Traditional Bracketed Tournaments

On-Campus/Neutral Site Combo Events

Round Robin Events

Barclays Center Classic (NECSports on YouTube)
Kentucky (SEC), Long Island U. (NEC), Louisiana-Lafayette (Sun Belt) (VaughtsViews), Maryland (ACC), Morehead State (OVC)

Brooklyn: Nov. 16
Long Island U. vs. Morehead State
Kentucky vs. Maryland

Nov. 21
Morehead State at Kentucky

Gotham Classic
Hosts: Syracuse (Big East), Temple (Atlantic 10)
Visitors: 3 TBD

Final in New York City on December 22
Syracuse vs. Temple

Info from Raff at The Mount Fan Blog

Laramie, WY: Nov. 15, 16, 18: N.C. Central (MEAC), Southern U. (SWAC), Wyoming (Mountain West), 1 TBD

Reno, NV: Nov. 16-18: Nevada (WAC), 3 TBD

Richmond, KY: Nov. 16-18: Eastern Kentucky (Ohio Valley), Kennesaw State (Atlantic Sun), Radford (Big South), TBD

Salt Lake City: Nov. 22-24: Utah (Pac-12), 3 TBD

Notable Teams Not Yet In An Exempt Event

A-10: George Washington, La Salle, Richmond, St. Bonaventure
Big East: Rutgers, South Florida
Big Ten: Michigan State, Nebraska
Big 12: Texas Tech
CAA: Georgia State, UNC Wilmington, Old Dominion, Towson, William & Mary
C-USA: Central Florida, East Carolina, Houston, Marshall, SMU, Tulane, Tulsa
Horizon: Detroit, Green Bay, Loyola of Chicago, Milwaukee, Valparaiso, Wright State, Youngstown State
MVC: Evansville, Southern Illinois
MWC: Air Force, Boise State, Fresno State
SEC: Florida, LSU
WCC: Pepperdine, San Diego, Santa Clara
Other Notables: Harvard, Lehigh, Long Beach State, Ohio

Non-Exempt Tournaments

TBA

Conference Challenges

ACC/Big Ten Challenge

Nov. 27
Minnesota at Florida State
North Carolina at Indiana
North Carolina State at Michigan
Maryland at Northwestern
Iowa at Virginia Tech
Nebraska at Wake Forest

Nov. 28
Purdue at Clemson
Ohio State at Duke
Georgia Tech at Illinois
Michigan State at Miami
Boston College at Penn State
Virginia at Wisconsin

Missouri Valley-Mountain West Challenge
Bradley will not participate.

Nov. 17
San Diego State at Missouri State

Nov. 28
Boise State at Creighton
Fresno State at Southern Illinois

Dec. 1
Wichita State at Air Force
Evansville at Colorado State
Drake at Nevada
New Mexico at Indiana State

Dec. 4
Wyoming at Illinois State

Dec. 19
Northern Iowa at UNLV

Neutral Site Showcases

Battle on the Midway
San Diego: Nov. 9
Syracuse vs. San Diego State

Champions Classic
Atlanta: Nov. 13
Michigan State vs. Kansas
Duke vs. Kentucky

Wooden Classic (Los Angeles Times)
Anaheim: Dec. 1
San Diego State vs. UCLA

Jimmy V Classic (ESPN)
New York: Dec. 4
Connecticut vs. N.C. State
Georgetown vs. Texas

Big Four Classic (UNIPanthers.com)
Des Moines: Dec. 15
Drake vs. Iowa State
Iowa vs. Northern Iowa

Brooklyn Hoops Winter Festival
Brooklyn: Dec. 15
Fordham vs. Princeton
Michigan vs. West Virginia
St. John's vs. St. Francis, NY

Crossroads Classic (ValpoLife.com)
Indianapolis: Dec. 15
Butler vs. Indiana
Notre Dame vs. Purdue

Battle in Seattle (ESPN)
Seattle: Dec. TBD
Kansas State vs. Gonzaga

Brooklyn Hoops Holiday Invitational
Brooklyn: Dec. 22
Long Island U. vs. Seton Hall
Manhattan vs. South Carolina

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Also see Conference Changes for 2011-12 and Conference Changes for 2012-13

Summary

(H/T to Team Rankings for the idea)

Atlantic Coast

*Per Pete Thamel of the New York Times, the Big East will hold Pitt and Syracuse to their membership agreement, meaning a June 2014 switch is possible, though I suspect an earlier exit will be negotiated.

Atlantic 10

Big East

Big West

Colonial Athletic

Conference USA

Note: The remaining members plan to dissolve the conference and form a new league with the remainder of the Mountain West's membership in time for the 2013-14 academic year. (Or not, as an alliance may be a better bet for a variety of financial reasons.)

