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20th Annual Jimmy V Men's Basketball Classic Matchups Set
December 9 men's doubleheader to close Jimmy V Week which Benefits The V Foundation for Cancer Research

Four historic college basketball programs -- Indiana, Louisville, Maryland and Villanova - will participate in the 20th annual Jimmy V Men's Basketball Classic doubleheader on Tuesday, Dec. 9. ESPN will televise both games from NewYork City's famed Madison Square Garden, beginning with Villanova vs. Maryland at 7 p.m. ET followed by Indiana vs. Louisville at 9 p.m.

The early-season event will conclude the eighth annual Jimmy V Week, a weeklong initiative across multiple ESPN platforms and programs featuring special content to help raise funds for cancer research. In seven years, Jimmy V Week has generated $8,246,000 in total contributions for The V Foundation for Cancer Research, including a record-setting number of $1,827,000 in 2014.

Each game will include a defending conference champion that participated in the 2014 NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Championship and lost to an eventual Final Four team: Defending BIG EAST regular-season champion Villanova, a two-seed in the NCAA Championship, lost to Connecticut while American regular-season co-champion and conference champion, Louisville, lost to Kentucky in the Sweet Sixteen.

Villanova vs. Maryland at 7 p.m.: Villanova has defeated Maryland in four of the five all-time meetings. Maryland, making its Big Ten Conference debut next season, will make its first appearance in the Jimmy V Classic. Villanova will play in its third Jimmy V Classic, losing the previous two games: 67-58 to Texas in 2008 and 81-71 to Missouri in 2011.

Indiana vs. Louisville at 9 p.m.: Indiana holds a 10-6 record over Louisville, but lost the last meeting between the teams in 2003. Indiana has won its previous two Jimmy V Classic games, defeating North Carolina 82-73 in 1999 and Pittsburgh 64-54 in 2009. Louisville, making its Atlantic Coast Conference debut next season, will play in its second Jimmy V Classic after losing to Arizona 72-65 in 2006.

Nice setup for the Wildcats.

Payoff of another very good year for Jay Wright and his team.

Maryland and Louisville kept apart so they can play in Big Ten-ACC Challenge?*^

* = Sentences I thought I'd never say back in 2010
^ = F--k realignment

That is a nice 4-team lineup... that double-header should get some good ratings and raise some nice money! Plus, ANY good graces and promotion and exposure our teams can get on the World Wide Leader is good for the conference. The WIldcats need to win their game too!

Villanova > Maryland
Louisville > Indiana

Excellent opportunity for Villanova and the conference to deliver a punch to the BIG 10.

GoldenWarrior11 wrote:Excellent opportunity for Villanova and the conference to deliver a punch to the BIG 10.

How weird is it that Maryland is in the B1G?

Is Maryland supposed to be any good? If not, it's really a no win situation for Villanova- a win and you're expected to do that- a loss, and it's an anchor for your entire season.

stever20 wrote:Is Maryland supposed to be any good? If not, it's really a no win situation for Villanova- a win and you're expected to do that- a loss, and it's an anchor for your entire season.

On paper, they should be pretty good. I actually don't think they had a senior this year and bring in something like 4 top 100 recruits. But Turgeon will still be the coach so...

stever20 wrote:Is Maryland supposed to be any good? If not, it's really a no win situation for Villanova- a win and you're expected to do that- a loss, and it's an anchor for your entire season.

Here is a recap of Maryland for 2014-2015

Maryland (9-9/ACC, 17-14)
Returnees: 6'5 F Dez Wells (14.9 ppg), 6'1 F Seth Allen (13.4 ppg), 6'8 F Jake Layman (11.7 ppg), 6'9 F Evan Smotrycz (11.0 ppg), 6'6 F Nick Faust (9.5 ppg), 6'8 F Charles Mitchell (6.5 ppg), 6'3 G Roddy Peters (4.1 ppg)
Graduation losses: None of note
Projected pro losses: None. Wells might be small risk.
Additions of note: 6'3 G Romelo Trimble (#36), 6'4 G Dion Wiley (#49), 6'6 F Jared Nickens (#93), 7'1 C Trayvon Reed (#96)
Summary: With all its major contributors back and a quartet of four-stars in its recruiting class, Maryland has enough talent to make a splash in its first year in the Big Ten. The Terps were disappointment last year but still were .500 in the ACC and one of only two league teams to knock off ACC champ Virginia. Seth Allen really came on late to take the offensive pressure off of Dez Wells and with McDonald's All-American Romelo Trimble now in the fold, this team should be extremely hard to guard out on the perimeter. That's bad news for opponents since this was a pretty solid team defensively last year. Interior scoring and point guard play are the question marks. Terps were 281st in the nation in assists to field goals.