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DIRECTV WOODEN LEGACY MEDIA CONFERENCENovember 13, 2013Arnie SgalioTIM SIMMONS: Arnie, welcome. ARNIE SGALIO: Thank you, Tim. It's great to be here. TIM SIMMONS: Obviously a new format for the tournament or a new name. Can you kind of go into what happened with the combination of the John R. Wooden Classic with the Anaheim Classic? ARNIE SGALIO: Well, yeah, Tim. First of all, all of us here at ESPN events are proud and excited to be hosting, as you mentioned, the upcoming DirecTV Wooden Legacy at Cal State Fullerton at the Honda Center on this coming Thanksgiving weekend. We look forward to the combining of the Wooden Classic and the Anaheim Classic events, and we expect to bring, and continue to bring I should say, outstanding collegiate basketball to Orange County, Anaheim, and the surrounding areas. As you know, there's been quite a bit of history involved with both events as the Wooden Classic began back in 1994 and the Anaheim Classic more recently in 2007. You know, it makes sense to put the two together in looking at the needs, a couple of venue changes. At the end of the day we are pleased and very honored to be able to continue the legacy of John Wooden with this new event. Lots of good things, and I think, Tim, to answer your question, the time was right to try to put them together and continue to attract the nationally‑based fields that we would get and excellent competition. TIM SIMMONS: For the eight teams competing in this year's tournament, on Sunday they'll be playing at the Honda Center, which will be site of the West Regionals in the NCAA Championships. Was that part of the equation or how did the Honda Center and Cal State Fullerton get into the hosting of the tournament? ARNIE SGALIO: Well, I think obviously the Honda Center brought to it obviously a world‑class facility where teams would be attracted to play there because Honda Center hosts not only the Big West basketball tournament but also hosts NCAA tournaments, be it second‑ and third‑round games or regional type games. So I think that was attractive. And then also the way it worked out with the facility for us to be able to bring our championship day to Honda Center after playing Cal State Fullerton. So I think smaller, more intimate venue in terms of the first two days, and then on to the bigger facility after that. So it made some sense for us across the board, and we're looking forward to trying it out this year. TIM SIMMONS: All the games will be with the family of networks for ESPN and so forth, so when you put together the bracket, obviously you've got a pretty interesting first‑round match‑up with Creighton and Arizona State. But that was determined in late July. What is the process of determining the bracket? ARNIE SGALIO: Well, I think if you try to look at the teams and see what the most sense would make in terms of some of the match‑ups, and it can change from day‑to‑day, but I think you try to get the field as balanced as you possibly can and then let the chips fall where they may. We feel like these match‑ups will be quite interesting as we go along. TIM SIMMONS: Obviously that first game will be a very interesting one with Creighton and Arizona State where you have two players, Jahii Carson and Doug McDermott, Carson from Arizona State, McDermott from Creighton. Obviously that's going to be a pretty good match‑up for the last game of the opening day of the 28th of November, Thanksgiving. ARNIE SGALIO: Yeah, all the match‑ups I think are pretty compelling with Miami versus George Washington; Marquette‑Cal Fullerton; College of Charleston‑San Diego State; as you mentioned Creighton‑Arizona State. You have some traditional, maybe some eastern teams playing each other, but certainly I think you have some excellent basketball teams, teams that have been at the NCAA tournaments, and really have a high pedigree. We're excited about the event and looking forward to it. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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