2023 Shriners Children’s Charleston Classic Field Announced

The ESPN Events men’s college basketball tournament will be played Nov. 16, 17 and 19 at TD Arena.

ESPN Events has announced the eight-team field – Dayton, LSU, Houston, North Texas, St. John’s, Towson, Utah and Wake Forest – that will compete in the 2023 Shriners Children’s Charleston Classic. The annual men’s college basketball tournament will be played November 16, 17 and 19 at TD Arena in Charleston, South Carolina.

Seven of the eight teams in the field are coming off winning records in the 2022-23 season. Houston comes to Charleston as a new member of the Big 12 Conference. Last season they finished with one of the best records in school history (33-4) and won their second straight American Athletic Conference regular-season championship. They capped off their successful season by earning the No. 1 seed in the 2023 NCAA Tournament.

North Texas finished the 2022-23 season with a 31-7 record and won the National Invitation Tournament. St. John’s will be led by new coach Rick Pitino. During his 35 seasons as as collegiate head coach, the Hall of Famer has a 834-293 overall record. Pitino was the first coach to take three different schools to the NCAA Final Four and first coach to win an NCAA Championship at two different schools.

The field includes six of the 40 winningest coaches based on career Division I winning percentage among active coaches: St. John’s Rick Pitino (.708), Wake Forest’s Steve Forbes (.700), Houston’s Kelvin Sampson (.673), Dayton’s Anthony Grant (.647) and Utah’s Craig Smith (.614). Matchups, times and ESPN platform designations will be announced at a later date.

Owned and operated by ESPN Events, the Shriners Children’s Charleston Classic is in its 15th year. Past Classic champions include College of Charleston (2022), St. Bonaventure (2021), Florida (2020) and Virginia Tech (2019).

The family-friendly event offers teams a week of practice, play and experiences in and around historic Charleston. Information on travel packages, tickets and more is available at the Charleston Classic website. Tickets will be available for purchase following the announcement of the complete tournament schedule later this summer. In the meantime, fans can secure first access to the best seats and all-tournament tickets by signing up for the pre-sale at charlestonclassic.com.

ESPN Events

ESPN Events, a division of ESPN, owns and operates a portfolio of collegiate sporting events nationwide. In 2023, the 32-event schedule includes four early-season college football kickoff games, 17 college bowl games, 9 college basketball events, a college gymnastics event, and a college softball event, which account for over 400 hours of live programming on ESPN platforms, while reaching 60 million viewers and attracting more than 650,000 annual attendees. Each year, the portfolio of events features more than 20 Division I conferences and hosts over 4,000 participating student-athletes. With satellite offices in more than 10 cities across the country, ESPN Events builds relationships with conferences, schools and local communities, as well as providing unique experiences for teams and fans.

For more information, visit the official website.