Two old league foes now on opposite sides of the conference fence headline what looks to be another colossal slate of games in the 2015 Big Ten/ACC Challenge, released on Wednesday.
No, not Maryland-Duke, but it could be even better.
The Terrapins will go to North Carolina on Dec. 1, pitting two teams that will be at or very near the top of the preseason national rankings this season. Maryland, which announced the addition of ex-Blue Devil Rasheed Sulaimon this week to a roster already stuffed with returnees and top recruits, figures to be the early favorite in the Big Ten, while North Carolina, with virtually its entire roster back, should be the ACC front-runner.
The two are obviously old ACC rivals, but this will mark their first meeting in a Challenge game.
This year's Challenge, which will feature three of this year's Final Four squads plus 13 that made the NCAA tournament, will be played from Nov. 30-Dec. 2 and aired on ESPN's family of networks.
On Dec. 2, a day after the Maryland-UNC battle in Chapel Hill, the defending national champion Blue Devils will welcome Indiana to Cameron Indoor Stadium in a game that features grand hoops tradition and present-day expectations. Duke boasts its second consecutive top recruiting class, and the Hoosiers, with Yogi Ferrell back for his senior year, will be a Big Ten contender.
Other games to watch: defending two-time regular-season ACC champ Virginia is at Ohio State on Dec. 1; Louisville is at Michigan State on Dec. 2 in a rematch of a regional final game this year; and national runner-up Wisconsin goes to the Carrier Dome to face Syracuse, also on Dec. 2.
The Big Ten won last year's Challenge 8-6 and has now won or tied for the title the last six seasons straight -- after losing the first 10 events.
Due to the unbalanced leagues, Georgia Tech will not participate in this year's Challenge.
