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Puerto Rico Tip-Off Field Looks Set: NO Big East Team After All

Remember yesterday when I surmised Pittsburgh would be the final team at the Puerto Rico Tip-Off?

You can forget that now.

Even though nothing yet appears on the event's website, the final team has been named and its not from the host Big East. Patrick Marshall of Creighton blog White and Blue Review sent me an email this afternoon directing me to a press release from Temple's athletics site, which indicates that the field for San Juan is set. Western Michigan from the Mid-American Conference, and a regular participant at ESPN-run events, will join the Owls, Alabama, Colorado, Iona, Maryland, Purdue, and Wichita State in what's still a fairly strong field, though not quite the monster it would have been had the Panthers (or any other decent Big East team) signed up.

Pittsburgh remains the only Big East team not confirmed for an event. On first glance, it would seem that the still-empty Legends Classic would be a landing spot for them; however, Jamie Dixon's team participated in that event in 2008, which is less than four seasons ago.

Buzz, who manages the great Early Season Tournament thread at GopherHole.com, also e-mailed me with information. The most noteworthy addition to his thread is an unnamed round-robin event featuring Butler and Indiana.

The 2011 Early Season Event page is again updated with the info from this post.

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