MONTICELLO – The University of Arkansas at Monticello men’s basketball team is set to open the 2008-09 season in the 2008 2K Sports Classic benefiting Coaches vs. Cancer, the nation’s premier season-opening college basketball tournament.
 
The Weevils open their season against the University of Massachusetts on Tuesday, November 11 at 6 p.m. in Carbondale, Ill. on the campus of Southern Illinois University.
 
The team is guaranteed two games in the classic. Despite the outcome of the game against UMass, the Weevils will either play Southern Illinois or California (Pa.) on Wednesday, November 12. SIU and California (Pa.) meet at 8:30 p.m. also on November 11.
 
This is very exciting for our program,” said UAM head coach Mike Newell. “Any time a D-2 team gets to play in a tournament of this magnitude against the Duke’s, UCLA’s, Michigan’s, and other teams like that, its exciting for the players, fans, and alumni.”
 
If UAM manages to win its first two games, the team would be invited to Madison Square Garden in New York City to likely play either Duke or Houston on national television.
 
Duke, UCLA, Michigan and Southern Illinois are the four host teams for the regional rounds of the tournament.
 
In the Durham regional, Houston and Georgia Southern face off at 4 p.m. on November 10, which is followed by Duke hosting Presbyterian at 7 p.m., in an ESPN-U television game.
 
In the Ann Arbor regional, IUPUI faces Northeastern at 4 p.m. on November 11, while Michigan and Michigan Tech will battle at 7 p.m., also an ESPN-U game.
 
In the Los Angeles regional, Weber State faces Miami (Ohio) at 7:15 p.m. on November 12, while UCLA faces off against Prairie View A&M at 10 p.m. later that night, which will also be carried on ESPN-U.
 
“Since I’ve been at UAM, we have been very fortunate to be able to expose our student-athletes to greater competition in the amount of D-1 teams we have played,” said Newell. “I think when a recruit looks at our track record of playing against the ‘big boys,’ UAM has a tremendous advantage in the recruiting battle with other D-2 programs.”
 
Newell joined the UAM basketball program in 2001. Since then, the Weevils have faced off with teams such as Fresno State, Texas-El Paso, Texas Christian (TCU), Louisiana State, Cincinnati, Marshall, Rutgers, Marquette and Bradley.
 
Last season, the team squared off with Texas, West Virginia and Tennessee in the Legends Classic. All three opponents made it to the NCAA Division I “Sweet 16.”

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