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

From what I hear (and recently read in today's paper), BU is having a very tough time filling out their schedule this year. I guess there's always a chance they could pull out, but I think the odds are slim considering the scheduling difficulties they're experiencing.

Also - I thought that BU was slated for the Great Alaskan Shootout in '09 rather than Top of the World Classic as indicated by the article. Did anyone else think that too?
 
Here's about the earliest I can recall a D-I school making a public announcement of its FULL fall/winter basketball schedule.

Cal has already released its full non-conference AND conference schedule (starting times are still pend.)!
http://calbears.cstv.com/sports/m-baskbl/spec-rel/051908aac.html

Most schools spend much of the spring and summer still working out dates and details, and release the schedule in the late summer or early fall.


Last year, BU announced their non-conference schedule fairly early, on June 9
http://www.bubraves.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SPSID=25965&SPID=1498&DB_OEM_ID=3400&ATCLID=923121

but the entire schedule was not released until August 24
http://www.bubraves.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SPSID=25965&SPID=1498&DB_OEM_ID=3400&ATCLID=1177420
 
braves12 said:
Dallasbrave,

You bring the cigars and I will bring the Scotch. I have played golf on snow before, so no problem. Have you gotten permission for this yet??? O&B and I have no such issue.
Click to expand...

I am not allowed to have fun. Therefore this will have to be a business trip to visit the Alyeska Pipeline Services Co. The business trip will just happen to coincide with the same time that the Braves are in town. :D
 
the only bad thing about me attending the great state of Alaska, it will be very hard to leave- wouldn't mind a nice ranch with moose and grizzlies with a nice sattelite to top it off
 
That's a great field for Bradley to be in - mostly solid teams, but nobody that I'd say Bradley couldn't beat. Here's how I'd rank these teams:

Stanford
Loses: C Robin Lopez, C Brook Lopez, SF Fred Washington, PF Taj Finger.
Adds: SG Jeremy Green (4-star), SG Jarrett Mann (3-star).

PG Mitch Johnson and SG Anthony Goods return to form a solid senior backcourt, and senior PF Lawrence Hill is their best returning player. Those three form a solid core, but there isn't a lot of experience beyond them. Off the bench, they have two senior guards who were very good last season in limited minutes - Kenny Brown and Drew Shiller - and also a decent junior swingman in Landry Fields. The two incoming freshmen are both wing-type players, so it looks like Stanford will have to play small.

Overall, its hard to project how good Stanford will be next season, as their identity will shift dramatically from a big inside team to a small outside team. I'll guess that they'll probably be at least a top 75 team and likely end up in the NIT.

Miami (OH)
This was a pretty solid team that played a brutal nonconference schedule and lost a lot of close games. They finished at 97th in Pomeroy's rankings. They lose a solid senior in rugged PF Tim Pollitz, but everyone else is back. This will be a senior-laden, experienced team. I expect them to finish somewhere in the 60-80 range next season.

Stephen F. Austin
Returns 6 of their top 7 players from a pretty solid team, losing only 5'11' SG Gerald Fonzie from their main rotation. C Matt Kingsley and SG Josh Alexander are both excellent players. I definitely see this as a top 100 team.

Central Florida
This was another team that played better than their record, at least if you believe Pomeroy's rankings (93rd). They lose 3 of their top 6 players, but their best player returns (senior SG Jermaine Taylor). They'll need PG Taylor Young to improve upon a promising freshman campaign, and at least one of the two incoming guards will need to play immediately, but I think this could be a top 100 team this season.

Winthrop
They got by last year by playing outstanding defense, which usually made up for their horrible offense. Losing their three best players in Gaynor, Jenkins, and McCullough certainly won't help on either end of the floor. I look for Winthrop to fall back a bit, to more of the 150-200 range.



I think Bradley has a great shot to win this tournament, which would really help the RPI considering the quality of teams. Kudos to Jim Les for a nice piece of scheduling!

I wonder what type of TV coverage this tournament usually gets?
 
What is the History of the Top of The World Tournament?

What is the History of the Great Alaskan Shootout?

I am sure Alaska is a beautiful place to see but, talk about remote. It would not be that much further to have a tournament in Siberia.