Great West

Southland

Sun Belt

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Also see Conference Changes for 2011-12 and Conference Changes for 2013-14

Summary

(H/T to Team Rankings for the idea)

Atlantic Sun

Atlantic 10

Big Sky

Big South

Big 12

Big West

Colonial Athletic

Great West

Horizon

Independent

OVC

SEC

Southland

Summit League

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A quick look at some key pieces of info for a May afternoon...

• Old Dominion is, after much deliberation, departing the Colonial Athletic Association for Conference USA effective with the 2013-14 season (Hampton Roads Daily Press). They'll have to eventually upgrade to FBS in football, but again, since this is a basketball blog, here's what the news means for this coming season. The CAA Tournament in Richmond (that is, if it's indeed held there, Towson has proposed Baltimore as a replacement site, contract be damned) may feature as few as seven teams. The Monarchs and Georgia State will be ineligible as departing members and the Tigers and UNC Wilmington may be out because of APR issues. As for the medium-term, the CAA will now need to replace three members (don't forget about VCU), The most often rumored schools include Boston University, College of Charleston, Coastal Carolina, Davidson, and Stony Brook. In other words, expect more dominoes to fall soon.
• The NCAA finally announced a site for the 2013 East Regional on Wednesday, and in a bit of an upset, the Division I Men's Basketball Committee selected Washington, D.C. over Brooklyn, Newark, and Syracuse. The other second weekend sites are Los Angeles (at the Staples Center for the first time), Indianapolis, and Arlington, Texas.
• Finally, the Charleston Classic field is now set, according to Andy Katz at ESPN.com, as Murray State will join Baylor, Boston College, College of Charleston, Colorado, Dayton, St. John's, and (EDIT, thanks to Patrick Marshall for reminding me) Auburn, who replaces Southern Illinois. That move gives the Racers a chance to grab some decent neutral-court, non-conference wins to pad their at-large profile. Remember, the OVC race will get a bit tougher in 2012-13 with Belmont's arrival from the Atlantic Sun.

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All information is tentative, with dates based on this season's schedule aligned against a Selection Sunday date of March 17, 2013. If you have any information to correct or clarify the sites and dates found here, please e-mail me at bloggingthebracket at gmail dot com.

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2013 NCAA Tournament Sites

First Four: March 19 and 20

University of Dayton Arena, Dayton, Ohio (University of Dayton)

First Weekend: March 21-24

Thursday and Saturday

• The Palace of Auburn Hills, Auburn Hills, Michigan (Oakland University)
• Rupp Arena, Lexington, Kentucky (University of Kentucky)
• EnergySolutions Arena, Salt Lake City, Utah (University of Utah)
• HP Pavilion, San Jose, California (West Coast Conference)

Friday and Sunday

• Frank Erwin Center, Austin, Texas (University of Texas)
• University of Dayton Arena, Dayton, Ohio (University of Dayton)
• Sprint Center, Kansas City, Missouri (Big 12 Conference)
• Wells Fargo Center, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (Temple University)

Regionals: March 28-31

Thursday and Saturday

• East: verizon Center, Washington, D.C. (Georgetown University)
• West: Staples Center, Los Angeles, California (Pepperdine University)

Friday and Sunday

• Midwest: Lucas Oil Stadium, Indianapolis, Indiana (Butler University, IUPUI, and the Horizon League)
• South: Cowboys Stadium, Arlington, Texas (Big 12 Conference)

Final Four: April 6 and 8

Georgia Dome, Atlanta, Georgia (Georgia Institute of Technology)

A table with all of the cities that have hosted the NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament since 2000 follows. Cities are broken down by region (East, Midwest, South, and West) and appear in order of how recently they have hosted. In short, expect cities near the middle and bottom of the list for each region to next host in 2014 and beyond sooner than those at the top, with a few exceptions called out in the Notes column.

A few other cities to keep an eye on for future seasons.

• Cincinnati, which last hosted in 1992, is bidding for future tournaments.
• Des Moines, which has hosted plenty of women's tournament games recently, is also bidding for future men's games.
• Wichita also has a recently opened arena that was passed over for 2011-2013.

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ESPN Plus revealed the full field for the 2012 Anaheim Classic earlier today. My immediate reaction was that the Southern California tournament will have a distinctly Northern California feel.

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Late in the NCAA Tournament, there were plenty of rumors floating around that George Mason and VCU were going to leave the Colonial Athletic Association for the Atlantic 10. While those moves have yet to come to fruition (and likely won't), the CAA no longer remains untouched by the recent wave of conference realignment. That's because Georgia State, who joined the Association in time for the 2005-06 academic year is headed back to the Sun Belt Conference for 2013-14. Yes, "headed back" is the correct phrasing, as the Panthers were a charter member of the Sun Belt back when it formed in 1976 before moving to the Trans-America Athletic Conference, now known as the Atlantic Sun), seven years later.

