UNC Basketball Schedule Update: New Opponent and Time for CBS Sports Classic
For the second time in less than a week, the plans for the upcoming CBS Sports Classic have been altered.
The result is that North Carolina will now be playing Kentucky (instead of Ohio State) at 2:00pm ET.
How did we get to this point? Good question.
Let's unpack.
CBS initially announced the plans for the 2020 CBS Sports Classic on October 29. At that point, the following schedule was unveiled:
- 2020 CBS Sports Classic
- Saturday, December 19, 2020
- Cleveland, OH
- Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse (home of the Cleveland Cavaliers)
- North Carolina vs. Ohio State | 2:00pm ET
- Kentucky vs. UCLA | 4:30pm ET
While the date and location never changed, the times and opponents have both been altered.
Change Number One
The first change actually occurred due to the Big Ten Football Championship Game, believe it or not. Last week the Big Ten altered their minimum required number of regular season games for participation in the conference championship game. The reason for doing so was to allow Ohio State (the conference team with the best shot at making the College Football Playoff) to play in the game.
The football game will be played at noon ET, so in order to accommodate the Ohio State fanbase the organizers of the CBS Sports Classic decided to switch the North Carolina vs. Ohio State basketball game to the second slot (approximately 4:30pm ET).
This change was announced last Thursday, December 10:
Change Number Two
On Wednesday, December 16, a second change was announced. This one affects both Carolina's schedule and opponent.
The Tar Heels will now play Kentucky, instead of Ohio State. Additionally, Carolina will play at the originally scheduled time of 2:00pm ET, presumably to still accommodate the Ohio State fan base trying to watch the Buckeye football and basketball games.
Why the second change?
A release on GoHeels.com stated, "North Carolina will face Kentucky at 2 p.m. ET, followed by UCLA and Ohio State at approximately 4:15 p.m. ET with both games airing on CBS. The revised schedule was created to more closely align COVID-19 testing protocols between the competing programs and their respective conferences."
There is no mention of who initiated the change or why the ACC / SEC and Big 10 / Pact 12 COVID-19 protocols line up more closely. Undoubtedly, more information will come out regarding the factors that went into this decision.
In the same release on GoHeels.com, UNC head coach Roy Williams said,
"This a little unusual to say the least, but these are unusual times and that goes for college basketball, as well. Our team wants to play in the CBS Sports Classic. Instead of Ohio State, we'll play Kentucky. Perhaps it would have been better to make a change like this earlier, but the bottom line is we want to play. Kentucky, Ohio State and UCLA all have fantastic programs and we are excited about having the opportunity to play."
To sum up, all the specifics of the (hopefully) finalized schedule are as follows:
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