This year’s Big Ten ACC Challenge will be Dec. 3-4. It features a lot of college basketball teams from the ESPN.com early preseason top 25: No. 3 Michigan State, No. 5 Duke, No. 6 Ohio State, No. 8 Syracuse, No. 9 Michigan, No. 11 North Carolina, No. 20 Indiana and No. 25 Iowa.
Three of the games will pit ranked teams against each other: No. 9 Michigan at No. 5 Duke, No. 11 North Carolina at No. 3 Michigan State and No. 20 Indiana at No. 8 Syracuse.
ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPNU will team up to televise all 12 games.
All 12 Big Ten teams and 12 of the 15 ACC teams will participate in the 2013 Challenge, including the three newest ACC members Notre Dame (but as we’ve chronicled many a time the whole college basketball world says “DONNNNNNNNNNNNN’T CARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRE” when it comes to ND), Pittsburgh and Syracuse. Clemson,
Virginia Tech and Wake Forest will not play in the 2013 event.
Isn’t this weird for Rutgers and Maryland? (and probably weird too for Rebecca Martinson maybe she’ll road trip to Columbus AND YELL AT THE OPPOSING FANS! Or “c*** punt” some Buckeyes die-hard.)
Rutgers and Maryland have one foot in the Big Ten, one foot in the ACC. The ACC and Big Ten split last year’s Challenge with six wins each. The ACC holds a 10-3-1 Challenge record, winning the first 10 events (1999-2008) while the Big Ten won the next three (2009-2011).
2013 Big Ten/ACC Challenge schedule
Tue, Dec 3
Indiana at Syracuse
Michigan at Duke
Notre Dame at Iowa
Florida State at Minnesota
Penn State at Pittsburgh
Illinois at Georgia Tech
Wed, Dec 4
North Carolina at Michigan State
Maryland at Ohio State
Miami at Nebraska
Wisconsin at Virginia
Boston College at Purdue
Northwestern at NC State
Paul M. Banks is the owner of The Sports Bank.net. He’s also an author who also contributes regularly to MSN, Fox Sports , Chicago Now, Walter Football.com and Yardbarker
Banks has appeared on the History Channel, as well as Clear Channel, ESPN and CBS radio all over the world. President Barack Obama follows him on Twitter (@PaulMBanks)