Butler, G-Town, IU and Pitt: Get Ready for the Jimmy V Classic!

The Jimmy V Classic, one of the most prestigious college basketball tournaments in the nation, has announced this year’s participants, which include Pittsburgh, Georgetown, Butler and Indiana. The games are set to begin on December 8, 2009, at Madison Square Garden.

Jimmy Valvano was a college basketball coach for four college basketball teams, including Johns Hopkins, Bucknell, Iona and North Carolina State. He won the college basketball national championship with NC State in 1983, and his frantic run around the court is seen on every major NCAA Tournament highlight reel. He battled cancer for years, finally succumbing to the disease in 1993, but he founded the Jimmy V Foundation to help promote cancer research. The annual tournament is a benefit for that charity.

Butler will play Georgetown and Pittsburgh will play Indiana. Any early picks? Well, Pitt lost some key players from last season, including DeJuan Blair, and Indiana has been struggling to get back to peak form since the Sampson debacle a year back. It will be interesting to see how it plays out. Georgetown returns several key players from last year’s team, part of the big, bad Big East. Butler will rank in many preseason Top 25 lists and they’re one of the most consistently good mid-majors. Tickets should sell out fast!

To get NCAA basketball tickets, go to StubHub.com.

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