O'Reilly Auto Parts CBE Classic Semifinal Match-ups Announced

O'Reilly Auto Parts CBE Classic Semifinal Match-ups Announced
Wichita State vs. Pittsburgh and Texas vs. Iowa

Princeton, N.J. – The semifinal match-ups are set for the 2009 O'Reilly Auto Parts CBE Classic men's college basketball tournament.

Texas, Pittsburgh, Wichita State and Iowa will serve as the four Regional Round hosts for the event. The tournament will begin with Regional Round action, November 15-19, with the four host schools automatically advancing to the Championship Rounds at Sprint Center in Kansas City on November 23-24.

The full bracket, including subregionals and television schedule, will be announced in the near future.

Outlined below are the dates, times, locations and match-ups for the Championship Rounds.

TICKET INFORMATION: Championship Round tickets are currently ON SALE and can be purchased by visiting Ticketmaster.com or calling Ticketmaster at 800-745-3000.

Texas: Rick Barnes returns four starters from a team that went 23-12 last season and advanced to the NCAA Second Round. The Longhorns are expected to challenge for the National Championship and will look for immediate results from a highly rated recruiting class, including top prospect Avery Bradley.

Pittsburgh: Jamie Dixon is looking to build on last season's 31-5 overall record, Elite 8 appearance and the school's first ever No. 1 ranking. The Panthers rank among the nation's top-5 programs in winning percentage (.788) over the last eight seasons.

Wichita State: In his third year at the helm, Gregg Marshall will look to his talented backcourt of Clevin Hannah and Toure' Murry to build upon last year's successful postseason appearance in the College Basketball Invitational. The Shockers are expected to be at the top of the Missouri Valley Conference and return to the NCAA Tournament.

Iowa: Todd Lickliter enters his third season on the sidelines and returns two of his top four scorers from a year ago. The Hawkeyes return seven letterwinners along with four talented newcomers. Iowa reached the Championship game in both of their previous appearances in the event, most recently in 2005 when they fell to Texas.

In the 2008 O'Reilly Auto Parts CBE Classic Championship Game, Syracuse defeated Kansas, 89-81 in overtime, rallying from a 13 point deficit in the second half.

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The event is named after the College Basketball Experience, the award-winning and highly interactive college hoops fan facility adjacent to Sprint Center arena, which also features the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame. The College Basketball Experience is the nation's only facility that celebrates, in its entirety, the sport of men's collegiate basketball. This highly interactive facility also boasts the official Hall of Fame for men's collegiate basketball. In the College Basketball Experience, YOU are the player! Currently in its third year of operation, the College Basketball Experience has played host to over 200,000 enthusiastic college basketball fans and visitors and over 200 special events since its opening in 2007. Although located in the heart of downtown Kansas City, where the game of men's college basketball was nurtured and grew to soaring heights, the College Basketball Experience is a facility for a nation of college basketball fans. The tournament, in partnership with the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC), was initially established in 2001 as the Guardians Classic.

The O'Reilly Auto Parts CBE Classic is produced by The Gazelle Group in Princeton, N.J. The Gazelle Group is a sports marketing firm, specializing in event production and management, client representation, and sponsorship consulting. Gazelle produces numerous nationally recognized events, such as the 2K Sports Classic benefiting Coaches vs. Cancer, the Legends Classic and the College Basketball Invitational (CBI). For more information on The Gazelle Group, please visit gazellegroup.com.

For more information on the O'Reilly Auto Parts CBE Classic, visit CBEClassic.com.