Cats to play ETSU at Diamond Head

Nick Johnson and the Cats hope to have success in Hawaii.

The Wildcats now know who they will play in the Diamond Head Classic. The University of Arizona men’s basketball team will face East Tennessee State in its first game of the tournament in Honolulu, Hawaii.

The eight-team event, featuring Arizona; East Tennessee State; Indiana State; Miami, Fla.; Mississippi, San Diego State, San Francisco and host Hawaii, is scheduled for Dec. 22-23 and 25 at the Stan Sheriff Center in Honolulu.

First-round match-ups are as follows:
Mississippi vs. Indiana State, TBA, ESPNU
San Diego State vs. San Francisco, TBA, ESPNU
Arizona vs. East Tennessee State, TBA, ESPNU
Miami, Fla., vs. Hawaii, TBA, ESPNU

Arizona will meet the winner/loser of the Miami, Fla.,-Hawaii game in its consolation/semifinal tilt and will hope to get either Mississippi or San Diego State in the finals, so they can get a boost for their RPI Rankings. Ironically enough, the Wildcats played the Aztecs last season, yet missed the NCAA Tournament due in part to a low RPI despite winning 23 games.

The 2011-12 RPI’s of the teams in the tournament are:
San Diego State – 23
Mississippi – 61
Arizona – 74
Miami – 77
Indiana State - 131
San Francisco – 133
E. Tennessee State – 168
Hawaii - 186

All tournament games will be televised on the ESPN family of networks with start times to be announced. First-round games, all consolations and one semifinal are on ESPNU. The other semifinal and the Christmas Day championship game will be shown on ESPN2.