The Big East and the Big 12 announced the matchups today for the first ever Big East-Big 12 Challenge. This is the first of the four year scheduling agreement for the conferences.
Here are the matchups
Kansas at Villanova
OU at Creighton
Texas at Providence
West Virginia at St. John’s
Marquette at Kansas State
Texas Tech at DePaul
Seton Hall at Iowa State
Xavier at TCU
Butler at Baylor
Georgetown at Oklahoma State
Here are the ones you should be looking forward to the most
Kansas at Villanova
Two of the biggest programs in college basketball kick off the first Big East Big 12 Challenge. Winners of the Big East regular season and tournament last year, Villanova ended this year with a Round of 32 loss to Purdue. Kansas will be coming off their worst season in the Bill Self era and be looking to respond. Collin Gillespie will be Nova’s leading scorer and the key to Villanova’s success. Seniors Dedric Lawson and hopefully big man Udoka Azubuike will be running the show for the Jayhawks. These two teams met this year in Lawrence early in the season, with Kansas winning 74-71. The return to Philadelphia should be a great matchup of two big college basketball powerhouses.
West Virginia at St. John’s
An old Big East matchup is on the cards when West Virginia travels to Manhattan to face St. John’s. These two teams have not faced each other since their last conference matchup in 2012, where Saint John’s won 78-62. St. John’s and West Virginia are actually each other’s 18th most played opponent in history, so these two schools historically know each other. Each team will be coming off different seasons though. West Virginia finished 15-21 while finishing dead last in the Big 12. St. John’s made the tournament for the first time since 2015 under Chris Mullin. While this may not be WVU’s main Big East rivalry, this will still bring back a little taste of what the old Big East was like.
This challenge has a chance to turn into a staple challenge that everyone looks forward to every year. We already have the Big 12/SEC and ACC/Big 10 challenge and those always produce great games. Once these dates are officially announced, circle them on your calendars. They’ll be good ones.