The ACC started it.
First there was the ACC-Big East Challenge, played in early December. The series lasted but three years before dying under the weight of coaches’ trepidation and paranoia, mostly arising from the belligerent Big East of the early 1990s.
By the end of the decade the ACC forged a lasting playing partnership with the Big Ten, a post-Thanksgiving slug-out going strong since the fall of 1999. Now most power basketball conferences have similar arrangements.
The ACC-Big Ten rivalry is so businesslike, the leagues alternate listing which name goes first. This year it’s the Big Ten that tops the ticket in games that start Monday, Dec.