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Tulsa Golden Hurricane  Western Kentucky Hilltoppers  

Game #8-052: Tulsa Golden Hurricane vs. Western Kentucky Hilltoppers November 17, 2011 12:30 pm Charleston, SC BBState Stats/Recap

Early season tournaments have been a major part of college basketball for decades, almost since the beginning of the sport. Tournaments like the Maui Invitational and the Great Alaska Shootout have been fixtures in the sport for decades. Due to the expansion of the exemptions for preseason tournaments, they have grown into several new locations, as ESPN and other networks need programming.

There are several towns with nice new arenas that have gotten the chance to have these tournaments. Charleston, SC is one of them.

Charleston is a city with a very fervent college basketball atmosphere. With three mid-major teams within 25 minutes of each other, it is one of the best college basketball towns in the Southeast.

Not only do you have those teams, but there's the majors of South Carolina and Clemson with big followings, but SC State and other schools within a couple hours. However, until 2008, there was no new arena in the area since 1980. Charleston Southern and the College of Charleston both had to play games at cavernous North Charleston Coliseum, and CSU still plays usually one or two games a year there.

The College of Charleston had plans for a new arena as far back as the late 1990s. Three or four locations around the downtown area were planned. It took them, however, until the 2008-09 season to get their new arena. The College has hosted several major schools in their new arena, with the most well-known being the upset of North Carolina on Jan 4, 2010 in OT.

The Charleston Classic has steadily risen in importance since its first year. In 2008, only 5 of the 12 games were televised regionally, one on tape delay, while this year, each game was televised (including this one) on at least ESPN3, and 5 games aired nationally.

This year, the tournament opened with Western Kentucky and Tulsa. The crowd was surprisingly large for an early afternoon game between schools 10 and 18 hours away from Charleston, respectively. Each team had a couple of hundred fans for themselves, on each side of the court, with Western having slightly more than Tulsa. Several Tulsa fans drove in from the local area, as I met a couple from the Charlotte area.

There were also fans spread around the arena from most of the other teams, with VCU eventually having the most. Tulsa and Western Kentucky both had their own local high school pep band. Both were very good, playing at every chance that they were allowed to.

Several NBA scouts attended the games, including ones from the Lakers, Bulls, Grizzlies and others.

As the second half started, St. John's High School, a local school with about 300 students or so, had been taking tours of the college all day. Their band was performing in a later game. The principal of the school decided to take the entire school to watch the team's band in action. This group was a very vocal one, yelling and whooping after every dunk and good play made by each team.

The game, however, was not as good as expected. WKU had three of their top players suspended, and got into early foul trouble. You could tell that Tulsa was an above the red line school, with their nice uniforms and a long bench, and they cruised to a 13-point halftime lead and a 16-point win, 65-49. The Tulsa players along with some of the Western guys stayed around to watch the later game between majors LSU and Northwestern.

You could tell a difference, by the many pages of notes on the press area just for LSU stuff, extensive radio networks for each team (both have 50,000 watt clear channel AMs where their games air), and their large groups of fans. Another, larger local high school band performed for Northwestern, as they were also known as the Wildcats.

The Charleston Classic is an entertaining tournament to watch if you're a college basketball fan, and this game was no exception. wns with nice new arenas that have gotten the chance to have these tournaments. Charlest , was not as good as expected. WKU had three of their top players suspended, and got into early foul trouble. You could tell that Tulsa was an above the red line school, with their nice uniforms and a long bench, and they cruised to a 13-point halftime lead and a 16-point win, 65-49.

The Tulsa players along with some of the Western guys stayed around to watch the later game between majors LSU and Northwestern.

You could tell a difference, by the many pages of notes on the press area just for LSU stuff, extensive radio networks for each team (both have 50,000 watt clear channel AMs where their games air), and their large groups of fans.

Another, larger local high school band performed for Northwestern, as they were also known as the Wildcats.

The Charleston Classic is an entertaining tournament to watch if you're a college basketball fan, and this game was no exception.


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