Bradley to play in 2008 Top of the World Classic in Alaska

[Da Coach]

Bradley will play in 2008 Top of the World Classic in Fairbanks, Alaska November 20-23.

There is an article with more information in today's PJ Star, but this link is not working at this time--

http://www.pjstar.com/sports/x1192323226/Bradley-basketball-on-Top-of-the-World

[OrangeandBlack74]

Calling all BU supporters who traveled to SPI...another road trip!

Might be a bit harder to find a beach house in Fairbanks though...

Wonder if it will be warmer in Alaska in November than it was in South Padre???

[MacabreMob]

Stanford in the other side of the bracket - sounds good.

[Da Coach]

Here is a summary of the schools listed as participants in the 2008 TOWC tournament. Note that every school, except the hosts, Alaska-Fairbanks, had a winning record last year. Also, every team except Alaska-Fairbanks and Central Florida were in postseason tournaments. And the RPIs of the D1 schools were a pretty impressive 14, 64, 73, 105, 108 and 162.
So far, there do not appear to be any RPI-killing dogs in this tournament, like we see in most other early season tournaments.

Schools in the tournament include (with last year's RPIs, record, conference finish, and postseason tournament)--

Confirmed:
Bradley (RPI 105, record 21-17, 5th in MVC, Postseason-CBI)
Stanford (RPI 14, record 28-8, 2nd in Pac 10, Postseason-NCAA)
Central Florida (RPI 162, record 16-15, tied for 4th in CUSA)
Alaska-Fairbanks (Div II, record 5-22, they lost only 1 senior)

Tentative:
Winthrop (RPI 108, record 22-12, 1st in Big South, Postseason-NCAA)
Miami, Ohio (RPI 73, record 17-16, 3rd in Mid-American East, Postseason-CBI)
Stephen F. Austin (RPI 64, record 26-6, 1st in Southland-West, Postseason-NIT)

Bradley will be in the opposite bracket from Stanford.

[tornado]

But Stanford will be down a notch with a new coach and the loss of a lot of their talent.

[Da Coach]

Here are a few links with info about the TOWC

Link to 2007 TOWC- has links to general info about the tournament--

http://alaskananooks.cstv.com/sports/m-baskbl/spec-rel/alaf-tournaments-towc.html

Travel info-

http://alaskananooks.cstv.com/sports/m-baskbl/spec-rel/alaf-tournaments-towc-travel-info.html

General info-

http://alaskananooks.cstv.com/sports/m-baskbl/spec-rel/alaf-tournaments-towc-about-towc.html

Past info-

http://alaskananooks.cstv.com/sports/m-baskbl/spec-rel/alaf-tournaments-towc-participant-team-history.html

[Dallas Brave]

Calling all BU supporters who traveled to SPI...another road trip!

Might be a bit harder to find a beach house in Fairbanks though...

Wonder if it will be warmer in Alaska in November than it was in South Padre???

Road trip??? We can take the Alaskan Highway. From Peoria, Google maps pegs the distance at 3,500 miles and estimates the drive time to be "about 2 days 13 hours." I guess it could take a few more days each direction if we stop to tee it up along the way!

http://maps.google.com/maps?daddr=Fairbanks,+AK&geocode=&dirflg=&saddr=Peoria,+IL&f=d&sll=64.893841,-147.722168&sspn=0.248224,0.928345&ie=UTF8&z=3

[OrangeandBlack74]

Road trip??? We can take the Alaskan Highway. From Peoria, Google maps pegs the distance at 3,500 miles and estimates the drive time to be "about 2 days 13 hours." I guess it could take a few more days each direction if we stop to tee it up along the way!

Well, not a road trip in the literal sense!

You may have driven to SPI, but the rest of us flew in from various destinations. Now, we just need to convince some other diehards like Big Mike, MR, and others to join us for fun, food, liquid refreshment and BU hoops!!

Smoke 'em if you got 'em, eh DB??

[BradleyBrave]

I'm in. Who's drivin?

[mexicobufan]

Is there room for a Mexican?

[mike radigan]

Is there room for a Mexican?

You'll have to "break into" the U.S. twice driving there.

[BradleyBrave]

Is there room for a Mexican?

Si...si.

[tornado]

Doesn't Will Egolf's brother now live in Peoria, and maybe he has a big SUV we can all ride in.

[Double D]

Hey that's only about $500 worth of gas one way! Hopefully they have a Quick Stop in Moosejaw to fill up.

Round trip flight Chicago to Fairbanks around $900.

[Da Coach]

Here is the link to today's PJ Star article about the Alaska tournament--

http://www.pjstar.com/sports/x1192323226/Bradley-basketball-on-Top-of-the-World

Note that the Peoria Journal Star has launched their new version of their website--

http://www.pjstar.com/homepage

http://www.pjstar.com/sports