Old Spice Classic 2013: Teams, Schedule, Live Stream, Bracket, TV Info

As if there weren't enough television already over the Thanksgiving holiday with football, parades and the yearly Charlie Brown special, the folks at ESPN and at Walt Disney World Resort have slowly built a reputation for their Old Spice Classic as must-watch television for any college basketball fan.

Founded in 2006 and a proprietary product of the Disney monolith, the Old Spice Classic gets its push from ESPN's ever-growing stable of networks and usually packs a field with a national punch. The 2013 event, which will be held this coming weekend in Orlando, is no different. 

While the field doesn't entirely consist of national title contenders—Purdue, Oklahoma State, Butler, Washington State, Memphis, Sienna, LSU and Saint Joseph's are the participants—each of the eight schools think they have a chance of playing in March. No matter how misguided those internal beliefs are, we're still early in the season enough to where none of them can be explicitly counted out.

And that's the great thing about these early-season events. They're a national platform for programs that might not otherwise get one. Or a platform for individual players to prove they can hang on the court with a likely top-10 NBA draft pick. 

Either way, the gamut of tourneys is about more than just making money for massive corporations. Or so they tell me.

With that in mind, here is a complete preview of the 2013 Old Spice Classic.

Tournament Info

When: Thursday, Nov. 28 through Sunday, Dec. 1

Where: HP Fieldhouse in Orlando

Watch: Various ESPN Networks (see chart)

Game No.	Matchup	Date	Time (ET)	Watch	Stream
1	Purdue vs. Oklahoma State	Nov. 28	12 p.m.	ESPN2	WatchESPN
2	Butler vs. Washington State	Nov. 28	2 p.m.	ESPN2	WatchESPN
3	Memphis vs. Sienna	Nov. 28	6:30 p.m.	ESPN2	WatchESPN
4	LSU vs. Saint Joseph's	Nov. 28	8:30 p.m.	ESPN2	WatchESPN
5	Loser Game 1 vs. Loser Game 2	Nov. 29	11 a.m.	ESPNU	WatchESPN
6	Winner Game 1 vs. Winner Game 2	Nov. 29	1:30 p.m.	ESPN	WatchESPN
7	Winner Game 3 vs. Winner Game 4	Nov. 29	5:30 p.m.	ESPN2	WatchESPN
8	Loser Game 3 vs. Loser Game 4	Nov. 29	8 p.m.	ESPNU	WatchESPN
9	Winner Game 5 vs. Winner Game 8	Dec. 1	12 p.m.	ESPNU	WatchESPN
10	Loser Game 6 vs. Loser Game 7	Dec. 1	2 p.m.	ESPNU	WatchESPN
11	Loser Game 5 vs. Loser Game 8	Dec. 1	5 p.m.	ESPN3	WatchESPN
12	Championship	Dec. 1	7:30 p.m.	ESPN2	WatchESPN

Top Storylines

Rename the Event the Marcus Smart Classic?

Because that's mostly the feeling that I'm getting coming in. Smart will lead his seventh-ranked Oklahoma State squad to Orlando with the expectation of pulling off three straight victories and perhaps using the festivities as another pulpit to announce his intention to come at the crown currently held by a crop of freshmen.

The sophomore guard, who likely would have been a top-five pick this past June, with the emphasis on getting better and competing for a national title. He and his Cowboys have proven quite capable of doing both. Smart's utterly brilliant 39-point night against Memphis started the conversation about where Smart lies in comparison to Jabari Parker, Andrew Wiggins and Julius Randle, leading many to wonder why he didn't just come out in the first place.

Luckily for Oklahoma State, he stuck around. Now the improved version of Smart—like, the one who can actually shoot now and is working on curtailing his turnover problems—spearheads the Cowboys' effort to continue their solid early-season run. Travis Ford's squad has won each of its first five games by 20 points or more, and currently ranks No. 1 overall in Ken Pomeroy's Pythagorean ratings.

The small sample makes the numbers a little hard to take too seriously, but the Cowboys look like a team that can score and defend at an elite level. Which, of course, tends to be a pretty good thing as a basketball team. Le'Bryan Nash has upped his efficiency while dropping his usage, Markel Brown is flashing a vastly improved outside game and Smart is there to make it all come together.

