NEW YORK -- Calling the Gavitt Games “a realignment casualty,” Big East Commissioner Val Ackerman told NJ Advance Media that the annual Big East-Big Ten event is officially done after this season.
NJ Advance Media reported Monday that the Gavitt Games -- which began in 2015 and honored the late Dave Gavitt, the first Big East Commissioner -- were unlikely to happen beyond this season.
Now, they’re officially done.
“Yes,” Ackerman, a Pennington, N.J. native, told NJ Advance Media at Big East Media day at the Garden. “We had an agreement in principle, we sent them a contract, and then they changed their minds.
“We were told that that are reassessing their conference schedule, their conference load, in the wake of their new alignment.”
With the Big Ten set to add UCLA, USC, Oregon and Washington next season, it’s possible the Big Ten may go to a 21- or 22-game schedule starting in 2024-25. And if that happens, Big Ten schools would have less flexibility to schedule non-conference battles with leagues like the Big East.
“They’ll never play the Gavitt Games again,” one Big Ten source told NJ Advance Media.
One major stumbling block is the fact that the Big Ten will have 18 schools next year, compared to the Big East’s 11. That means in any given year, seven Big Ten teams would not play in the Gavitt Games, making scheduling unpredictable for Big Ten schools.
Big Ten coaches don’t like the idea of having to rotate its teams while the Big East’s so-called “heavy hitters” -- UConn, Creighton, Marquette, Villanova -- get to play every year.
“They’re gonna play their best teams and our best teams are not always going to play,” one Big Ten coach said.
The Big East still is involved in the Big East/Big 12 Battle for this season and next, and Ackerman said “we will try” to add another league battle.
“We’re confident we can restore the high-major games,” she told NJ Advance Media. “But it’s too early right now. [Associate commissioner] Dan [Leibovitz]’s already having discussions with some of the other leagues.”
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BIG EAST TOURNAMENT EXTENSION IN THE WORKS
Ackerman also announced that the Big East Conference is in talks with the Garden about extending the Big East Tournament through at least 2032.
The conference has held its tournament at the Garden since 1983, so extending it to 2032 “would give us 50 years at the building.”
“We’re in discussions, there’s strong mutual interest,” she told NJ Advance Media.
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Adam Zagoria is a freelance reporter who covers Seton Hall and NJ college basketball for NJ Advance Media. You may follow him on Twitter @AdamZagoria and check out his Website at ZAGSBLOG.com.