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The coaches weigh in on the inaugural 2007 Anaheim Classic:
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Rick Stansbury [Mississippi State University ]
“It’s a great location, and a great time of year for eight quality teams—and there are eight quality teams here—to play in a quality tournament. The competition level was great; there was not one team that was a shoe-in to win it all. ESPN has done a great job to make sure that everybody is taken care of. This event is going to grow and grow. Anytime you can play three games and get the exposure on ESPN--and being in an atmosphere where the surroundings are as nice as they are--there’s going to be a lot of people who will want to be a part of the Anaheim Classic for years to come.”
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Ronnie Arrow [ South Alabama ]
“The Anaheim Classic [was] tremendous. The Thanksgiving banquet for all the teams was a nice touch—nice and sweet. As far as the tournament itself, as a coach you always want to be in a tournament where you feel you can do well, and win a couple games. The teams here were very [evenly matched]; there were no gimmie teams. When you come here, you know it’s in a good place with great climate, which helps your team—especially programs that travel. And while we’re here, we can have some fun at the parks—in addition to playing basketball.” |
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Bill Grier [ San Diego ]
“I’ve been to a lot of these tournaments—Maui Invitational, the Great Alaska Shootout—and I think once the Anaheim gets some history behind it, it’s going to gain traction. Having it at Disneyland is a great draw for families. It’s a first-class, well-run event. The biggest thing is this is Year 1. Getting the people locally to come out and watch other teams is the biggest thing. Maui has a long history, and they sell that thing out. But I think the Anaheim Classic will be a great event as it grows. The [2007] field—with Southern Illinois, USC—was strong, and will continue to get stronger in years to come.” |
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Tim Floyd [ University of Southern California ]
“I think the 2007 field was great, and [Anaheim] is a great location. The players have thoroughly loved it. I can envision this being a Maui [Invitational] five or six years down the road. The crowds are going to grow as the awareness grows, because there aren’t too many places better to spend Thanksgiving than Anaheim and Disneyland. Here at the Anaheim Classic, you saw NCAA-caliber teams that play different styles--from South Alabama who press and run, to teams that play more half-court. You get a wide ranch of teams that will prepare you for league play.” |
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Pat Douglass [ UC Irvine ]
“Mid-Majors have longed to have tournaments like the Anaheim Classic where you get to play quality people on a neutral court. I am personally very excited about the growth, and the future teams that will come here. Being here brings a ton of recognition to our [Big West] conference. It’s a great event. You come to Disneyland, you get the TV exposure on ESPN—it’s just good for basketball and our league.” |
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John Shulman [ Chattanooga ]
“There’s going to be a team leaving here 0-3 that’s a good basketball team. When we looked at the bracket and saw that UC Irvine had beaten Utah State, I said ‘What on Earth did we get ourselves into?’ You go 0-3 out here, and your kids are looking at you funny. The competition is unbelievable. Every game has an NCAA Tournament-type atmosphere. For us, the Anaheim Classic doesn’t make or break our NCAA hopes; it makes us better. For a lot of the big boys—like Southern Illinois—it’s a resume builder. So everybody takes what they need to get from it. For us, it gives us a great experience that we can build on down the road.” |
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Chris Lowery [ Southern Illinois ]
“Obviously anything ESPN does is top shelf. With the first you’re going to have kinks, but you have to understand it’ll get better. People are always going to want to come to the Anaheim Classic—especially when you can guarantee three games on national TV. That’s the number one thing: you always want to play good competition on national TV. We like these events because every game is a road game, and it’s a neutral site. We participated for exposure, obviously, but we also participated because we play other ranked people. There is no down-side to an event like this. I’m glad we’re a part of it.” |
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Charlie Coles [ Miami (OH) ]
“For us, a tournament like this is very risky. Maybe a North Carolina might say ‘Gimmie more,’ but for us this is a mighty strong field, a very good field. You have a couple teams between USC and Southern Illinois--that will end in the top 20. I always like to start my programs with solid competition before we get too deep into our season. The promoters of the Anaheim Classic understand that an event like this is a wonderful idea. It gives teams a chance to play the better teams in the country on a neutral court. We’re going to Illinois, Louisville and Kansas and this year, and we like that. So coming here was good for us.” |
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