Defending Division I men’s college basketball national champion Duke as well as 2015 Final Four participants Wisconsin and Michigan State are among the teams in this season’s 17th annual Big Ten/ACC Challenge from November 30 to December 2.
ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPNU will combine to televise all 14 games of the event matching top college basketball programs playing for conference supremacy and the Commissioner’s Cup. All 14 games will also be available via WatchESPN.
Overall, the Challenge includes:
Early attention: Nine programs ranked in an ESPN.com early preseason top 25 poll, highlighted by four of the top seven: No. 2 North Carolina, No. 4 Maryland, No. 5 Virginia, No. 7 Duke, No. 12 Michigan State, No. 13 Notre Dame, No. 14 Indiana, No. 21 Louisville and No. 25 Wisconsin. Three of the games will pit teams in the early rankings against each other: No. 4 Maryland at No. 2 North Carolina, No. 14 Indiana at No. 7 Duke and No. 21 Louisville at No. 12 Michigan State.
Recent Success: Thirteen teams that played in the 2015 NCAA Championship: Duke, Louisville, NC State, North Carolina, Notre Dame and Virginia from the ACC, and Indiana, Iowa, Maryland, Michigan State, Ohio State, Purdue and Wisconsin from the Big Ten.
The Big Ten captured the Commissioner’s Cup last season, winning eight of the 14 matchups. The two conferences split the previous two events, winning six Challenge games each in 2012 and 2013. The ACC won the first 10 Challenges (1999-2008) while the Big Ten won the next three (2009-2011). In the event of a tie, the Commissioner’s Cup remains with the conference that won the previous year.
2015 Big Ten/ACC Challenge schedule (times and networks will be announced in August):
Schedule
Mon, Nov 30
Clemson at Minnesota
Wake Forest at Rutgers
Tue, Dec 1
No. 4 Maryland at No. 2 North Carolina
No. 5 Virginia at Ohio State
Michigan at NC State
Purdue at Pittsburgh
Northwestern at Virginia Tech
Miami (Fla.) at Nebraska
Wed, Dec 2
No. 14 Indiana at No. 7 Duke
No. 21 Louisville at No. 12 Michigan State
No. 13 Notre Dame at Illinois
No. 25 Wisconsin at Syracuse
Florida State at Iowa
Penn State at Boston College
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