For the second straight year, Marquette and Wisconsin will have premier games for The Gavitt Games where it pits Big East and Big Ten teams against each other. For the Badgers, they’ll be meeting Xavier for the second straight year reigniting their testy game from last season. And for Marquette, they will be playing Indiana. A game that would have been much more juicier a few years ago but still fun to watch Romeo Langford face the Golden Eagles.

Xavier-Wisconsin is becoming its own little rivalry. It started with the 2016 NCAA Tournament when Bronson Koenig hit a game-winning three at the buzzer stunning the second-seeded Musketeers. Last year, Xavier got their revenge with a win at the Kohl Center leading to infamous J.P. Macura ‘gator chomp.’ Macura will be gone as well as their head coach, Chris Mack but those wounds still remain. It should be an interesting battle in the Cintas Center.

Marquette-Indiana is a classic college basketball matchup. Indiana thinks they’ll have a turnaround this season with Langford coming in to save the university. Marquette will have one of their best teams in the last five years, and this will be a big test at the start of the season. It’s a good draw for the Golden Eagles if anyone is worried about being a bubble team. Feel like it’s a bummer to not have Tom Crean not there. This is the first time these two teams will play since 2001 Great Alaskan Shootout where Marquette took down the Hoosiers. If you’re curious, this is on YouTube.

Both are great ways to get the season kicked off in the right way.

Charlie.