Hoya fans have known for some time now that Georgetown will participate in the Legends Classic, hosted at the Barclays Center — the future home of the Brooklyn Nets — Nov. 19 and 20. Today, the matchups for the four-team bracket were revealed, and the Hoyas will be taking on UCLA, while Indiana is set to face Georgia.
The tournament, while small, will give college basketball fans a glimpse at several story lines likely to emerge in the upcoming season. Many expect Indiana to start the season as the No. 1 team, as they return one of the best sophomores in the country, big man Cody Zeller. UCLA brings in a freshman class that’s among the nation’s best, featuring one of the top recruits in Shabazz Muhammad as well as one of the most versatile players in the class, Kyle Anderson. Anderson, you may remember, chose UCLA over Georgetown, among others.
And now on to the matchup: What can fans expect to see out of the UCLA-Georgetown game? Well, lots of young talent, for one thing. UCLA hopes to forget about its dismal season last year on the wealth of incoming talent. Joining Muhammad and Anderson is Tony Parker (who also chose the Bruins over the Hoyas) and Jordan Adams, both consensus top-50 players. And Georgetown, amazingly, got even younger from last year. Eleven of its 13 scholarship players are freshmen or sophomores, and the other two are juniors.
Given that the game is so early in the season, much of the outcome hinges on which team can mesh just a couple weeks into the season. Georgetown has a key advantage in that it kicks off the season against a high-quality opponent, Florida, on a high-quality court, the USS Bataan, but the sheer amount of talent on the Bruins’ squad is difficult for anyone to overcome. Still, Georgetown has traditionally fared well in out-of-conference play, and Coach Thompson III and the rest of the team are eyeing another stellar start, like the ones they have enjoyed the past few seasons.
Tip time for the game, which will be carried on ESPN2, is set for 8 p.m. Ticket information for Georgetown fans is available at http://www.guhoyas.com/tickets/2012legendsclassic.html. Student ticket information is still pending.