The Hope College men's basketball team is bolstering its 2017-18 schedule with the inaugural Great Lakes Invitational in Marietta, Ohio.

The Flying Dutchmen have agreed to participate in the tournament hosted by Marietta College on November 17-18, 2017.

The Great Lakes Invitational will bring together eight nationally prominent programs. It was created by Ryan Whitnable, a Marietta College alum and creator of the This Week in Great Lakes Basketball Podcast.

The Great Lakes Invitational will feature four games each day. The final game schedule will be released at a later date along with other tournament information including tickets and streaming information.

The tournament field includes four teams from the Great Lakes Region and four from around the country. Representing the Great Lakes Region will be Hope, Marietta, Mount St. Joseph (Ohio) University and Wittenberg (Ohio) University.

The remaining four teams include the reigning national champions from the University of St. Thomas (Minn.), Birmingham-Southern College (Ala.), Dickinson College (Pa.) and St. John Fisher College (N.Y.).

Hope coach Greg Mitchell said the Flying Dutchmen are excited to be a part of such an outstanding inaugural event and compete against some of the best Division III programs in the country.

"Early season games such as these will definitely benefit our schedule strength, but more importantly, we will get an early glimpse of where we are as a team," Mitchell said. "Our players thrive on the great competition. I'm very appreciative of the legwork that Ryan has done to make this happen!"

Whitnable said the goal for the Great Lakes Invitational to become one of the premier events in Division III basketball.

"The field that we've put together is a who's who of the nation's top programs, including this year's national champion," Whitnable said.