Matchups set for 2015 Charleston Classic

[64NIT]

The matchups are set for the 2015 Charleston Classic, multiple sources told CBSSports.com.

The opening round will feature Virginia vs. Bradley, Seton Hall vs. Long Beach State, Ole Miss vs. George Mason and Oklahoma State vs. Towson on Nov. 19. Times for the first-round games have not been set.

The winner of Virgina/Bradley will play the winner of Seton Hall/Long Beach State, while the Ole Miss/George Mason and Oklahoma State/Towson winners will square off in the other semifinal matchup Nov. 20.

The championship game will be played Nov. 22.

Virginia will enter the tournament as a heavy favorite, led by one of college basketball's best backcourts in London Perrantes and Malcolm Brogdon.

Oklahoma State, Ole Miss and Seton Hall are expected to compete for an NCAA Tournament bid in 2016, and will likely be picked to finish in the middle of their respective conferences.

http://www.cbssports.com/collegebasketball/eye-on-college-basketball/25245929/matchups-announced-for-2015-charleston-classic

[Da Coach]

Bradley and Old Miss are in different sides of the Charleston Classic bracket, but they could still meet in the consolation bracket. Bradley will play Mississippi at Carver Arena the following weekend, Sat. Nov. 28.
The Charleston Classic website still does not show the matchups or the bracket-

http://espnevents.com/charleston-classic/bracket/

Bradley's first opponent, Virginia, won the ACC regular season conference title last year with a 16-2 ACC record (29-3 overall), finishing a game ahead of National Champion Duke. Their RPI last season was #7, just behind Duke, who was #6. They are a Top 10 pick in the 2015-16 preseason rankings.-

http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/conferences/standings/_/id/2/acc-conference

Virginia was ranked 7th in the CBS Preseason 2015-16 Top 25-

http://www.cbssports.com/collegebasketball/eye-on-college-basketball/25147601/kentucky-now-no-1-in-ridiculously-early-preseason-top-25-and-one

Last season they averaged scoring just 65.3 ppg (225th in Division I).
But they play a strong defensive-type game, and are tough to score against. They allowed the fewest points per game among all Division I teams at 51.4 ppg allowed. They lost just 2 players to graduation, and return 70% of their offense from last season. One weakness is that they are not a great 3-point shooting team. They shot 35.2% last season, and lost their best shooter, Justin Anderson (45.2%), who was the 21st pick in the first round of the recent NBA draft and is now with the Dallas Mavericks. Marial Shayok, the younger brother of Shayok Shayok, will be a sophomore on the Virginia team this fall.

Bradley's scoring offense was 346th out of 351 teams at just 57.0 ppg scored. Bradley's scoring defense ranked 48th at 61.4 ppg allowed.
Bradley has had a huge turnover in players, and returns less than 40% of their scoring. To say this will be a tough game for Bradley would be a huge understatement.

[Da Coach]

The Charleston Classic website still does not show the matchups or the bracket-
http://espnevents.com/charleston-classic/bracket/

The Charleston Classic website has now been updated to show the matchups and bracket-

http://espnevents.com/charleston-classic/bracket/

As previously revealed, Bradley will play the favorite Virginia on Thursday, Nov. 19. The winner and loser of the BU-UVa game will then play the winner and loser of the Seton Hall-Long Beach State game in the second round on Friday, Nov. 20. Bradley will then play a 3rd game on Sunday, Nov. 22, dependent on the outcomes in the other half of the bracket.

The Bradley website schedule page has not yet been updated to show the known Bradley first round matchup-

http://www.bradleybraves.com/SportSelect.dbml?&DB_OEM_ID=3400&SPID=1498&SPSID=19332

I will stick my neck out and make a prediction:
I will guess that Bradley will be the loser in the BU-Virginia game. Virginia is a Top 5 perseason pick for 2015-16, and Bradley isn't.
BU will then play the loser of the Seton Hall-Long Beach State game in the second round. I think Seton Hall will win that game and that will likely mean Bradley's 2nd game will be against LBSU. LBSU lost 8 seniors from last year's team, including their top 3 scorers and top 3 rebounders, and several key reserves. So they are a rebuilding team, and I think Bradley might keep the game surprisingly close. But in the end, Bradley has too many newcomers and freshmen of their own, and will probably fall to the 7th-8th place game against the loser of the George Mason-Towson State game (the 2 weakest teams in the other half of the bracket that also includes Ole Miss & Oklahoma State).
George Mason was bad last year (9-22 and 13th in the A-10, with RPI 222), but Towson just as bad (12-20 and 9th in the CAA, with RPI 282).
My prediction is a BU-Towson matchup on Sunday, Nov. 22 for 7th place, and I think Bradley can win that game. Anyone else have thoughts?

[Braves2006]

I think you hit it right on the head DC. Anything better than that would be a surprise for sure.

[Da Coach]

The matchups and bracket for the Gildan Charleston Classic were already set-

http://espnevents.com/charleston-classic/bracket/

As was the game times and TV network information for most of the games.

http://espnevents.com/charleston-classic/news-and-updates/2015-gildan-charleston-classic-gametime-network-information/

...but the game time and network info for the Bradley-Virginia game was just announced this morning.
Bradley's opening round game on Thursday, November 19, will start at 9:30 PM local time (8:30 PM Peoria time), and will be on ESPN2-

https://twitter.com/ESPNCharleston/status/634351066566512640

Final bracket with start times and TV information-

http://espnevents.com/charleston-classic/wp-content/uploads/sites/11/2015/08/2015-Charleston-Classic-Bracket-ET1.pdf