How does Alaska manage to promote and pull off two D-1 tournaments?

I don't even know if you can "road trip" there guys unless maybe you hitch a ride with an Ice Road Trucker.
 
Actually, as for travelling, it would probably be easier to get a flight to Anchorage than to Fairbanks (you would probably have to transfer anyways at Anchorage if you were flying to Fairbanks). Then, it's only a 5 hour, 50 minute (354 mile) drive, depending on how well the chains on your rental car work.

Also, weather in Fairbanks, while warm during the summer (80's aren't uncommon), is very cold during the winter. According to weather.com, you can expect an average high of 9-10 degrees, and an average low of 5-6 degrees below zero, and that's without any wind chill. It has been as mild as 46 degrees, and as cold as 35 below zero during November 20-23. Even though you'll be indoors most of the time, bring your parkas - you'll probably need them! :)
 
JasonAtBradley said:
Actually, as for travelling, it would probably be easier to get a flight to Anchorage than to Fairbanks (you would probably have to transfer anyways at Anchorage if you were flying to Fairbanks). Then, it's only a 5 hour, 50 minute (354 mile) drive, depending on how well the chains on your rental car work.

Also, weather in Fairbanks, while warm during the summer (80's aren't uncommon), is very cold during the winter. According to weather.com, you can expect an average high of 9-10 degrees, and an average low of 5-6 degrees below zero, and that's without any wind chill. It has been as mild as 46 degrees, and as cold as 35 below zero during November 20-23. Even though you'll be indoors most of the time, bring your parkas - you'll probably need them! :)
Click to expand...

Jason have you been to Fairbanks? 80's are common during the summer? I am alarmed if what you claim is true. Fairbanks is apoximatley 100 miles South of the Arctic Circle.

Rockford Illinois is aproximatley 100 miles from Peoria as the crow flies. The Arctic circle is a zone where the area north of that latitude satys frozen all year round, are you going to tell me that a mere 100 miles to the south people in Fairbanks are basking in 80 degree weather?

If what you say is true then our planet is truley in peril.
 
2bradleyfans said:
Jason have you been to Fairbanks? 80's are common during the summer? I am alarmed if what you claim is true. Fairbanks is apoximatley 100 miles South of the Arctic Circle.
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I read the weather forecasts a lot (often for random cities), and there are some days during the summer where Fairbanks is predicted to be 80 or higher. This makes sense, since the average high in the middle of the summer is 74 degrees over there. In Chicago, the highest average temperature in the summer is 85. Therefore, having an 80 in Fairbanks is like having a 90 in Chicago - it is a 5-6 degree temperature deviation above the normal highs.

Also, extremes like this aren't uncommon in subarctic climates like Fairbanks. One city in Siberian Russia (Verkhoyansk) has had temperatures vary from -90 to 102 - a range of 192 degrees! Fairbanks, while not quite as extreme, is also in a subarctic climate, with a range from -66 to 99 (165 degrees).

I hope that helps (even though it's not related to basketball). ;)
 
As best I can tell, none of the TOWC games were televised last season - here's a great website for seeing which games are televised:
http://mattsarz44017.tripod.com/basketball2007/week2.html

There is a link on their website that says "Live Video," so it sounds like we might be watching online! Hopefully the better lineup of teams will lead to some televised games. Last season's tournament featured the following teams (with Pomeroy rankings):

87 - Akron
91 - IUPUI
127 - Portland State
210 - Oregon State
227 - Tennessee State
240 - Colorado State
288 - South Carolina Upstate
Alaska (Div II)

This year's lineup is a lot better, so maybe they can get some TV coverage.
 
The record highs for Fairbanks in June, July, and August all eclipse 90 degrees at 94, 92, and 93 degrees respectively, with averages between 67 and 73 degrees for those same months. Unfortunately the November average is 12 degrees, with a record low of -45 degrees. It gets worse in December!

http://weather.yahoo.com/climo/USAK0083_f.html
 
mportsch said:
Last season's tournament featured the following teams (with Pomeroy rankings):

87 - Akron
91 - IUPUI
127 - Portland State
210 - Oregon State
227 - Tennessee State
240 - Colorado State
288 - South Carolina Upstate
Alaska (Div II)

This year's lineup is a lot better, so maybe they can get some TV coverage.
Click to expand...

