NCAA: Maryland-Georgetown to Highlight Gavitt Tipoff Games

Taking cues from the ACC/Big Ten and Big-12/SEC challenges that precede them, the Big Ten and Big East have agreed to take part in a similar event starting with the 2015-16 college basketball season, which will be called the Gavitt Tipoff Games.

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Unlike those other conference challenges, though, not all teams will take part in the event due to the timing of the scheduled games. Butler and Seton Hall are part of Puerto Rico Tipoff and Charleston Classic, respectively, which pits them against certain teams early in the season before these tournaments begin bracket play.

Also, because of the numbers, the Big Ten would not have had every team involved regardless. The Big Ten has 14 teams in its conference while the Big East has 10. This would automatically leave four Big Ten teams out of the event, but with Butler and Seton Hall not being in the field as well, that’s six Big Ten teams out.

The highlight of the event is the return of the Maryland-Georgetown rivalry, which will kick off the string of games on Nov. 17. Maryland heads into the 2015-16 season with high expectations, ranked in the top five for most Way Too Early Top 25s for next season.

Not only do Melo Trimble and Jake Layman both return for the Terrapins but also add highly touted recruit Diamond Stone, who’s expected to take over center duties for Maryland.

Georgetown should also have some high expectations heading into next season, especially with the return of D’Vauntes Smith-Rivera, who declared for the NBA Draft before changing his mind and returning to school for his senior year.

The Hoyas do lose talented role players in Jabril Trawick and Mikael Hopkins, as well as big man Joshua Smith, but Georgetown should be near to the top of Big East expectations before next year.

Another key game of the series features Xavier taking on Michigan. Caris LeVert‘s return to school for his senior year puts the Wolverines near the top of the Big Ten in terms of expected finish for next year.

Michigan returns a number of talented guards along with LeVert, including Derrick Walton, Zak Irvin and Spike Albrecht, as well as another year of Ricky Doyle, a big man who grew as the season went along. Michigan could be a dangerous team moving forward.

Xavier, who will lose do-it-all big man Matt Stainbrook, brings up an array of talented guards and wings in Jalen Reynolds, Myles Davis, Remy Abell, J.P. Macura and James Farr, as well as versatile big Treveon Bluiett. It’s not the headline matchup, but Xavier-Michigan should, at the very least, be a very good test for both teams.

NCAA Basketball: NCAA Tournament-3rd Round-Georgetown vs Utah

Mar 21, 2015; Portland, OR, USA; Georgetown Hoyas guard D’Vauntes Smith-Rivera (4) celebrates against the Utah Utes during the first half in the third round of the 2015 NCAA Tournament at Moda Center. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports /

Teams not involved with the Gavitt Tipoff Games include Wisconsin, Michigan State, Minnesota, Northwestern, Purdue and Ohio State from the Big Ten as well as Butler and Seton Hall from the Big East. All of these teams have other games and events they are committed to, which is why they are not part of this one.

Here’s the schedule for the Gavitt Tipoff Games: (likely television broadcast destination)

Tuesday, Nov. 17:

Georgetown @ Maryland (Big Ten Network or ESPN network)

DePaul @ Penn State (BTN or ESPN network)

Nebraska @ Villanova (Fox Sports 1)

Wednesday, Nov. 18:

Illinois @ Providence (FS1)

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Thursday, Nov. 19:

Creighton @ Indiana (BTN or ESPN network)

Iowa @ Marquette (FS1)

Rutgers @ St. John’s (FS1)

Friday, Nov. 20:

Xavier @ Michigan (BTN or ESPN network)

Dec 22, 2014; Ann Arbor, MI, USA; Michigan Wolverines guard Caris LeVert (23) dribbles against the Coppin State Eagles at Crisler Center. Mandatory Credit: Rick Osentoski-USA TODAY Sports /

It has already been announced that next year’s Gavitt Tipoff Games will include Maryland playing at Georgetown in the Verizon Center, which gives us one guaranteed game for the 2016 event scheduled.

With this event set to become an annual thing, hopefully more can be done to ensure that the major teams are all involved and we can see the top teams pitted against each other in the future. For example, the Big Ten/ACC Challenge goes out of its way to schedule a top Big Ten opponent for Duke every year (at Wisconsin in 2014, vs. Michigan in 2013) and does the best to give the best possible game from the field.

These games are played in the beginning of December where these early season tournaments aren’t an issue, so maybe we see the Gavitt Tipoff Games set for one specific day or pushed back a little bit to ensure the best possible matchup, but we’ll cross that bridge when we get there.

Either way, we do get Maryland and Georgetown to play one of their first games of the season against each other, which should be exciting and intense, so we’ve got that going for us as fans, which is nice.

Next: The Importance of the Maryland-Georgetown Rivalry

NCAA: Maryland-Georgetown to Highlight Gavitt Tipoff Games

By Nathan Giese | Apr 23, 2015

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