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On Monday night, the Kentucky Wildcats claimed the 2012 NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Championship with a victory over the Kansas Jayhawks, ending one of the more interesting and controversial seasons in recent memory. (Seriously, if I hear the words "lane violation" or see another "Flagrant Foul" graphic, SB Nation will soon have an infrequently updated curling blog in this space.) I apologize for my lack of posting during the NCAA Tournament, as real life managed to create some issues -- and a sinus infection last week didn't help matters.

Today, I'm back with some early information on the upcoming 2012-13 campaign. First, I've replaced the Conference Changes For 2012-13 (And Beyond) page with separate pages for both 2012-13 and 2013-14. These will, of course, be updated as changes are announced. For example, the 2013-14 page includes the Temple Owls' move to the Big East and the Pacific Tigers' transfer to the West Coast Conference.

Secondly, and perhaps more importantly, the Early Season Event page for 2012-13 is now live. As always, if you have information for this always growing part of the site, please e-mail me at bloggingthebracket at gmail dot com. Links are especially appreciated, as rumors about teams' schedules fly quickly and furiously at this time of year. When next season's conference challenges are announced, they'll be placed with the other events, and not on a separate page as in previous seasons.

In the next couple of days, I'll have a page up with NCAA Tournament information as well, and probably another for conference tournaments (e-mailed info on this would be appreciated too). As part of the NCAA Tournament page, I'll have some sort of listing of cities that have hosted in the recent past (six or so seasons), so you can get an idea of which locales may be in play for 2014 and beyond.

Here's to a relaxing offseason and an even better 2012-13 campaign!

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Over the past couple of weeks, I've added quite a bit of information to the Early Season Events section of this site. Most of the tournament-related news for the 2012-13 season has focused on naming host teams, with full brackets and schedules being the exception rather than the rule. While I was in Sarasota at a Spring Training game yesterday afternoon, I received an e-mail from the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame's Greg Procino that changed that. After the jump, the full roster of matchups for the 2012 Hall Of Fame Tip-Off.

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A little less than a week ago, I mentioned that the host schools for the 2012 Coaches vs. Cancer Classic, the first to be played at the new Barclays Center in Brooklyn, would be announced on St. Patrick's Day.

Well, you don't have to wait that long, as media reports, like this one by Brian Hamilton of the Chicago Tribune, feature the list of four host schools. Florida State (ACC) and Notre Dame (Big East), who met in an NCAA Third Round game in Chicago last March are the two major conference programs invited, while BYU (WCC) is the third 2012 NCAA team that will participate. The fourth host is St. Joseph's (A-10), an NIT team this time around, which happens to be coached by the chairman of the Coaches vs. Cancer National Council, Phil Martelli.

Despite the shift from Manhattan to Brooklyn, the event will still serve as one of the first on the 2012-13 calendar. The semifinals and finals are set for November 16th and 17th, with each host school playing two home games before the showcase event.

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Here it is. I did some reconsideration this morning. Full analysis up at SB Nation.

Auto bids in bold. Teams who have clinched bids are in ALL CAPS.

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Apologies for not posting one of these in a few days. Full analysis is up at SB Nation. I'll have one more bracket just before 6 p.m. ET. More changes may be afoot.

Auto bids in bold. Teams who have clinched bids are in ALL CAPS.

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Just a day after announcing the four host schools for the 2012 2K Sports Classic, now benefiting the Wounded Warrior Project, the Gazelle Group released the names of the quartet that will appear in next season's Legends Classic, the first to be held at Brooklyn's new Barclays Center. Thanks to the struggles at UCLA (Pac-12) over the past few seasons, Georgetown (Big East) and Indiana (Big Ten) enter the event as likely the two biggest threats for national honors, depending on recruiting, of course. The Hoyas and Hoosiers are only squads out of the host group who will be in the NCAA Tournament, barring a surprise conference tournament run by the Bruins or Georgia (SEC).

As usual, the rest of the field will be announced at a later date. The semifinals and final are slated for November 19th and 20th.

Yesterday, it was announced that the Barclays Center would host a neutral-site game, the Brooklyn Hoops Winter Festival, featuring Michigan and West Virginia on December 12th.

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Not a whole lot of change from Tuesday's version. Don't expect that to last over the next few days though. Full analysis is up at SBNation.com.

Auto bids in bold. Teams who have clinched bids are in ALL CAPS.

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