Washington State rounds out hoop tourney field

The field for the 2010 Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic has been completed with the announcement that Washington State will be the eighth team.
The significance of the announcement is that Utah is one of the eight teams playing in the second-year tournament over Christmas that will feature some of the top college basketball teams in the country.
Besides the Utes and Cougars, other schools playing include NCAA runnerup Butler, Elite Eight team Baylor, NCAA entrant Florida State, Mississippi State, San Diego and host Hawaii.
The pairings should be announced this summer and I figure the Utes could play anyone but San Diego. Of the eight teams, Utah, San Diego and Hawaii are the only three in the tournament that had losing records last year, meaning those three likely won’t get paired up against each other, unless tournament promoters want to give Hawaii an easier first-round game. I would guess Butler or Baylor will get San Diego, which went 11-21 last year. Hawaii was 10-20 last year, but will probably get a better draw.
The tournament will be played Dec. 22, 23 and 25 at the Stan Sheriff Center in Honolulu with several games televised on ESPN-TV.