Big East / Big 12 Challenge to begin next year

[MUBigDance]

Conference Challenges are great...people are always asking which is the better Conference. The "Challenge" is not definitive but it stimulates fans interest and makes for good matchups.

On the outside looking in are the smaller conferences of course...which big conference would risk a potential losing record against one.

its also for good for the Big-East as it keeps their upper tier credential solid.
You might say its always solid...but the media and polls seem to give the BE no love early in the season. I "feel like" the BE has to prove itself every year..Nova notwithstanding.

[Galway Eagle]

Conference Challenges are great...people are always asking which is the better Conference. The "Challenge" is not definitive but it stimulates fans interest and makes for good matchups.

On the outside looking in are the smaller conferences of course...which big conference would risk a potential losing record against one.

its also for good for the Big-East as it keeps their upper tier credential solid.
You might say its always solid...but the media and polls seem to give the BE no love early in the season. I "feel like" the BE has to prove itself every year..Nova notwithstanding.

I don't know about that. Weren't 6 of our teams receiving votes in the AP poll?

[GGGG]

I think the best thing about conference challenges is that it likely makes it easier to work out the scheduling of games with television.  My guess is that it is more of a hassle to schedule KSU at Marquette as a one-off game, but when two networks devote five time slots each to the games, it just becomes a matter of slotting the opponents in where you can.

That being said, I hope Marquette can schedule another decent opponent next year.  Unless they think that a potential home game in Gavitt Games, at KSU and at UW is enough.

[JamilJaeJamailJrJuan]

I don't know about that. Weren't 6 of our teams receiving votes in the AP poll?

Only one team in the top 25.

[LoudMouth]

I don't know about that. Weren't 6 of our teams receiving votes in the AP poll?

When there are 65 voters, a few people will feel the need to put two big east teams in their poll and there is no clear 2 seed in the BE, besides us, which a beat writer in Louisiana wont give much respect to because lets be honest, they don't care about anything north of the mason-dixon line. It is pretty easy to be receiving votes in the preseason polls, just ask the 53 teams that are receiving votes

[Slick]

Officially announced this morning!!

https://www.kansascity.com/sports/college/big-12/article220539420.html

[MU86NC]

Hopefully better than that 2003 game. Still gives me bad flashbacks.

ouch....

[MU82]

Officially announced this morning!!

https://www.kansascity.com/sports/college/big-12/article220539420.html

There you have it ...

Previously scheduled games between KU and Villanova, Texas and Providence, Oklahoma and Creighton, and K-State and Marquette will be counted as part of the challenge next season. The other six games will be scheduled at a later date.

[mu_hilltopper]

Any match up will be tough, but I'm sure Coach Wardle will have the Warriors ready to go!

So much yes.

[SaveOD238]

There you have it ...

Previously scheduled games between KU and Villanova, Texas and Providence, Oklahoma and Creighton, and K-State and Marquette will be counted as part of the challenge next season. The other six games will be scheduled at a later date.

That leaves

Big East
Georgetown
Xavier
Butler
DePaul
St. Johns
Seton Hall

Big 12
TCU
Baylor
Texas Tech
Oklahoma St
Iowa St
West Virginia

Here's my predictions:
Xavier-West Virginia (Huggy goes back to Cincinnati)
DePaul-Iowa St (regional-ish, though if this game occurs and nobody watches will it really count?)
Georgetown-Texas Tech
Butler-Baylor
St Johns-Oklahoma St
Seton Hall-TCU

[brewnewsman]

I hope we get TCU at some point and give Dixon another loss to remember.

“Marquette beat us one time and all of a sudden they wanted us to be rivals,” said Dixon, who won two Big East regular-season titles (2004 and 2011) and one conference tournament championship (2008).


Jamie Dixon coached in the Big East for a decade. He’s fired up for new ‘alliance/Star-Telegram

KANSAS CITY, MO.
TCU basketball coach Jamie Dixon received good news on Wednesday. The Big 12 and Big East are starting a men’s basketball challenge beginning next season and lasting at least four years.

Dixon coached in the Big East for a decade at Pittsburgh (2003-04 through 2012-13) before the school moved to the Atlantic Coast Conference.

“There is a personal factor in there, there is no question,” Dixon said at the Big 12 men’s basketball media day on Wednesday. “I think it’s tremendous.

“I joke about it because I mentioned -- I thought I mentioned that a year ago, two years ago, really, when I first heard the talks, and I kind of thought it fell on deaf ears, but it seems like it’s gotten – it’s going to be a great thing for us.”

The Big 12 and Big East have a few set matchups for next season, including Kansas and Villanova, Texas and Providence, Oklahoma and Creighton, and K-State and Marquette.

The other six games will be scheduled at a later date. Dixon’s biggest rivals when he was at Pitt were Villanova and Georgetown, although he doesn’t have a strong preference on which school TCU will face next season.

“Marquette beat us one time and all of a sudden they wanted us to be rivals,” said Dixon, who won two Big East regular-season titles (2004 and 2011) and one conference tournament championship (2008).

“Everyone wants to be a rival when you’re at the top of the league. We had so many rivals at Pittsburgh it was never ending.”

Even a few of the Big East teams today that weren’t in the conference during Dixon’s time have history. Pitt beat Xavier in a Sweet 16 matchup in the 2009 NCAA Tournament, and then lost that same matchup in the second round of the 2010 NCAA Tournament.

In the 2011 NCAA Tournament, Pitt lost 71-70 to Butler in the second round.

“There is history there,” Dixon said. “Personally, it’s going to be even more exciting.”

Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby said this alliance will be similar to the current Big 12/ SEC challenge. The series doesn’t have an official name yet, but the hope is it becomes an “event” over a short period similar to the Big 12/ SEC challenge. For now, the games are expected to be played in December.

“It’s a great thing, a great opportunity for us,” Dixon said.

[MU90620]

1.  I don't recall Pitt being considered a "rival".  Just another big game in a very tough league.

2.  Marquette was 7-5 against Pitt while both were in the Big East.  8-5 if you want to count the the 2003 sweet 16 game when Dixon was an assistant.  That's a little more than one win.

3.  I think this comment is a strong indicator that Marquette got under his skin a little more than he got under ours.

[barfolomew]

1.  I don't recall Pitt being considered a "rival".  Just another big game in a very tough league.

2.  Marquette was 7-5 against Pitt while both were in the Big East.  8-5 if you want to count the the 2003 sweet 16 game when Dixon was an assistant.  That's a little more than one win.

3.  I think this comment is a strong indicator that Marquette got under his skin a little more than he got under ours.

I'm not sure what the "Pitt" is or who this Jamie Dixon person is, but she sounds like a nice lady.
And kudos to her for coaching a men's basketball team in Texas. Glass ceiling be damned!