Michigan, Pitt, & SMU Join Marquette Men's Basketball In The 2016 2K Classic

Waaaaaaaay back in November 2014 while Marquette was busy playing in the Orlando Classic, Matt Velazquez of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel broke the news on the next three early season tournaments that Marquette would be taking part in.  Those were the Legends Classic coming up later this month, the 2K Classic in November of 2016, and the Maui Invitational in 2017.

Today, CBS Sports' Jon Rothstein broke the news on who will join Marquette in the 2K Classic next year.

Michigan, Marquette, Pitt, and SMU are in the 2016 2K Sports Classic at Madison Square Garden, sources told @CBSSports. Matchups are TBD.

— Jon Rothstein (@JonRothstein) November 3, 2015

While it never hurts to get in a few more games at the Garden, that looks like it could be a interesting field.  As long as John Beilein remains as head coach at Michigan, the Wolverines will be a quality opponent.  Jamie Dixon's Pitt squads are usually fairly decent, although they stumbled to an 8-10 record in the ACC last year.  SMU is probably the biggest question mark, as the Mustangs will only be allowed to carry 10 scholarship players in 2016-17 due to the recent NCAA sanctions that were handed down.

The 2K Classic is run by The Gazelle Group, which is the same company that operates the Legends Classic.  It also operates with the same format as the Legends Classic, which means that Marquette will get two home games as a part of this event, just like MU will be playing Belmont and IUPUI under the auspices of the Legends Classic this season.  It also means that Marquette will only play two of the three teams that are headed to MSG for the event next year.

Hopefully, Marquette gets to play Pitt so we get to visit with our old friend Sad Pitt Bear.