Big East, Big Ten Announce Gavitt Tipoff Games

With news leaking out yesterday that the Big East and the Big Ten had an men's basketball announcement to make today, it was just a matter of waiting to find out exactly what the announcement would be.

Beginning with the 2015-16 season, the Big East and Big Ten will square off in the Gavitt Tipoff Games, a four night series of doubleheaders, with each conference hosting one game per night.  The games will be played during the first full week of the college basketball regular season, and will run every year through the 2022-23 season.

Each year, eight teams from each conference will be involved.  Because the Big East has 10 teams and the Big Ten has 14 teams starting with the addition of Rutgers and Maryland this coming summer, there is a slight disparity on how often teams will participate.  Each Big East school will get at least six games in the eight year cycle, while the Big Ten schools will see at least four appearances.

The games hosted by Big East schools will, of course, be broadcast on Fox Sports 1, while the Big Ten home games will be either on ESPN or the Big Ten Network.  I'm not familiar with how ESPN and BTN solve the issue of who gets what games, but let's go ahead and mark me down as in favor of BTN getting the wide majority of the broadcasts.

Yesterday, Marquette deputy athletic director Mike Broeker said that in the years that MU participates in the Gavitt Tipoff Games, it will be in addition to the yearly contest with Wisconsin.  That still leaves Marquette with a wide variety of possible opponents in their six guaranteed games, even when you exclude Rutgers because no one likes Rutgers.

Which Big Ten team would you most like to see Marquette play in the 2015 Gavitt Tipoff Games?