In last year's tourney, Colorado St won it beating Ore St 69-56, Tenn St 87-68, and Portland St in a close Championship 64-63.

Colorado St finished 7-25 and 265 in the RPI. Whew - that's horrible in my opinion. What's funny is.... they pounded Tenn St by almost 20 and Tenn St won at UIUC. LOL!
 
mportsch said:
That's a great field for Bradley to be in - mostly solid teams, but nobody that I'd say Bradley couldn't beat. Here's how I'd rank these teams:

Stanford
Loses: C Robin Lopez, C Brook Lopez, SF Fred Washington, PF Taj Finger.
Adds: SG Jeremy Green (4-star), SG Jarrett Mann (3-star).

PG Mitch Johnson and SG Anthony Goods return to form a solid senior backcourt, and senior PF Lawrence Hill is their best returning player. Those three form a solid core, but there isn't a lot of experience beyond them. Off the bench, they have two senior guards who were very good last season in limited minutes - Kenny Brown and Drew Shiller - and also a decent junior swingman in Landry Fields. The two incoming freshmen are both wing-type players, so it looks like Stanford will have to play small.

Overall, its hard to project how good Stanford will be next season, as their identity will shift dramatically from a big inside team to a small outside team. I'll guess that they'll probably be at least a top 75 team and likely end up in the NIT.

Miami (OH)
This was a pretty solid team that played a brutal nonconference schedule and lost a lot of close games. They finished at 97th in Pomeroy's rankings. They lose a solid senior in rugged PF Tim Pollitz, but everyone else is back. This will be a senior-laden, experienced team. I expect them to finish somewhere in the 60-80 range next season.

Stephen F. Austin
Returns 6 of their top 7 players from a pretty solid team, losing only 5'11' SG Gerald Fonzie from their main rotation. C Matt Kingsley and SG Josh Alexander are both excellent players. I definitely see this as a top 100 team.

Central Florida
This was another team that played better than their record, at least if you believe Pomeroy's rankings (93rd). They lose 3 of their top 6 players, but their best player returns (senior SG Jermaine Taylor). They'll need PG Taylor Young to improve upon a promising freshman campaign, and at least one of the two incoming guards will need to play immediately, but I think this could be a top 100 team this season.

Winthrop
They got by last year by playing outstanding defense, which usually made up for their horrible offense. Losing their three best players in Gaynor, Jenkins, and McCullough certainly won't help on either end of the floor. I look for Winthrop to fall back a bit, to more of the 150-200 range.



I think Bradley has a great shot to win this tournament, which would really help the RPI considering the quality of teams. Kudos to Jim Les for a nice piece of scheduling!

I wonder what type of TV coverage this tournament usually gets?
Click to expand...

This is great news that Bradley is in this tournament. But aside from Stanford, I don't think beating any of these other teams will exactly help Bradley pass the "eye test", at least from the national media perspective.
 
2bradleyfans said:
Jason have you been to Fairbanks? 80's are common during the summer? I am alarmed if what you claim is true. Fairbanks is apoximatley 100 miles South of the Arctic Circle.

Rockford Illinois is aproximatley 100 miles from Peoria as the crow flies. The Arctic circle is a zone where the area north of that latitude satys frozen all year round, are you going to tell me that a mere 100 miles to the south people in Fairbanks are basking in 80 degree weather?

If what you say is true then our planet is truley in peril.
Click to expand...

It is true that Fairbanks does get very warm during the summer. Average highs are close to 80 during July, though obviously their window for warm weather is a lot shorter than ours. Generally, 80's and 90's occur during late June and July with temperatures starting their rapid decline by early to mid August.

The reason Fairbanks gets a lot warmer during the summer than say their counterparts at Barrow, Alaska on the Arctic Circle is that they are located in interior Alaska and away from the cold Arctic Ocean. Therefore, temperatures warm up considerably higher in Fairbanks than in Barrow where their average high only makes it into the upper 40's in July! A 60 to 70 degree day would be considered "balmy" in Barrow, and their all time high of 79 shows what an effect the Arctic Ocean has on Barrow.
 
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