All together, they make unquestionably the favorite in this event. That means that, starting with Purdue, each squad will be looking to pull an upset. But as they proved against Memphis last week, these Cowboys are on a mission to atone for their disappointing March run a season ago.

Hey, Umm, Memphis Is Still Pretty Good Too, Right?

Yep. The fact that Oklahoma State and Memphis met in early non-conference play and could do so for the second time in as many weeks admittedly makes things feel a little anticlimactic. OK, sure. I'll go see the Hunger Games: Catching Fire with you again, but it just won't be as exciting as the first time.

But then you get there and you're Jennifer Lawrence catching fire in a circus (disclaimer: have NOT seen The Hunger Games) and you remember that there was a reason for the initial excitement. The bracket was structured in a fashion to set up a possible Memphis-Oklahoma State finale. 

Which, by the way, should be as exciting as the first meeting because the Tigers are pretty darned exciting themselves. Josh Pastner understandably hasn't been able to keep the same level of cache as John Calipari had around the country, but he's built a well-rounded roster of kids who could make Memphis' first Sweet Sixteen run since Coach Cal left.

Nick King is a talented freshman who has been utterly brilliant coming off the bench. He's averaging 16 points and 6.3 rebounds despite only getting 16.3 minutes a night. If there was one player who wasn't afraid of the Oklahoma State matchup, it was King, who scored 23 points and grabbed eight rebounds in 19 minutes of work. 

You have to think Pastner will work to get him more minutes going forward, even though the Tigers' uptempo style admittedly makes that difficult. In total, 10 players receive 10 or more minutes per game and each play a specific role within the attacking, press-oriented scheme. The typical problems that usually exist with a Memphis roster are here. The Tigers can't shoot from outside, don't have that many players who look ready to suddenly learn and are prone to get broken by elite ball-handlers who have an innate sense of where to make the next pass.

Smart made this team his patsy once this season. It'll be interesting to see, assuming that these two meet in the championship, whether Pastner has any adjustments up his sleeve.

Can Someone Play Spoiler?

Maybe, but it doesn't seem all that likely. One can never assume too much this early in a campaign, but the 2013 Old Spice Classic is set up for a really nice championship game; the other six schools almost, sadly, feel like filler. There are enough solid teams in the field to make it look like an upset is possible, but odds are we're watching a preordained event before the one final explosion.

Butler's mere presence on a bracket will get some folks excited, but this isn't your title-contending Bulldogs team. Brad Stevens left some talent in the cupboard, sure. At the same time, he knew he was getting out of Dodge at a pretty good time—even if it was to coach a dismal Celtics team. 

The Bulldogs are off to a 4-0 start, but the luck fairy has already sprinkled dust everywhere. They've won two of their four games by one possession, and one of their other wins came in overtime against Vanderbilt. When the only impressive victory of your early campaign comes against Lamar, perhaps it's OK to write you off as a potential "bracket buster."

The event also does its two favorites a favor by pitting arguably the two likeliest upset mongers against each other in the first round. LSU, despite its opening loss to UMass, is actually pretty good. 

Jordan Mickey and Johnny O'Bryant III are two massive problems in the middle for any Tigers opponent. They've both been so sensational that supposed freshman phenom Jarrell Martin has barely gotten off the bench. With senior guard Andre Stringer leading the way with 18.3 points per game, Johnny Jones might lead LSU to its first NCAA tournament berth since the first year of the Trent Johnson era.

Saint Joseph's is a possible contender in the revamped Atlantic-10. Leading scorer Langston Galloway is off to a solid start averaging 18.3 points per game, and the Hawks as a whole look like a solid offensive outfit. They're averaging 111 points per 100 possessions, ranking behind only UMass within the conference. Ronald Roberts, Jr. and DeAndre Bembry are both off to very nice starts as well. 

Nevertheless, we're looking at a dead-end here. The people in Orlando and the tournament organizers want a meeting of the only two Top 25 teams in the event, and that's what they're going to get. But Mr. Jones, can you do the NBA fan in me a favor and give Martin some type of run?

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