Aug. 4, 2009
O'Reilly Auto Parts Puerto Rico Tip-Off Bracket In PDF Format
The University of Dayton men's basketball team learned it would open the 2009 O'Reilly Auto Parts Puerto Rico Tip-Off against Georgia Tech in an announcement made on ESPN News today (August 4). ESPN Regional Television, Inc. (ERT), a subsidiary of ESPN, announced today the matchups for the tournament, to be held Nov. 19, 20 and 22 at the Coliseo de Puerto Rico in the cosmopolitan Hato Rey district of San Juan.
The University of Dayton will square off against the Yellow Jackets at 11:30 a.m. ET on Thursday, November 19. Dayton returns four starters and 10 of its top 11 scorers from last year's 27-8 team that reached the NCAA second round. The Flyer returnees include all four players who earned Atlantic 10 postseason honors in 2008-09: Chris Wright, Marcus Johnson, London Warren and Chris Johnson. Georgia Tech also returns four starters from a young team that was 12-19 and in addition welcomes the seventh-ranked recruiting class in the country.
The Flyers' second game of the tournament will be against either Villanova or George Mason. `Nova reached last year's Final Four, finished 30-8, returns three starters and has the No. 3-ranked recruiting class coming in. George Mason is also a recent Final Four participant (2006). GMU was 22-11 and reached the NIT in 2008-09. George Mason returns two starters from that team.
Other teams in the field are Boston University (17-13, four starters returning), Indiana (6-25, 4), Kansas State (22-12, 4) and Ole Miss (16-15, 5). Eight different conferences are represented in the tournament: America East (Boston U.), Atlantic Coast Conference (Georgia Tech), Atlantic 10 (Dayton), Big East (Villanova), Big 10 (Indiana), Big XII (Kansas State), Colonial (George Mason) and Southeastern Conference (Ole Miss).
The 2009 O'Reilly Auto Parts Puerto Rico Tip-Off will feature 12 games through three days. Each team will compete in one game per day, advancing through a bracket-tournament format. The two teams that remain undefeated throughout will face off in the championship game Sunday, Nov. 22, live on ESPN2 at 8:00 p.m. ET.
Dayton opens the season on Saturday, Nov. 14 at the University of Dayton Arena against Creighton. Several 2009-2010 preseason polls, including those associated with Sports Illustrated, ESPN.com, CBS College Sports.com, NBC Sports.com and The Sporting News.com, project the Flyers to be ranked in the Top 25 next season.
