Big East Basketball: Projecting the 2018 Gavitt Games with Big Ten

The 2018 Gavitt Games schedule, featuring the Big East and the Big Ten, will be released soon. Here are the potential teams and match-ups that we could see.

The college basketball offseason is in full swing, which means it’s time for programs around the country to beef up to build their non-conference schedules for 2018-19. We are approaching year four of the Gavitt Tipoff Games, the annual mid-November Big East-Big Ten battle, where eight teams from each league have the opportunity to grab a solid win against a major conference opponent.

Last year, the games and opponents were released in late May, so there is still a little time before the actual contests emerge. Through three seasons, the Gavitt Games event has finished in a 4-4 tie every year (though the Big East may have earned the unofficial tiebreaker with Villanova’s national championship victory over Michigan).

There are eight Gavitt Games matchups each fall, with each conference hosting four of the contests. Big East teams must play in at least six games through 2022, while Big Ten squads must play in at least four. Here is a list of the previous Gavitt Games for each team thus far.

On the Big East side, Creighton, DePaul, Providence, and St. John’s have all played three Gavitt Games in three years. It’s safe to assume that two of those teams will take a seat this year. The Friars already have five high-quality non-conference games scheduled, plus another two Hall of Fame Classic campus games. St. John’s also has a respectable non-conference slate right now, so I handed the last two Gavitt Games slots to Creighton and DePaul.

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In the Big Ten, Maryland is most certainly not playing a game in 2018, having been the only team to participate in all three seasons thus far. Minnesota, Northwestern, Purdue, and Wisconsin have played in the event for two straight seasons, so they were also easier choices to cut from the 2018 Gavitt Games.

The final two spots came down to Nebraska, Illinois, and Indiana, which all participated in 2015 and 2017, while sitting out in 2016. Without much rhyme or reason, I benched the Fighting Illini this year – after all, someone has to be left out.

One note: Michigan State is yet to play a game due to their Champions Classic commitments, and while the conferences may issue the Spartans a reprieve from playing their mandated four games over the entirety of the Gavitt Games contract, it seems unlikely MSU will escape another year without a Big East opponent. It helps that the Champions Classic has been moved up a week this year, allowing MSU a breather between its game with Kansas and another high-major squad.

One more thing: pre-existing regular season rivalries obviously eliminate any potential matchup in the Gavitt Games. That rules out Marquette-Wisconsin, Seton Hall-Rutgers, Creighton-Nebraska, DePaul-Northwestern, and Butler-Indiana.

It’s also possible that Butler can’t play Purdue as the Boilermakers are the Bulldogs other opponent in the rotating Crossroads Classic, but I could not find anything stating the two were restricted in the off years of their Crossroads contest. Still, it’s a safe bet that the conferences would also look to avoid matching up the two programs if at all possible.

And without further ado, here are eight potential Gavitt Games we would like to see in 2018.