Twelve teams compete in this early-season event, hosted at on-campus arenas throughout the country. Four of college basketball’s top teams from the nation’s most prestigious conferences tip off the 2008-09 season with Regional Round games on their home courts before going to the New York metropolitan area to face each other for the Legends Classic tournament championship at the Prudential Center. The other participants will advance to play a round-robin series at a campus site over a three-day period.

Host sites are selected from highly ranked programs in some of the nation’s top conferences, creating the potential for the season’s best match-ups during the Championship Rounds. In its first year, the event attracted more than 90,000 fans across five different venues. The tournament record for single-game attendance is 18,846 fans at the second game of the 2007 Knoxville Regional at Tennessee.

The Legends Classic benefits from national television exposure. In its inaugural year, both semifinal games and the championship game were nationally televised on VERSUS.

In addition to showcasing some of the nation’s premier teams, the Legends Classic was also established to honor former players and coaches from the participating teams that have made a significant contribution to the sport. The “Legends” will be recognized annually at the event.

Northeast Conference (NEC)
www.northeastconference.org

The Northeast Conference (NEC) is the sponsoring conference of the Legends Classic. Now entering its 29th season, the NEC is an NCAA Division I collegiate athletic association consisting of 12 institutions of higher learning located throughout six states. For more information on the NEC, visit www.northeastconference.org.