NC State will battle ‘sister’ STATE school, Michigan State in this year’s ACC/Big 10 Challenge. The Atlantic Coast Conference has dominated the ACC/Big 10 Challenge – sweeping all of the eight previous events.
The Wolfpack will travel to East Lansing on Wednesday, November 28th for a 7:00 pm game that will be televised on the big-boy network, ESPN. The entire Challenge line-up can be found by clicking here.
NC State and Michigan State are two of only seven programs in NCAA Basketball history which have managed to win (at least) two national championships coached by different coaches. (Link) The two programs last battled in the 2002 NCAA Tournament where (#7 seed) NC State defeated the (10th seeded) Spartans in a first round battle in Chicago.
Additionally, both of the programs were recently projected as potential #2 seeds in the 2008 NCAA Tournament by ESPN’s Joe Lunardi.
The Wolfpack will face the Spartans directly after another difficult non-conference test in the Old Spice Classic over Thanksgiving weekend. The Old Spice Classic will be held at Disney’s Wide World of Sports in Orlando and will provide all participants the opportunity to play three games. The field has representatives from eight different conferences and is comprised of NC State, Central Florida, George Mason, Kansas State, Penn State, Rider, South Carolina and Villanova. All of the Classic’s games will air on ESPN2 or ESPNU. After beginning on Nov. 22, contests are scheduled for Friday, Nov. 23 and Sunday, Nov. 25. Arkansas defeated West Virginia to win the inaugural 2006 event.
Section Six’s comments on the match-up linked here.
