Niagara Basketball in Dubai

[pipes]

https://maacsports.com/news/2020/3/5/in ... assic.aspx

Siena reporter tweeting Niagara will be the MAAC representative.

[Eagle]

Wow, that would be great if NU participates.

Hope the have an alumni trip!

[phillyeagle]

Sure beats playing a game in Natchez, MS. I am sure that all travel expenses are taken care and the accommodations will be first class. Hope it works out for the players!

[Bugsy1975]

Big plus for recruiting.

[MICKEY]

I assume this event takes place in the fall of ‘21. For those interested, round trip from JFK on Emirates in economy is only about $1000. For high rollers like jhart first class is about $15,000. Sounds like a great opportunity for Niagara. Maybe some rich oil sheik will fall in love with our program and donate a new arena to the University. Meanwhile back in Buffalo can we please beat Canisius tomorrow night.

[jhart]

Recall Mick that I was global energy head of cap mkts origination at Citi back in the day!

[NewEnglander]

8 elite teams participating on November 25-27,2021

From media sources:
Organised in partnership with Dubai Sports Council, the 2021 event will feature a high-profile field of eight NCAA Division I programs in a Multi Team Event (MTE). The eight institutions will compete in two four-team brackets in Dubai while one early round game will take place in the United States the week prior to the games.
This event will attract local fans along with a large traveling fan base from the participating university, all while being televised to audiences across the globe through Inspirus’ distribution partners.

I am not sure if the early round game is to eliminate a team to knock it down to 8 or not. With the MAAC sponsoring it I doubt the MAAC team or teams will be left out of the games in Dubai.

[pipes]

8 elite teams participating on November 25-27,2021

From media sources:
Organised in partnership with Dubai Sports Council, the 2021 event will feature a high-profile field of eight NCAA Division I programs in a Multi Team Event (MTE). The eight institutions will compete in two four-team brackets in Dubai while one early round game will take place in the United States the week prior to the games.
This event will attract local fans along with a large traveling fan base from the participating university, all while being televised to audiences across the globe through Inspirus’ distribution partners.

I am not sure if the early round game is to eliminate a team to knock it down to 8 or not. With the MAAC sponsoring it I doubt the MAAC team or teams will be left out of the games in Dubai.

Manhattan played in Belfast this past season with the same set-up.

[NewEnglander]

I can see that the two divisions are each somewhat aligned with rather equal leagues. Niagara would compete in the mid major division while the other one appears to be an upper mid major division. However what is the early round game in the US? How was that played out last year?

[MICKEY]

This might be the same format as the Hall of Fame Classic at Mohegan Sun. We were in the group with Vermont, NC A & T , and UB. The other group was St Joes, Old Dominion, Purdue and Florida. We might have played someone from the other group on their campus in 2016. We lost to Vermont and beat NC A & T in the consolation. I think in this format three games count as one or two. Here’s a question, how long before we play at Cameron?