Florida Gators to Participate in Four-Team Barnstorming Event

Mandatory Credit: ©Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports

The Florida Gators, Michigan State Spartans, North Carolina Tar Heels and Texas Longhorns will headline a three-city barnstorming event in which all teams will play each other. Michigan State athletic director Mark Hollis, who first had the idea to play college basketball games on an aircraft carrier, is once again the brainchild of this unique and incredible “tournament”.

Each team will play three games: One in New York, another in Chicago, and the final game in Los Angeles. The event will take place over an eight-day period starting December 14, 2018. During that period, all four teams will see local sights and take in cultural events of each city. But the kicker is the Gators, Spartans, Tar Heels and Longhorns all will travel together on a single charter plane.

The event will start in New York City where the teams will arrive on Friday, December 14 using their own modes of transportation. Madison Square Garden will host the first two of six games that span the nation the very next day. Finally, on Sunday, the teams will get a chance to take in the sights and sounds of New York City as they’ll visit the Freedom Tower at the 9/11 memorial, visit the center of the financial world at Wall Street, and see Motown the musical on Broadway if it’s still playing.

Then UF, MSU, UNC, and UT will all join each other on a flight to Chicago later that day. After having a morning of rest on Monday, December 17, the teams will eat a deep-dish Chicago style pizza dinner together and see a Second City comedy show. But the Gators, Heels, Spartans, and ‘Horns will get back to business the next day, playing the second of three doubleheaders at the United Center, where Gator greats and current Chicago Bulls Joakim Noah and Erik Murphy call home.

On December 19, the teams will once again board the plane together on a flight to Los Angeles where they will conclude the event. In the first days in LA, Florida, Michigan State, North Carolina, and Texas will go to Disneyland and a dinner together. On Friday, December 21, the teams will tour Warner Brothers Studio and explore the Grammy Museum. The tournament ends on Saturday with the last two games being played at the Staples Center.

The schools will then have to make their own arrangements to get back to their home, just in time to celebrate the holidays with their family and friends. The matchups and times for the event have not been determined and will be announced at a later date.

Gators athletic director Jeremy Foley and Hollis helped create this event to help create camaraderie between the schools and their players and staff, in addition to the cultural and educational facets of the event:

"“So many of these kids know each other from AAU and everything else that we felt this would be a great way to travel. I worked with [ADs] Steve Patterson at Texas, Jeremy Foley at Florida and Bubba Cunningham at North Carolina on this. They and the head coaches are all excited about the opportunity for the student-athletes.” – Michigan State AD Mark Hollis"

Hollis also helped create the 16-team Nike two-tournament taking place in Portland in November 2017 that Florida will also be taking part of. The tournament will take two Nike sponsored teams from eight conferences will play at the Rose Garden and Veterans Memorial Coliseum. The event honors Nike founder Phil Knight to celebrate his 80th birthday.

I think these two events are great ideas that bring together the nation’s elite teams in something college basketball has never seen. It’s not only beneficial for NCAA basketball, but also for the schools to improve their strength of schedule and RPIs. What are your thoughts?

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