BYU hoops will not play in Cancer Classic

Many expected the BYU Cougars to be invited to play in next fall’s Coaches vs. Cancer Classic at Madison Square Garden in New York City considering the battle coach Dave Rose has been waging with pancreatic cancer. However, tournament officials just released the four-team field for the finals in New York, and BYU is not one of them. The four teams invited to play at Madison Square Garden are Pittsburgh, Maryland, Illinois and Texas.
I know from talking to Rose a couple of weeks ago that he was hopeful BYU would get an invite to the classic. What this means, however, is that BYU will likely push harder to schedule a road game somewhere else in the state of New York next season, possibly in Jimmer Fredette’s hometown of Glens Falls – which is something Glens Falls city officials are trying to set up. If they can find an opponent and make the finances make sense to BYU, the Cougars very well could be playing in front of Fredette’s hometown fans.
Here’s what one of the Coaches vs. Cancer tournament officials told me on why BYU is not part of the field:
“As you can imagine these events are planned far in advance so when Dave’s condition came to light, this year’s field was already established, just awaiting final signed contracts. We would gladly look at BYU for future events.”