square Garden are on sale now
and can be purchased by calling Ticketmaster at (212) 307-7171
or through www.Ticketmaster.com.
For more information about the Coaches vs. Cancer Classic, please
visit www.coachesvscancer.com or contact Christopher Makos at (609)
921-1300 or cmakos@gazellegroup.com.
The Gazelle
Group • 475 Wall Street, Princeton, NJ 08540 • phone (609) 921-1300
fax (609) 921-2332
~Dons~