SPRINGFIELD, Mass. – The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame announced the field of teams and brackets for the 2013 Tip-Off Tournament, and for the first time, the University of Hartford men's basketball team has been selected to participate in the annual event.

Joining Hartford as teams scheduled to participate in next year's Tip-Off Tournament are Belmont, Fairfield, Hofstra, Holy Cross, Louisville, North Carolina and Richmond.

The 2013 Tip-Off Tournament game schedule will be separated into two brackets. The Naismith bracket will consist of Fairfield, Louisville, North Carolina and Richmond while the Springfield bracket consists of Hartford, Belmont, Hofstra and Holy Cross.

The Hawks begin the annual event by playing two teams from the Naismith bracket. Hartford is scheduled to kick-off the Tip-Off Tournament at Fairfield on November 13 before heading to the Bluegrass State to take on Louisville on November 19.

The matchup with the Stags will be the first of its kind since the 1997-98 season, ending a 16-year hiatus between the two squads. Fairfield holds a 4-3 advantage in the all-time series with Hartford and scored an 87-81 victory on its home court in the last meeting on December 4, 1997. Hartford and Louisville have met just one other time in the Hawks' 28-years as an NCAA Division I program, a 104-69 Cardinals' triumph on November 17, 2007.

Hartford concludes the Tip-Off Tournament with two games against teams placed in the Springfield bracket, with both of those contests being played at Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Conn.

A meeting with Belmont would be the first time the Hawks and Bruins tangle in both teams' Division I histories. Hartford and Hofstra have hooked up 16 times, but have not met since the Pride left the America East for the Colonial Athletic Association in 2001. Holy Cross holds a slight edge against Hartford at 6-5 in a series that dates back to December 22, 1985.