At long last, Purdue's 2001-02 men's basketball schedule has been announced.

Highlights of the Boilermakers' upcoming slate include a Wooden Tradition meeting with Stanford in Indianapolis Nov. 24 and a Wooden Classic bout with Arizona in Anaheim, Calif., Dec. 8. Xavier and Butler visit Mackey Arena during the non-conference season and Dayton is lined up for the annual Boilermaker BlockBuster, Dec. 15 in Conseco Fieldhouse.

Purdue will also participate in the Las Vegas Classic in Las Vegas, where it is certain to face Illinois-Chicago (in West Lafayette), Southwest Missouri State and Texas A&M and may face Cincinnati.

After a pair of exhibitions the regular season opens Nov. 16 at Valparaiso, and the non-conference portion of the schedule concludes Dec. 29, when the Boilermakers host Robert Morris.

"This is what we needed for an older team," Coach Gene Keady said of the schedule Wednesday. "It's a tough schedule and will make the kids better heading into Big Ten play."

Big Ten play opens Jan. 2 with Ohio State visiting West Lafayette and concludes with a visit from Penn State March 2. The annual Big Ten Tournament will be held March 7-10 in Indianapolis, where it has moved to Conseco Fieldhouse this year from Chicago's United Center.

The Boilermakers will face Big Ten arch-rival Indiana just once this season, a Jan. 31 meeting in Bloomington. Purdue will also face Iowa, Wisconsin and Minnesota just once.

The following is a look at the 2001-02 Purdue men's basketball schedule:

* Wooden Tradition (Indianapolis)

@ Boilermaker Invitational (West Lafayette)

! Wooden Classic (Anaheim, Calif.)

$ Boilermaker BlockBuster (Indianapolis)

& Las Vegas Tournament (Las Vegas, UIC game in West Lafayette)

^ Big Ten Tournament (Indianapolis)