Big Ten-ACC Challenge

The Big Ten/ACC Challenge is a basketball tournament that matches teams from the Atlantic Coast and Big Ten conferences. The tournament began in 1999 and has aired every year on ESPN, which played a key role in its creation. The series features some of the best nonconference matchups of the season. Since its inception, nine teams from the two conferences have played in the Final Four -- and have won the national title six times.

The ACC won the Challenge each of the first 10 seasons, but the Big Ten has won the last three Challenges.

The ACC/Big Ten Challenge began in 1999 as a showcase for two of the top conferences in college basketball; in alternate years, the tournament is called the Big Ten/ACC Challenge. For the first six years of the Challenge, the ACC had only nine teams, so two Big Ten squads were omitted from the series every year. When the ACC expanded to 12 teams in 2005, one ACC team did not participate each year. Since Nebraska joined the Big Ten, beginning with the 2011-12 season, all 12 schools from each conference are playing in the Challenge.

ESPN holds the broadcast rights to all the games and played a large part in the tournament's creation. The network also worked with the ACC and Big Ten to extend the Challenge for an additional six years in 2005 (also when the series expanded).

The ACC won the first 10 editions of the Challenge, winning 62 of the 107 games played. The first four years of the Challenge were close, with the ACC winning 5-4 in 1999, 2000 and 2002 (the ACC won 5-3 in 2001 after one game was canceled at halftime because of poor court conditions).

The ACC's major domination began in 2003; the Big Ten won more than three games only once from 2003 to 2008. Its Challenge stronghold was finally broken in 2009, when the Big Ten won its first series, 6-5.

In 2005, North Carolina met Illinois in a rematch of the previous season's national championship game, with the Tar Heels winning both times. In 2008, UNC's matchup with Michigan State proved to be a preview of the national title game, with the Tar Heels again winning both meetings.

The series always is held the week after Thanksgiving and is hosted by the participating schools.

In 2007, the ACC/Big Ten Women's Challenge began. The ACC won the first four editions of that tournament.

The 2011 Big Ten/ACC Challenge will be the 13th edition of the tournament and will take place Nov. 29-30. It will mark the first time that every team from both conferences can participate, since both conferences now have 12 member schools. Nebraska, the newest member of the Big Ten, will be playing for the first time.

Tuesday, Nov. 29

Miami at Purdue
Northwestern at Georgia Tech
Illinois at Maryland
Michigan at Virginia
Clemson at Iowa
Duke at Ohio State

Wednesday, Nov. 30

Indiana at NC State
Penn State at Boston College
No. 21 Florida State at Michigan State
Virginia Tech at Minnesota
Wake Forest at Nebraska
Wisconsin at North Carolina