2011 Puerto Rico Tip-Off Field Finalized: Maryland, Purdue, Alabama Highlight

by Ben Broman on Apr 27, 2011 5:13 PM EDT in Basketball

First things first: apologies to Colorado, Temple, and Witchita State for leaving you out of the headline. Limited room, you know?

Anyway, we knew Maryland's preseason tournament this year would be taking the Terps to Puerto Rico, but we didn't know (all of) the field they'd be facing. Now, we do: earlier today, the tournament announced the field in entirety. Besides the Terps, teams include Alabama, Colorado, Iona, Purdue, Temple, Western Michigan, and Witchita State. The Tip-Off is in bracket format and 12 games will be played over three days before crowning a champion.

It's not a bad field, but there's a definite lack of high-end teams. There are a lot of teams that could be good, but certainly none that should be downright spectacular. Purdue's the headliner here: they were great last year and finally get back Robbie Hummel, which means they should be a top 25 team heading into the year. They also lose JaJuan Johnson and E'Twaun Moore, though, and those two formed the backbone of the team last year. They're probably the biggest name at the moment, but they're not that imposing.

Alabama might be the next-biggest team in the field. They were a bubble team last year and nearly snatched a bid after going 12-4 in the SEC. They do lose two starters and their sixth man, but more importantly they return the three biggest cogs of last year's team: JaMychal Green, Tony Mitchell, and Trevor Releford. They should be pretty solid in Anthony Grant's second year. Colorado was a bubble team last season, too, but they're trending the opposite direction. They'll lose four starters from last year's team, including star swingman Alec Burks.

If it isn't Alabama, it's probably Temple. The Owls beat Maryland last year, as you probably know, and gave San Diego St. a run for their money in the NCAAT second (er...third) round. Lavoy Allen graduates, but the staples of a very good backcourt (Ramone Moore, Juan Fernandez) both return.

Witchita St. returns three starters from a bubble team last year, and should be competitive. As for Iona and Western Michigan: you probably shouldn't fear them too much.

All in all, a solid field in a decent locale. It isn't the Maui Invitational, but then again few are.

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Comments

As an Auburn fan and a Maryland fan I would like nothing more than to beat Alabama next year considering most of my friends are bama fans

by the way it will be grants third year at bama not second

by alaterp on Apr 27, 2011 6:31 PM EDT reply actions

hmmm. Fan of both Auburn and UMD, both Under Armour schools...

is this Kevin Plank?!?

by 1 proud terp on Apr 27, 2011 8:51 PM EDT up reply actions

close but no

i have been a life long maryland fan that just so happened to not be able to afford out of state tuition to UMD so the next best school happened to be auburn

by alaterp on Apr 27, 2011 10:16 PM EDT up reply actions

Winning it all!

If JW is back that is

by stripesean on Apr 27, 2011 6:40 PM EDT via mobile reply actions

Hopefully

Gary can schedule a good, NCAA tournament caliber team to play either @Comcast or on the road. I know we have Notre Dame at Verizon and play @Temple, but it would be very helpful to us if we can get another shot at an NCAA tournament caliber team in the non conference.

We’re pretty much a lock to be a bubble team next year, and like we saw this past year, good wins are what gets you in the tournament, and with a young team we need as many shots as possible.

by aholla30 on Apr 27, 2011 8:52 PM EDT reply actions

when did we schedule ND???

don’t you mean football at Fedex???

by ATLredskin on Apr 27, 2011 9:34 PM EDT up reply actions

ND

Is our BB&T Classic game, so we’ll play them @ND the following year. Thats basically turning into home&home series with big time teams, which is disappointing, because the crowds are usually pretty small and the students cant really get to Verizon on school nights very easily. We need to get out of that tourney or move it to Comcast.

by aholla30 on Apr 27, 2011 10:11 PM EDT up reply actions

is this a joke? Why cant students get to Verizon center easily? Its a quick metro ride away.

by BigLevadelphia on Apr 28, 2011 12:46 PM EDT up reply actions

Oh no not this again!!!

Come on ….show up for your team and stop being a fair weather fan!!

by bpell on Apr 28, 2011 1:16 PM EDT up reply actions

I don't go to UMD

But all I meant was, paying to ride the metro into D.C to the Verizon Center is no way as easy as having a home game @Comcast.

by aholla30 on Apr 28, 2011 1:29 PM EDT up reply actions

Where do you go? I remember you saying you went to O’Connell like me. I went to VT even though I hate their sports teams.

by jhough813 on Apr 28, 2011 1:41 PM EDT up reply actions

I go to Ohio State

I almost went to VT but just couldn’t do it growing up a Terps fan.

by aholla30 on Apr 28, 2011 4:49 PM EDT up reply actions

Haha, yea, well VT didn’t join the ACC until my junior year so I didn’t care much until then.

by jhough813 on Apr 28, 2011 4:52 PM EDT up reply actions

Oh Ok

Im a sophomore at OSU right now so I would have been fully exposed to watching VT play ACC teams.

by aholla30 on Apr 28, 2011 4:58 PM EDT up reply actions

We play ND at Verizon for the BB&T Classic

I think

by stripesean on Apr 27, 2011 9:52 PM EDT via mobile reply actions

This is a solid early season tourney for our team

If JW returns we probably are one of the top 3 favorites to win it. If he doesn’t, this is competition that we should not be concerned about getting blown out by anyone and if we play a good game, we can beat anyone. I.E. We can either have a good win—even win it all if we can find consistency, but at least we shouldn’t have a bad loss.

by jaypee on Apr 27, 2011 10:08 PM EDT reply actions

Ben

please keep calling it the 2nd Round. The Tourney didn’t really start until the “last four” played in…amazing one was VCU though

by bball purist on Apr 28, 2011 11:21 AM EDT reply actions

I hate to be all pessimistic, but this strikes me as @PSU from this past season. A “tough” game (or in this case, set of games) that gains you little with a victory and hurts you badly with a loss.

by cajuncook on Apr 28, 2011 12:45 PM EDT reply actions

Iona

Do not sleep on Iona. I watched them play a couple games last year and they have a potential NBA point guard Scott Machado and a pretty solid pf Mike Glover.

by gwall24 on Apr 28, 2011 2:16 PM EDT reply actions

Gaels

Glover went for 25 and 18 at Syracuse, but Ben’s right, no need to fear the Gaels, who won 25 games last year and beat two NCAA Tourney teams including Richmond, the A-10 champ. Ben, I’ll give you a half hour to do some research and find out which team is the Gaels. Hint, Jim Valvano coached there right before NC State. :+)

by Duke of Havana on Apr 29, 2011 11:17 AM EDT reply actions