One of the biggest complaints about college basketball has always been that it lacks a season-opening event marketable enough to generate buzz and draw the casual fans away from football for a night.
Whereas other sports begin with uniform start dates, endless hype and hand-picked nationally televised doubleheaders, college basketball has started in dribs and drabs with a week of largely lackluster matchups across the country.
It has been that way for so long that many wondered if it would ever change, but ESPN appears to have finally put together an annual event capable of kicking off the season with more than a whimper. ESPN.com reports that powerhouses Kansas, Kentucky, Duke and Michigan State will each convene in mid-November each of the next three years for a tip-off event that will be known as the Champions Classic.
Michigan State will play Duke and Kansas will play Kentucky at Madison Square Garden next season. Michigan State will play Kansas and Duke will play Kentucky at the Georgia Dome in 2012. And Michigan State will play Kentucky and Duke will play Kansas at the United Center in Chicago in 2013.
Four elite programs squaring off to open the season at one venue in front of a national TV audience and every prominent national media outlet in the nation. Uh, sure beats this year's Rhode Island-Pittsburgh opener on ESPNU, doesn't it?
If both ESPN and the NCAA are smart, they'll forbid other programs from holding regular season games prior to this double header and make it a true kickoff event to the new year. It also would be nice if some day this Champions Classic annually took place at the venue hosting that season's Final Four.
Regardless, credit the four schools, the TV executives and the sport's governing body for finally putting together an event that is long overdue.
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