Mike Krzyzewski asked for it after then-No. 1 Duke beat then-No. 2 Michigan State in Chicago at the Champions Classic in November, and now he will get his wish—the marquee event will take place on opening night of the 2018-19 college basketball season.
The NCAA Division I Council approved a change that will move the start of the season up three days to the Tuesday before the second Friday in November. The Champions Classic—which has taken place on the Tuesday after the second Friday in November since it was launched in 2011—will now move up a week to Nov. 6 next fall, with Duke facing Kentucky and Michigan State playing Kansas at Bankers Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.
"I wish when hopefully they change the start of the season to start on Tuesday, that this would be one of the things that kicks it off, events like this where we can kick off college basketball big-time," Krzyzewski said after this year's game against the Spartans. "This is a big-time night."
Duke is 4-3 all-time in the Champions Classic, which has featured the same four programs since its inception, and it is 1-1 in the event against head coach John Calipari's Wildcats. The Blue Devils' matchup with Kentucky will mark the first time they have opened the season away from Cameron Indoor Stadium since 2001, when their first games were at the Maui Invitational in Hawaii.
"It's such a great idea, and to have the Champions Classic on that date is an honor," Krzyzewski said in a press release announcing the change. "I'm anxious to do something for the first time, and I think it's a positive step in the right direction for our sport."
Mitchell Gladstone contributed reporting.
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