Skip navigation
Favorites
Sign up to follow your favorites on all your devices.
Sign up

Reports: Big East, Big Ten to announce scheduling agreement Monday

Big-East-main-logo

In its first season the reconfigured Big East finished fourth in non-conference RPI and seventh in non-conference strength of schedule, with those numbers likely helping Villanova (two-seed) and Creighton (three-seed) land the high NCAA tournament seeds they received on Selection Sunday. However even with those solid computer numbers, it never hurts to further strengthen the schedules of the conference’s teams.

With that in mind the Big East will reportedly announce a scheduling agreement with the Big Ten on Monday, with Kevin McNamara of the Providence Journal reporting the news Sunday. The Gavitt Tipoff Games will all be played within the first week of the regular season, with there being plans for eight contests to be played over four days in honor of the late Dave Gavitt. Gavitt founded the Big East Conference.

“We wanted to do something to pay tribute to Dave. The geographic affinity between our two conferences made it a natural to synch up,” said Big East commissioner Val Ackerman. “These [conference] challenges are not uncommon. We want to do something unique, by launching the season with a challenge.”

The event will begin during the 2015-16 season, and there has been no word as to whether or not this agreement will impact the Big Ten/ACC Challenge. That event has been played every year since 1999.

According to the Big Ten Network the games in the Gavitt Tipoff Games will be played on the Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday of the first full week of the college basketball season. Television network assignments will be controlled by the home team; games hosted by Big East teams will air on Fox Sports 1, with Big Ten hosted games airing on either BTN or ESPN.

The question now is what the first match-ups will be. With Rutgers and Seton Hall having already agreed to an eight-year series following the splitting of the Big East, that’s one game we’re unlikely to see scheduled. But what about the possibility of getting Georgetown and Maryland on the same floor? Would the schools allow that to happen, given the fact that they’ve played so infrequently over the years?

Butler already plays either Indiana or Purdue annually thanks to the presence of the Crossroads Classic, a four-team event (Notre Dame being the fourth team) that will be played through 2016 at least. Creighton plays in-state foe Nebraska on an annual basis, and the same goes for Marquette/Wisconsin.

What happens with this Big East/Big Ten agreement in regards to the games remains to be seen, but this is a good move for both conferences. It will help with scheduling, and it also has the potential to set up some games that will help both teams when it comes to putting together quality NCAA tournament resumes.

Follow @raphiellej