The annual destination event of the Honda Puerto Rico Tip-Off has secured seven of the eight teams for the 2011 field to be held Thursday, Friday and Sunday, Nov. 17, 18 & 20, at the Coliseo de Puerto Rico, in the cosmopolitan Hato Rey district of San Juan.

The field for the fifth annual Puerto Rico Tip-Off includes Alabama, Colorado, Iona, Maryland and Wichita State, along with Purdue and Temple, which are ranked in the preseason ESPN/USA Today Coaches Poll at No. 8 and No. 22, respectively. The final team will be announced at a later date.

Five of the seven teams reached the 2010 postseason: Maryland, Purdue and Temple played in the NCAA Championship, while Wichita State reached the National Invitation Tournament.

The 2011 Honda Puerto Rico Tip-Off, a bracket-format tournament, will feature 12 games over three days. 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 Sunday, Nov. 20.

For the fifth straight year, the BIG EAST will serve as the event’s sponsoring conference.

In November 2009, Villanova defeated Ole Miss 79-67 in the championship game. Other former winners of the Puerto Rico Tip-off were Xavier in 2008 and Miami (Fla.) in 2007.

The family-friendly tournament and resort destination of Puerto Rico host the teams to three days of play, practices and immersion into the Puerto Rican culture and landscape. Additional information, including travel packages, can be found on the Honda Puerto Rico Tip-Off Web site at www.puertoricotipoff.com.

The Honda Puerto Rico Tip-Off is owned and operated by ESPN Regional Television, Inc. (ERT), a subsidiary of ESPN.

ESPN Regional Television/Event Ownership
The nation’s largest syndicator of collegiate sports programming, ESPN Regional Television (ERT) annually produces more than 1,000 telecasts of sporting events. Programming includes football, basketball, NCAA events, golf and NHRA events accounting for more than 2,200 live and/or original hours of programming. In addition to event ownership, ERT is the production headquarters for ESPNU, the 24-hour college sports network; syndication rights-holder and producer of national, regional and local shows for college conferences (e.g. – SEC, BIG EAST, Big 12, Mid-American, WAC).

ESPN Regional Television markets and/or owns several sporting events, including collegiate football events: Beef ‘O’ Brady’s Bowl St. Petersburg; Bell Helicopter Armed Forces Bowl; BBVA Compass Bowl (Birmingham, Ala.); MAACO Bowl Las Vegas; New Mexico Bowl (Albuquerque); Sheraton Hawai’i Bowl (Honolulu); Texas Bowl (Houston); MEAC/SWAC Challenge presented by Disney (Orlando, Fla.) and The Home Depot ESPNU College Football Awards. Collegiate basketball events: 76 Classic (Anaheim, Calif.); Cancun Governor’s Cup; Charleston Classic (S.C.); DIRECTV SEC/BIG EAST Invitational; Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic (Honolulu); Old Spice Classic (Walt Disney World Resort near Orlando, Fla.); Honda Puerto Rico Tip-Off (San Juan); Lane Furniture All-College Basketball Classic (Oklahoma City) and BracketBusters; as well as the new ESPNU Warrior Classic (Lacrosse) and the ESPN National Golf Challenge. For more information, visit ESPNPlus.com.

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Media Contacts: Tim Simmons, Media Coordinator, 303-678-8484, [email protected]; Rachel Margolis, ESPN, 860-766-2798 or [email protected]