November 19, 2007

Bob McClellan & Andrew Skwara
Rivals.com College Basketball Staff

It's time for a holiday, and holidays this time of year normally come with two things: a casserole that is unidentifiable without scientific testing and basketball tournaments.

We'll leave grandma's squash souffl?o the Food Network and instead talk about holiday hoops.

A few important tournaments (NIT Season Tip-Off, CBE Classic, Legends Classic) wrap up this week, and a few more (Maui Invitational, Great Alaska Shootout, Old Spice Classic, Las Vegas Invitational) with various amounts of intrigue start and finish this week.

The NIT event has its four desired semifinalists ? Texas A&M-Washington on one side and Syracuse-Ohio State on the other. The Aggies, Orange and Buckeyes all feature Rivals.com five-star prospects, while the Huskies have ridden the broad shoulders of Jon Brockman to the semifinals.

The CBE Classic will pit the Missouri-Michigan State winner against the Maryland-UCLA winner, while the Legends' semifinal games are Tennessee-West Virginia and New Mexico State-Texas.

If you had only one event to watch which would you choose? OK, it's not a problem you're likely to face as you plop your turkey-and-stuffing-stuffed self onto the couch, but it's the question we posed to Rivals.com Basketball Editor Bob McClellan and staff writer Andrew Skwara.

SKWARA'S PICK: MAUI INVITATIONAL

If you asked Division I coaches which regular season tournament they would want to play in most, I'm confident the Maui Invitational would be No. 1.

Of course, a lot of that has to do with an all-expenses paid trip to Hawaii. But competition also plays a factor. The Maui Invitational always seems to draw a strong field, and this year is no different. Six BCS programs are making the trip ? Arizona State, Duke, Illinois, LSU, Marquette and Oklahoma State. Marquette is ranked No. 10 in the AP poll and Duke is No. 13.

However, it's not so much the field that sets the regular-season tournament apart from others. It's the players. Actually, to be more specific, it's the freshmen.

The Maui Invitational features four of the nation's best: Arizona State's James Harden, Duke's Kyle Singler, LSU's Anthony Randolph and Oklahoma State's James Anderson (all were ranked among the nation's top 32 prospects in the 2007 class).

Kansas State's Michael Beasley, Memphis' Derrick Rose Indiana's Eric Gordon and UCLA's Kevin Love have overshadowed their peers so far, but that may change soon.

Randolph scored 19 points, grabbed 13 rebounds and blocked six shots in his first college game. Anderson scored 29 points in his college debut. Singler and Harden (who hasn't played yet) are future lottery picks.

Put four players with that kind of potential in the same tourney and you have a must-see event for any serious college hoops fan.

MCCLELLAN'S PICK: OLD SPICE CLASSIC

There are plenty of reasons to watch the Old Spice event.

It may not have the nation's No. 1 team like the Las Vegas Invitational does, but it does have three Rivals.com's No. 1s: our top-ranked prospect in the class of 2007 (Kansas State's Michael Beasley), our No. 1 impact transfer (South Carolina's Devan Downey) and the No. 1 small forward in our Power Rankings (NC State's Brandon Costner).

Also, it's an actual tournament, an honest-to-goodness, lose-and-you-don't-make-the-semifinals event. Yes, you'd think that wouldn't need to be pointed out, but it does. Why, you ask? Because some of these events aren't. They have "first-round" games, but they apparently don't care who wins them. For example, the four teams "advancing" to the Las Vegas semifinals are predetermined, as if this were the WWE.

In addition to No. 22 K-State, No. 23 NC State and South Carolina, the Old Spice field has local favorite UCF, No. 24 Villanova, 2006 Final Four team George Mason, Penn State and Rider. Looking at those eight teams, here are some more interesting subplots:

? The winner of this tournament probably will come from among the three ranked teams. Whichever one emerges will shoot up the rankings and show itself as a real contender for the rest of the season.

? How good are Beasley and the Wildcats? If the tournament goes according to form, they'd have to beat Villanova and NC State to claim the title. If they do, the 6-9 forward establishes the possibility of consecutive freshmen as the consensus national player of the year.

? The "coach on the hot seat" game. Penn State's Ed DeChellis and South Carolina's Dave Odom both checked in on the Rivals.com list of 10 BCS coaches on the hot seat. Their teams square off in a first-round game.

? A Cinderella redux. George Mason has two starters who are holdovers from the Final Four team of two years ago. The Patriots are picked in some circles to return to the top of the Colonial Athletic Association, and they could be ready for more.

? A 20-star semifinal. Kansas State (Beasley and Bill Walker) and Villanova (Corey Stokes and Corey Fisher) each have two class of 2007 five-star players.

VOTE: Which is the best preseason tournament?

Bob McClellan is the college basketball editor for Rivals.com. He can be reached at bmcclellan@rivals.com.
Andrew Skwara is a national writer for Rivals.com. He can be reached at askwara@rivals.com.