April 30, 2009

DALLAS -- SMU men's basketball will be one of eight teams in the inaugural Diamond Head Classic in Honolulu, Hawaii, Dec. 22-25, 2009, as announced today by ESPN Regional Television, Inc., (ERT) a subsidiary of ESPN. The field includes Hawaii, College of Charleston, Saint Mary's (Calif.), UNLV, USC, Western Michigan and one team to be determined. The games will be played Dec. 22, 23 and 25 at the Stan Sheriff Center in Honolulu.

"This is a great opportunity for SMU basketball," says head coach Matt Doherty. "We are excited to be part of the inaugural Diamond Head Classic and to have the chance to face outstanding competition in this event. The media exposure as well as the total experience of the event will be incredibly beneficial to our student-athletes and our program."

This will be the Mustangs' fourth trip to Honolulu for a tournament, but first since the 1987-88 season. SMU won the 1983-84 Rainbow Classic with victories over Duke, UAB and Hawaii. The Ponies, then ranked No. 7, finished second in the 1984-85 Chaminade Classic; defeating No. 11 Oklahoma before falling to Chaminade in the final. In the 1987-88 Rainbow Classic, the Mustangs fell to Louisville before knocking off Creighton and Texas A&M to finish third in the eight-team field. SMU also played at Hawaii seven times from 1998-2005 while a member of the Western Athletic Conference.

Four of the teams in this year's field reached the postseason in 2008-09, with USC playing in the NCAA Tournament, UNLV and Saint Mary's in the National Invitation Tournament and College of Charleston playing in the College Basketball Invitational. USC won the 2008-09 Pac-10 Tournament, and the Western Michigan Broncos claimed their second straight MAC West regular-season title. Saint Mary's, which advanced to the NIT quarterfinals in March, was ranked among the nation's top 25 teams for a good stretch of the regular season. UNLV notched 20-plus wins and gained a postseason berth for the third straight year. College of Charleston, meanwhile, is coming off a 27-win season.

The Diamond Head Classic will feature 12 games through three days - Dec. 22, 23 and 25. The Sheraton Hawaii Bowl, also owned by ESPN Regional Television, will be played Dec 24. The historic Rainbow Classic, formerly played during Christmas week, will now be a four-team, round-robin event played earlier in the season. Each team will compete in one game per day, advancing through a bracket-tournament format. The two teams that remain undefeated throughout will face off in a championship match on Christmas day, Dec. 25. Sheraton Hotels Waikiki (www.sheraton-waikiki.com) will be the Official Hotel of the Diamond Head Classic. Fans can purchase travel packages to the tournament by going to www.anthonytravel.com (search Hawaii) or calling 1-800-632-6951. Additional information including when tickets will go on sale can be found on the Diamond Head Classic official Web site at: www.DiamondHeadClassic.com.