2011 Crossroads Classic

[PTownHawkeye]

This double-header will take place in Indianapolis and include the top teams in Indiana: Indiana, Purdue, Butler, and Notre Dame.

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/news/story?id=5467767

Makes me continue to think how awesome it would be if we could figure out a way to do this in Illinois.

[tornado]

The problem is the haggling that would ensue as to where to draw the line..

In Indiana, they really only have three big Power Conference schools, but last year clearly showed Butler belonged, so now they have the four teams they need..

Here in Illinois just who would be included...you'd have so much debate and haggling, that we likely would never get to a consensus...
Maybe Illinois, SIU, Bradley, and Northwestern...but then obviously DePaul & ISU would have a cow...or would you leave out SIU or Bradley??

[thefish7]

Why not just rpi, sagarin, pomeroy, etc rankings? Just take the top 4 or 8. Or do the top 3 with last year's winner hosting and a travelling trophy.

[SFP]

Before I opened the article I just new that Indiana would never play Butler! The better of the two games will be the Purdue/Butler game without a doubt. That really will be one of the better games of the whole season, I bet.

[patrick_o'brian]

And we could only play this INSTATE series if it were to BENEFIT us! That's it! No bragging rights, no recruiting ties, nothing! We also had better check RPIs. If anyone of those teams is below our RPI, we will have to pull out of the tournament immediately. We are not good statesmen! We are only playing basketball TO HELP OUR RPI....................................Just kidding! Certain posters seem to think that any school in the State of Illinois that is not in the MVC, Big East, or Big Ten, is not worth playing, that there is too small of a margin of error. IMHO if you are good enough to beat teams that you are supposed to beat, you will, if not then you are not as good as you consider yourself to be!

[Headless Bobcat]

This would make a lot more sense in Illinois if it were simply a Chicago Classic

1. DePaul
2. UIC
3. Loyola
4. Northwestern

Of course, you'd have a similar same-conference issue with UIC and Loyola.

You could also have an interesting Directional School Classic:

1. NIU
2. SIUC
3. EIU
4. WIU

But I say, just host an Illinois Classic in the United Center and take the 4 best drawing teams in the state. Who cares if the lineup changes from year to year.

[squirrelgotdead]

EIU/WIU and NIU/SIU already play nearly every year.

[SFP]

Problem with an Illinois or Chicago Classic to many people would want part of the revenue it would generate. It is never ever going to happen even though it would be great for the fans.

[AZ BU Fan]

THINK BIG

Why not an 8 team Holiday Tournament or Exhibition Tournament? Play the games in some warm/beach resort location and make it a non counter for a team's annual allotted games.

Something like this:

U of IL
Northwestern
DePaul
Bradley
ISU
SIU

With two from the following: Northern IL, Western IL, Eastern IL, So ILL-E, Loyola, or UIC . Rotate participation of these teams each year....

Let Ill media seed the teams and play tournament.

Guaranteed sell outs and with Illinois TV Markets could generate enough TV $ to make it work. Regional or National TV for the final game - ESPN or Fox - could add more $$..