Hokie ClubBLACKSBURG – Virginia Tech, Michigan, South Carolina and Xavier are the four teams participating in the Beach Division of the 2024 Fort Myers Tip-Off, scheduled for Nov. 25-27, 2024, at Suncoast Credit Union Arena on the campus of Florida SouthWestern State College.
Matchups, game times and television designations will be announced at a later date.
The only way to guarantee tickets for the Beach Division of the 2024 Fort Myers Tip-Off, which sold out for the 2023 Beach Division contests featuring Wisconsin, Virginia, West Virginia and SMU, is by purchasing an official fan travel package. Travel packages will go on sale early next year, but fans can immediately register to receive information on next year's event by logging onto www.fortmyerstipoff.com/travel. Ticket-only packages, based on availability, will go on sale next fall.
Each of the four participating programs has made a name for itself in recent history, and each have gotten off to promising starts in the 2023-24 season. Since 2017, the teams have combined for one national championship game appearance, two Final Fours, three Elite Eights and nine Sweet 16 appearances. In 2017, South Carolina won a school-record 26 games en route to its first Final Four appearance in program history. Michigan advanced to the national championship game in 2018, earned an Elite Eight bid in 2021 and made three Sweet 16 appearances (2017, 2019, 2022). Virginia Tech has made five NCAA Tournament appearances since 2017, including a regional semifinal run in 2019 when the team won a school-record 26 games. And after missing the last three NCAA Tournaments, Xavier made a Sweet 16 run in 2023 under first-year coach Sean Miller, who is in his second stint with the program after spending five seasons with the team from 2004-09. The Musketeers also posted an Elite Eight finish in 2017.
About the Teams of the 2024 Fort Myers Tip-Off
Michigan
- Juwan Howard, a member of Michigan's legendary "Fab Five," is entering his fifth season with his alma mater, having appeared in two of a possible three NCAA Tournaments during his time with the Wolverines
- Earned National Coach of the Year recognition in 2021 after guiding Michigan to a Big Ten Championship and No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament
- Michigan has appeared in 31 NCAA Tournaments, eight Final Fours and seven national championship games with one national championship
- The Wolverines have appeared in the top 25 of the Associated Press weekly poll 438 times in program history, tied for 14th all-time
South Carolina
- Lamont Paris is in his second season with South Carolina
- Paris is entering his seventh season as a head coach, having led Chattanooga (2017-22) to an 87-72 mark in five years with the program, which resulted in two conference championships, an NCAA Tournament berth and the 2022 SoCon Coach of the Year
- Paris spent 20 years as an assistant coach, including a seven-year stretch with Wisconsin that resulted in two Final Four appearances and one title game berth
- This year South Carolina is off to its first 5-0 start since the 2016-17 season, the year the Gamecocks advanced to their first Final Four and won a school record 26 games
Xavier
- Sean Miller is in his seventh overall season as head coach of the Musketeers, having served as head coach from 2004-09 before returning to campus last season
- In his first season back with the program in 2022-23, Miller, a four-time Conference Coach of the Year, led the team to a 27-10 mark, a second-place finish in the ultra-competitive Big East and a No. 3 seed in the NCAA Tournament
- With its 27 wins last season, Xavier has recorded 27 straight winning seasons, which is tied for the fourth-best active streak in the nation, behind only Kansas, Gonzaga and Duke
- The Musketeers have made 29 NCAA Tournament appearances in their history, including the 2023 Sweet 16, and is one of only 11 schools that have made at least the Sweet 16 seven times or more over the last 15 tournaments
Virginia Tech
- Head coach Mike Young is entering his fifth season with Virginia Tech after having spent 17 seasons as the head coach at Wofford
- Young was named Sporting News National Coach of the Year in 2019 after leading Wofford to a 30-win season and a No. 19 final national ranking
- With the Hokies, Young has guided the program to a pair of NCAA Tournament berths and the 2022 ACC Tournament championship
- Overall, Virginia Tech has appeared in 13 NCAA Tournaments, including five of the last six, and a regional semifinal berth in 2019
About the Fort Myers Tip-Off
An annual celebration of men's and women's college basketball, the Fort Myers Tip-Off welcomes the top programs from around the country for six days of incredible competition to see which teams and their fans will #OwnTheFort during Thanksgiving Week. Contested at Suncoast Credit Union Arena, the home of Florida SouthWestern State College, the Fort Myers Tip-Off has quickly become a staple of the Southwest Florida sports calendar. For more information and to stay updated on the participating teams, follow us on Twitter and Instagram, or visit www.fortmyerstipoff.com or www.womensfortmyerstipoff.com.
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