ESPN has announced beginning next year there will be the SEC/Big East Challenge and the games will be moved on campus. This from Andy Katz:
[PRBREAK][/PRBREAK][QUOTE]
The Big East/SEC Challenge worked well when Kentucky and Connecticut played before a packed house at Madison Square Garden in December 2009.
Getting Kentucky to host nearby Notre Dame in Louisville made sense, too. So did having Pitt play Tennessee on a neutral court in the brand-new Consol Energy Center in Pittsburgh last week.
But the undercard games such as Arkansas-Seton Hall in Louisville and Auburn-Rutgers in Pittsburgh appeared to be for friends and family only. Even when Syracuse played Florida in Tampa last season or Alabama took on Georgetown in Birmingham, the games had some empty seats and an atmosphere that didn’t feel cozy.
That’s why the Big East and SEC realized they had to do what the ACC and Big Ten have did with their challenge — go on campus.
The two conferences, along with ESPN, announced Thursday a new two-year agreement involving all 12 of the SEC teams and 12 of the 16 Big East teams (in 2011; 12 of 17 in 2012 when TCU joins) to play games on campus the week after Thanksgiving. Matchups and sites will be determined at a later date.
[/QUOTE]
[URL=”http://espn.go.com/blog/collegebasketballnation/post/_/id/19896/big-eastsec-challenge-moves-on-campus”]Source[/URL]
Kentucky’s schedule is getting tougher by the second. Kansas in New York, North Carolina, Louisville, Indiana, and now add in a Big East opponent…recruiting class isn’t the only thing the Cats are going to be #1 in. Strength of schedule is definitely going to help the Cats come tournament time.
