The men's basketball team officially announced Wednesday that the CoSIDA Classic, a tournament originally scheduled to be played in Worthen Arena, will not happen. The team also announced its entire 2005-06 schedule.
The tournament, which was reported to include Marist, Stetson and Tennesse-Martin, was scheduled to be the season opener for Ball State University. Negotiations between the teams began to fall through during July, Ball State's Director of Electronic Media and Gameday Experience Chris Taylor said.
"There was a July deadline that wasn't met, and even though the deadline wasn't met, we still tried to find teams for the classic," Taylor said. "By the middle of August, we couldn't get anything done, and we had to finalize the schedule."
The competition was considered a preseason exempt tournament by the NCAA. Therefore, Ball State would have played three games during the Classic, but those three games would have counted as only one game against the team's schedule. Oakland City is set to replace the competition on Ball State?s schedule and will visit Muncie on Nov. 19 to open the season.
"We're all disappointed that we?re not hosting the Classic," Taylor said. "I think it's even more disappointing for our fans."
Coach Tim Buckley was attending a Mid-American Conference meeting in Indianapolis on Wednesday and was unavailable for comment.
The Cardinals will open MAC play with three of their first five games on the road, traveling to Ohio, Kent State and Buffalo. Taylor said it is the hardest part of the schedule.
"The most difficult part is no question the opening five games of the MAC," Taylor said. "Besides having three of the first five on the road, they are also the three longest road trips of the year."
Junior guard Darren Yates said the long road schedule will not hurt the team.
"It's tough to start off with those road games, but we've got to come out and be ready," Yates said.
Ball State will host the ESPN Bracket Buster (Feb. 18) for the fourth straight year. The Cardinals lost to Drexel 74-70 in last year's game. The chance to yet again gain bigger exposure for the team is something Yates looks forward to.
"We're a good team, and we like to show a bigger audience that we're a good team and try to impress some people," he said.
Ball State's home games are weekend-heavy compared to the 2004-05 season. Nine of the 15 home games will be played on a Saturday, compared to only five during the weekend last year.
Highlights on the schedule include home games against Butler (Dec. 3), Indiana (Dec. 31) and Miami (Jan. 14). Non-conference games against in-state teams include away games against IUPUI (Dec. 7), Indiana State (Dec. 10) and a home match-up against Anderson (Dec. 17).
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