The Athens Banner Herald says the rumored Madison Square Garden match-up with Duke isn't going to materialize.However, the Georgia Basketball team is close to finalizing a deal which will send the Dawgs to Hawai'i to play in the Rainbow Classic Dec. 19-22nd.
Per the ABH, other teams tenatively set to play in the tourney include (2007 RPI from KenPom.com):
Washington State (26) -- see update belowUpdate: Sunday's Honolulu Newspaper says that Washington State will not participate in the Tourney. We're replacing them, and the Hawai'i coach makes it sound like very much a done deal. He also doesn't indicate that it's St. Mary's (Texas). So the natural assumption would be St. Mary's of California (RPI: 154). They still have 1 more slot open for the tourney. Hopefully, they'll get another RPI 150 or better program.
Georgia (63)
Hawaii (98)
Ohio University (105)
St. John's (133)
Northwestern (177)
Louisiana-Lafayette (270)
St. Mary's (Texas) (Div II)
As Harrick learned in his 3rd or 4th season, you want to avoid playing Hawai'i in their home state as long as possible because the refs are pretty heavy handed with the officiating. Actually, he also learned to cut off the long distance service in the hotel rooms, but that's a different story.
As long as St. Mary's (Texas) isn't one of the attendees, it's a solid field. Certainly nothing like the 1997 event where Tubby's boys beat WSU, Memphis and Maryland to win it. We would be favored in every match-up currently listed with the possible exception of Hawai'i on their home court.
This is a good opportunity for the program. Plus, bikini's are always a nice recruiting tool. In five years, this will be Felton's second tropical tourney. He took the team to the Paradise Jam in the Caribbean in Year 2.
PWD
