Arizona, Utah Agree to Play in Wooden Classic

Officials with the Wooden Classic have reached tentative agreements with Arizona and Utah to participate in next season’s games, sources at the schools said.

The doubleheader will be played on Dec. 7 at the Pond. Contracts for the event are expected to be signed by next week, according to Kent Atherton, president of Atherton Communications, which runs the event.

Atherton would not confirm the games’ participants.

“We will be announcing the field sometime next week,” Atherton said. “The event is done. [But] I cannot confirm anything at this point.”

Officials from Utah and Arizona said they have been negotiating with Atherton Communications. Bruce Woodbury, sports information director at Utah, said that school officials have been “negotiating to play in the event” and expected an announcement next week.

Arizona has “tentatively scheduled” to play, according an Brett Hanson, an assistant sports information director. Arizona Associate Athletic Director Butch Henry declined to comment.

Utah finished 27-7 and reached the NCAA Midwest Regional semifinals, losing to national champion Kentucky, 101-70. Arizona (26-7) and reached the West Regional semifinals, losing to Kansas, 83-80.

UCLA, Purdue, Villanova and Maryland played in the 1995 doubleheader. UCLA played in the event the first two years and was a big reason for its success at the gate. But Bruin officials declined to play in the 1996 game because of a scheduling conflict, leaving the games without a local draw.

Of the announced crowd of 15,330 last year, 2,600 were pre-sale from UCLA. The games drew an announced crowd of 18,307 in 1994.

Game officials have said they would seek teams from different geographical regions.