C of C will open arena in style

Eight-team, ESPN-sponsored Charleston Classic set to open new Carolina First Center

The College of Charleston will open its new basketball arena in style, with an eight-team, ESPN-sponsored tournament that will also feature Clemson.

On Wednesday, ESPN Regional Television, a subsidiary of ESPN, formally announced the creation of the Charleston Classic, to be played Nov. 14-16 at the Carolina First Center, the Cougars' 5,000-seat arena scheduled for completion in early November.

"It's exciting," said C of C coach Bobby Cremins. "The opportunity to bring college basketball to this city in this way overwhelms everything else we were thinking about in terms of opening the arena."

In addition to C of C and Clemson, East Tennessee State, Hofstra, Temple, TCU, and Western Michigan will participate in the tournament, with one more team to be determined.

The tournament will feature 12 games over three days. Each team will compete in one game per day, advancing through a bracket-tournament format. The two teams that remain undefeated will face off in a championship game at 6:30 p.m. Nov. 16.

ESPN Regional Television expects to release the tournament bracket and ticket information for the Charleston Classic later this summer.

"Charleston is one of the great destination cities in America," said Dan Shoemaker, vice president, collegiate development for ESPN. "ESPN Regional Television is proud to showcase the Charleston area and provide another chance for fans to enjoy college basketball with this caliber of a lineup."

The tournament will be what the NCAA classifies as an "exempt" tournament or "multi-team event." The NCAA allows teams to play a maximum of 29 regular-season games or 27 regular season games plus four games in a multi-team event.

NCAA rules would prohibit Clemson and the College of Charleston from returning to the tournament in the next four years, but ESPN will likely attempt to have South Carolina, The Citadel and Charleston Southern play host to the tournament over that time period.

The creation of the tournament has meant some schedule-shuffling for the Cougars.

Charleston had originally planned to open the arena with a Nov. 17 game against South Carolina.

That game will have to be moved, but Cremins said he and newly-hired South Carolina coach Darin Horn are determined to find another date on the schedule.

"That's the last piece of business to be taken care of," Cremins said. "I've talked with Darin and we're getting closer, but we're not there yet. We've had to move some things around because of the tournament, but it was just too great of an opportunity to pass up."

Reach Charles Bennett at cbennett@postandcourier.com.