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Ranking the Gavitt Games matchups (and longing for the ACC/B1G Challenge)
By Alex Hickey
Published:
The ACC/Big Ten Challenge is officially a relic of the past. That’s the price of the B1G ending its decades-long business relationship with ESPN in pursuit of a new joint relationship with CBS, NBC and FOX.
The event had grown into a nonconference staple since its inception in 1999. But it’s not the Big Ten’s only nonconference basketball challenge.
The Gavitt Games — the Gavitt Tipoff Games if you prefer the name they were christened with — have been running since 2015.
And while the Big Ten’s annual series against the Big East came with considerably less hullabaloo than the ACC/Big Ten Challenge, for now it is the only thing we’ve got in the intra-conference challenge department.
On the surface, it’s actually an upgrade.
The ACC still has success in March, but has backslid the past couple years. Only 5 ACC teams reached the NCAA Tournament in 2022 and 2023.
The Big East was second only to the Big 12 in overall quality last year and is poised to be the deepest conference in the country next season.
So you’d think this week’s announcement of Gavitt Games matchups would be cause for some excitement.
Instead, it leaves me longing for another ACC/Big Ten Challenge.
Part of the issue is that the Big East only has 11 teams. It’s impossible to get every B1G team involved.
That’s exacerbated by the fact that the best Big East team isn’t even part of the competition. Defending national champion UConn, which rejoined the Big East in 2020, has yet to participate in the Gavitt Games.
By default, the event is therefore a bit of a dud. (At least viewers are also able to avoid watching DePaul.)
But it does exist, and there are some good matchups. And when you give us matchups, we are compelled to rank them in order of interest.
8. Georgetown at Rutgers
The Hoyas will be improved in their first year under Ed Cooley, because it’s almost impossible for them to be worse than they were in their final year under Patrick Ewing. Georgetown went 7-25 with a loss to crosstown American University among the lowlights.
That said, can Cooley coax enough improvement to make this game interesting? Probably by February. Unlikely in mid-November.
7. Wisconsin at Providence
Thanks to Cooley leaving Providence, it’s another matchup featuring a first-year coach. And it doesn’t create a whole lot of juice. (If Providence’s home was still called Dunkin’ Donuts Center, there would have been a coffee joke there. But Amica Mutual robbed me of that privilege.)
Providence is a tough place to play. But the veteran Badgers should have the edge against inexperienced Friars coach Kim English’s squad.
6. Michigan at St. John’s
As things currently stand, Michigan has one of the Big Ten’s weakest rosters next season. The Wolverines need some late transfer portal miracles.
Most of the curiosity about this matchup revolves around St. John’s, which will have a rebooted roster and peak fan interest in Rick Pitino’s return to the major college coaching landscape.
5. Butler at Michigan State
Michigan State is the favorite to win the Big Ten next year, and just about any Big East team would be a more compelling matchup than Butler, which has suffered 3 consecutive losing seasons and hasn’t made the NCAA Tournament since 2018.
A rematch of last year’s NCAA Tournament game against Marquette? Sign me up. The Spartans in Philly to play Villanova? Intriguing. A potential Final Four contender in Creighton? Also interesting, to say the least.
Just playing this game at Hinkle Fieldhouse would feel cool.
Instead, the 14-18 Bulldogs come to Breslin. Just doesn’t do it for me. But former Spartan Pierre Brooks is a Bulldog now, so that revenge factor could at least give this game a little spice.
4. Marquette at Illinois
Another matchup where I’d be more interested if the sites were reversed. Quite a few Illini fans would be willing to make the trip to Fiserv Forum, and Milwaukeeans are always ready to tell so-called FIBs exactly what they think of them. (Look it up.)
It’ll be a more one-sided audience in Champaign.
Shaka Smart’s Golden Eagles are another potential Final Four contender, so State Farm Center should be rocking. The question is whether the Fighting Illini will be good enough to put up a fight.
3. Maryland at Villanova
Former Terrapin Hakim Hart will face his old team — which yet again would prove more interesting if these teams reversed sites. But I’m guessing Kevin Willard prefers it this way.
Maryland is a dark horse Big Ten title contender if it can figure out how to win games away from the Xfinity Center in Willard’s second season. Going to Villanova is a good way to test that ability early in the year.
Villanova took a step backward in the first year of the post-Jay Wright era, but improved greatly by the end of the season. With Hart as 1 of 4 seniors anchoring the lineup, the Wildcats should be back in their usual form next season.
2. Xavier at Purdue
I’m excited to see what chants The Paint Crew has in store for former FBI investigation subject and notoriously sweaty man Sean Miller. That could be more entertaining than the game itself.
But the game should be plenty entertaining!
In 2023, KenPom ranked the Musketeers 8th and the Boilermakers 12th nationally in adjusted offense. This should be a shootout.
1. Iowa at Creighton
I’m a sucker for a border battle. So even if this matchup wasn’t interesting, it would be awarded bonus points. I envision hordes of Hawkeyes fans crossing the Missouri River to give this more of an NCAA Tournament feel. Creighton has a 17,352-capacity arena and they won’t all be Bluejays fans.
Despite Iowa literally being across the river from Omaha, the Hawkeyes and Jays haven’t played each other since 2011. That should not be the case.
More important, though, is the potential for this to be an entertaining game. Creighton should have a top-10 offense nationally and be good enough to compete for a national title.
Iowa’s defense isn’t going to be able to slow down the Bluejays, but maybe the Hawks can score with them. And really, that’s all I want in a November basketball game.
Tempo. Points. Fun. This game will have all of that.
Alex Hickey is an award-winning writer who has watched Big Ten sports since it was a numerically accurate description of league membership. Alex has covered college football and basketball since 2008, with stops on the McNeese State, LSU and West Virginia beats before being hired as Saturday Tradition's Big Ten columnist in 2021. He is an Illinois native and 2004 Indiana University graduate.