A new college basketball series hosted by ESPN to start the season will begin next year. ESPN netted a three-year deal to host the Champions Classic, which will feature some of the best college basketball programs in the country. The games will be played at a different neutral location each year and serve as the prime time telecasts during the sports channel’s annual College Hoops Tip-Off Marathon.
The Champions Classic brings together four of the all-time best college basketball programs and coaches in Duke, Kansas, Kentucky and Michigan State. It will not be an early tournament like the annual Maui Invitational in Hawaii, but rather just two games each year featuring the winningest programs in NCAA history as another way to kickstart the season.
It’s another great opportunity for betting on some big games. Upsets are much more common early in the season when powerhouse teams are vulnerable. A lack of game experience can affect even the best of teams. Practice is one thing. But the pressure of game situations is a whole different animal that can’t be practiced until you experience it. The preseason seedings put a lot of expectations on teams to perform and not all of them live up to it. The early season upsets can be very lucrative if you catch the right ones.
Here are the dates and locations for the three-year event:
Nov. 15, 2011 (Madison Square Garden – New York City, NY)
Duke vs. Michigan State
Kansas vs. Kentucky
Nov. 13, 2012 (Georgia Dome – Atlanta, GA)
Michigan State vs. Kansas
Duke vs. Kentucky
Nov. 12, 2013 (United Center – Chicago, IL)
Michigan State vs. Kentucky
Duke vs. Kansas