On Thursday, the first round matchups of the 2010 Old Spice Classic were set, with the Eagles set to face the Texas A&M Aggies in the first game of the eight-team tournament. In addition, the Eagles will face one half of Wisconsin/Manhattan in the second round. If the Eagles beat the Aggies, they'll get the winner, and if they lose, they'll get the loser.
With the pairings, the Eagles avoid Georgia, Notre Dame, Temple and Cal on the other half of the bracket, and will play one of those four teams, depending on how far they advance, in the third game.
As for the Texas A&M, the Aggies were one of the better teams in the Big 12 this past season. The Aggies were bounced from the second round of the NCAAs by Purdue in overtime, and reached their fifth-straight NCAA Tournament last season. A&M won 24 games last year, including wins over Clemson, Minnesota, Missouri, Baylor and Texas. The Aggies do, however, lose their top three scorers to graduation - guards Donald Sloan (17.8 PPG) and Derrick Roland (10.5), and forward Bryan Davis (9.6).
With the Old Spice Classic field set, here is a sneak peak at some of the other non-conference games already on the Eagles schedule:
November 25 - Texas A&M (Noon ET) -- Old Spice Classic, Orlando, FL
November 26 - Wisconsin/Manhattan -- Old Spice Classic, Orlando, FL
November 28 - Georgia/Notre Dame/Temple/Cal -- Old Spice Classic, Orlando, FL
December 1 - Indiana -- ACC / Big Ten Challenge
December 8 - Providence
The Eagles also have non-conference games scheduled with Holy Cross (home), South Carolina (away) and Rhode Island (away). Dates for those three games are still TBD. I'm sure the Commonwealth Classic with UMass will continue, along with a healthy dose of other local teams (but PLEASE no Harvard).