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NEW YORK---The 16-team field for the 2007 Dick's Sporting Goods NIT Season Tip-Off Tournament was announced today. The University of Utah will play its opening round contest in Seattle, Wash. against High Point (N.C.) University. Washington and the New Jersey Institute of Technology are in the other half of the West Region bracket.
"We are quite pleased with the caliber of teams in this year's event and we look forward to another exciting start to college basketball with the NIT," commented C.M. Newton, chair of the NIT Committee.
The NIT Season Tip-Off, founded in 1985, will feature all first- and second-round contests at campus sites. All teams in the tournament are guaranteed at least two games. ESPN will provide coverage of the event, televising games on ESPN, ESPN2, and ESPNU.
In the West Regional on November 13, the University of Washington will host New Jersey Institute of Technology in the first game while the University of Utah takes on High Point University in the second contest. The championship and consolation game will take place on November 14.
The East Regional will take place on November 12 and 13 at Syracuse University. The first round doubleheader will showcase the Syracuse Orangemen against the Saints of Siena College while St. Joseph's University will square off against Fairleigh Dickinson University. The championship and consolation games follow the next day.
The Midwest Regional will take place at Ohio State University on November 12 when the Buckeyes play the University of Wisconsin Green-Bay and Columbia University faces Delaware State University. The championship and consolation game will take place on November 13.
In the South Regional, Oral Roberts University will visit Texas A&M University and the University of Texas, El Paso will play Texas A&M University, Corpus Christi. The South region will play on November 13 and 14.
The Tournament will culminate in New York's Madison Square Garden with the semi final doubleheader tipping at 7 p.m. ET on November 21 (ESPN2). The championship doubleheader will be played on November 23, with the consolation game starting at 4:30 p.m. on ESPN with the championship game tipping at 7 p.m. ET on ESPN.
The post season NIT was founded in 1938 by a group of New York City sportswriters while the NIT Season Tip-Off, formerly known as the preseason NIT, started in 1985. An independent at-large committee chooses the field for both events.
Since the inception of the two Tournaments, tens of thousands of student-athletes and coaches have participated. Visit www.nit.org for more details on Tournament history, selection committee and procedures.
