KU-UNC Series is Great for College Hoops and We Need More of It
Fans were treated to an exciting bit of news to start the week as Kansas and North Carolina announced a home-and-home series beginning next year, with UNC traveling to Allen Fieldhouse in 2024 and KU returning to Chapel Hill the next year. The games will take place in early November, kicking off the year in incredible fashion.
The matchup in itself is fantastic. These are the winningest and third-winningest programs of all time and two of the bluest of blue bloods facing off. Not only that, but these programs are connected in so many ways, a handful of which KU laid out in its release announcing the series. The faces and names that have made both programs elite are bound together much stronger than the fact that the schools have played just 12 times, but seven have come in the NCAA Tournament and two to decide NCAA titles (1957 and 2022).
It’s also the blueprint of what college basketball needs more of, especially that time of year. Yes, football is still going on, but there is an appetite to watch greatness against greatness. The Champions Classic feels like the official kickoff to the season, but it’s alone on an island in terms of marquee matchups until you get to Thanksgiving week (and even those are hit and miss). Old-school coaches like Coach K and Jim Boeheim were known to schedule cupcake after cupcake in November and December, rarely leaving their respective arenas or playing power-five opponents until conference play began. John Calipari has a bit of a reputation for that as well, outside of the Champions Classic.
Meanwhile, coaches like Bill Self, Tom Izzo, and Mark Few have been leading the charge of keeping the sport interesting in the late fall. And it seems like maybe younger coaches are more comfortable following suit. Duke’s Jon Scheyer mentioned a more aggressive scheduling style than his mentor, and so far has shown it by agreeing to a home-and-home with Arizona.
But it’s not just that Kansas and UNC are playing. It’s where they’re playing. We need more games like this on college campuses and in historic venues. The Champions Classic is great, comparatively, because those fan bases travel, but many of the Thanksgiving tournaments don’t have quite the same reputation. And the trend has been to schedule neutral sites near their home cities for reasons of money and a more level playing field.
Games on college campuses with students in town make the sport so much more relevant leading up to conference play. Kansas and Kentucky playing in the Champions Classic is always good, but when they face off in the Big 12/SEC Challenge in Allen or Rupp, it’s another level. Imagine UCONN traveling to Indiana and Assembly Hall the second week of the season, or UCLA heading up to Gonzaga to play in the Kennel.
Credit to Self and Hubert Davis for signing off on this series. The calendars are officially circled for November 8, 2024 and November 14, 2025. Now let’s hope others follow.
