2008-2009 SIUE Men's Basketball - Opens Season at Charleston Classic

		Southern Illinois University Edwardsville Men's Basketball	SIUE Men's Basketball SIUE Athletics

August 27, 2008

SIUE Kicks Off Season at Charleston Classic
          CHARLESTON, S.C. - Southern Illinois University Edwardsville men's basketball will kick off the 2008-2009 regular season at the inaugural Charleston Classic, set for Nov. 14-16 in the Carolina First Center.
          ESPN Regional Television announced the brackets Wednesday morning for a 12-game tournament over three days which will include games being broadcast on College Sports Southeast (CSS). The Southern Conference will serve as the event's sponsoring conference.
          SIUE, recent members of the Ohio Valley Conference, will play host College of Charleston at 7 p.m. on Nov. 14. The game will be broadcast live on CSS. The Cougars will play the winner of the Temple-East Tennessee State matchup on Nov. 15. The other four teams in the Classic are Clemson, Hofstra, Texas Christian, and Western Michigan. Clemson and Temple were NCAA Tournament teams last season.
          "We are very excited to be playing in a tournament of this caliber, especially in our first year of the reclassification to Division I," said SIUE Coach Lennox Forrester. "Our players and fans should be excited about this opportunity to play on regional television."
          The eight-team tournament will be a bracket-style event with teams playing one game per day. The championship game is set for 4 p.m. on Nov. 16 and will be broadcast on CSS.
          "We're pleased to have a competitive field and exciting matchups in the inaugural Charleston Classic," said Pete Derzis, senior vice president and general manager, ESPN Regional Television. "We expect this new event to provide a terrific off-the-court experience for the student-athletes, coaches and staffs while giving fans a great opportunity to watch college basketball in the great destination of Charleston."
          Tournament tickets go on sale Sept. 15 at www.CharlestonClassic.com, or by telephone at the Carolina First Center box office at (843) 953-2632. Travel packages to the tournament for fans also are available by calling 800-736-6377 or by going to www.AnthonyTravel.com.

2008 Charleston Classic Schedule
(Home team listed second; College of Charleston will be home team in each of its games)
Date, Time (ET), Game, Network
Fri., Nov. 14
12:30 p.m. -- TCU vs. Western Michigan
3 p.m. -- East Tennessee State vs. Temple
7 p.m. -- SIU Edwardsville vs. College of Charleston (CSS)
9:30 p.m. -- Hofstra vs. Clemson (CSS)
Sat., Nov. 15
11:30 a.m. -- Game #5
2 p.m.-- Game #6 (CSS< delayed*)
5:30 p.m. -- Game #7
8 p.m. -- Game #8 (CSS)

Sun., Nov. 16
10:30 a.m. -- Game #9 (7th/8th Place)
1 p.m. -- Game #10 (4th/6th Place)
4 p.m. -- Game #11 (Champion/2nd Place) (CSS)
6:30 p.m. -- Game #12 (3rd/5th Place)
(*) Game will air on CSS on Sat., Nov. 15, at 10 p.m. ET.

ESPN Regional Television/Event Ownership
          The nation's largest syndicator of collegiate sports programming, ESPN Regional Television (ERT) annually produces more than 900 sporting events. Programming includes football, basketball, NCAA events, golf and NHRA events accounting for more than 2,200 live and/or original hours of programming. In addition to event ownership, ERT is the production headquarters for ESPNU, the 24-hour college sports network; syndication rights-holder and producer of national, regional and local shows for college conferences (e.g. - BIG EAST, Big 12, Mid-American, Sun Belt, WAC).
          ESPN Regional Television markets and/or owns several other sporting events, including collegiate football events: the St. Petersburg Bowl; the Papajohns.com Bowl; the Bell Helicopter Armed Forces Bowl; the Sheraton Hawai'i Bowl; the Pioneer Las Vegas Bowl, the New Mexico Bowl; the MEAC/SWAC Challenge; and The Home Depot College Football Awards; collegiate basketball events: the O'Reilly Auto Parts All-College Classic (Oklahoma City); the Old Spice Classic (Orlando, Fla.); the SEC/BIG EAST Invitational; the Anaheim Classic (Calif.); the O'Reilly Auto Parts Puerto Rico Tip-Off (San Juan); and the O'Reilly ESPNU BracketBusters; as well as the ESPN National Golf Challenge presented by Callaway. For more information, visit www.espnplus.com.
                    -siue cougars-