B1G/NCAA basketball

[Dr. Strangelove]

Two interesting stories coming out today. The first is that the Big10 and Big East have agreed to play a "Challenge" annually, pitting 8 Big East teams vs. 8 Big10 during the first week of the college bball season.

The second is that tomorrow they are expected to announce that the Verizon Center (Washington, DC) will be hosting the 2017 Big10 tournament

http://washington.cbslocal.com/2014/05/05/verizon-center-to-host-2017-big-ten-mens-basketball-tournament/

[hack]

Narrowly beat out the Castro Center in Havana.

[SeattleLionsFan]

The verizon center will be very handy for the Nebraska fans...

[entropy]

why does the BIG need to move the tourney to DC?

[WM Wolverine]

East Coast exposure. I don't see much reason for it to leave any of Chicago, Indy but JD and enough AD's seem to think it's important to have a presence there.

[THE_WIZARD_]

Was London booked?

[Wild Hoss]

Great move...get the relationship with the DC metro off on the right foot. Tons of BB talent in that area, and the B1G needs to connect in order to recruit it well.

They got this one right.

[Hannibal]

We need to move the football CCG to Dallas so that we can get more exposure in the Texas market.

And while we're at it, we need to move the Big Ten hockey games into the fertile Canadian recruiting ground. Or better yet -- maybe Sweden?

[iam416]

I tend to agree with Hoss. The DC-Baltimore area is always loaded with kids who can play. If this helps make the B10 brand stronger in that area, then I like it. Also, the reason, foolhardy or not, that they added Rutgers and Maryland was to increase the B10 presence/brand on the East Coast. This is a move that is consistent with that objective. Now, if you're like Hannibal, this is splitting 6s and doubling down with the Dealer showing a King. Heh. But presumably the B10 isn't of the same mind.

I also like it because it opens up the very real possibility of rotating the tourney. It seems to me that puts Philadelphia, Cleveland, Detroit and Milwaukee in the mix (I assume Columbus and Minneapolis are out b/c those are actual home cities).

[Hannibal]

I'm sure that the future NBA stars watching in the DC area are so tremendously patriotic about their home towns that they will make a decision about where to play basketball based on what generic basketball court the games are being broadcast from.

Either that or none of them have TVs and they have never heard of these places like "Michigan" and "Ohio" or seen anyone from the Big Ten play basketball until recently.

[Hannibal]

The Big Ten needs to expand into the Dominican Republic so that we can get all of the young baseball studs from there to come to Michigan, Nebraska, OSU, etc.

[THE_WIZARD_]

B1G Gymnastics Tournament...live from Budapest!

[Optimus Prime]

The Cow Palace at Moose Dick, Nebraska should be available. Ent. said the Bovine Artificial Insemination Symposium was last week.

[THE_WIZARD_]

He would now...he is an expert on semen sampling...

[entropy]

a rural nebraska joke... man, that's fresh