The first full week of college basketball is set to be a lot more exciting in 2015 for two conferences in particular.
The Big Ten and Big East jointly announced on Monday a season tip-off series between the two conferences that will include a total of eight men's basketball games during the first full week of college basketball.
The Gavitt Tipoff Games, named after Big East founding father Dave Gavitt, will include each Big Ten program who will participate in a minimum of four games each. Big East will participate in a minimum of six. The series will last a total of eight seasons and will feature four home games for each school in both conferences.
"We are excited to honor Dave Gavitt and his contributions to the sport of basketball through the establishment of the Gavitt Tipoff Games," said Big Ten Commissioner James Delany in a statement. "Dave was a friend and a mentor to me and often mentioned that college basketball should do a better job of tipping off the season, similar to opening day in baseball. I think he would approve of our effort to start a new tipoff tradition, grow the game and serve the best interests of the student-athletes and coaches in these two great conferences."
Television coverage of the games will be controlled by the home team. Big East home games will be televised by FOX Sports 1 and Big Ten home games will be televised by either ESPN or BTN.
The schedule for the full eight-game slate will be released by late spring of each year.