With the Covid-19 pandemic still raging, college basketball looked to an idea from their pro brethren with several bubble events for the early non-conference schedule. Louisville, and specifically the KFC Yum! Center, were chosen as one of the sites. Slowly, names of teams were added until 9 were tentatively agreed on. Now, it’s all official and confirmed.
9 Teams. 18 Games. 10 Days.
— Louisville Athletics (@GoCards) November 3, 2020
The 2020 Wade Houston Tipoff Classic features:
☑️ Seven 20-game winners
☑️ Six teams that won or finished 2nd in their conferences
☑️ A group with a collective record of 189-93
🤔 Wonder what @LouisvilleMBB's schedule will be? Find out soon… pic.twitter.com/SARTSxrFCE
The tournament is called the Wade Houston Tipoff Classic and will feature Louisville, Seton Hall, Western Kentucky, Winthrop, UNC Greensboro, Southern Illinois, Arkansas-Little Rock, Duquesne, and Prairie View A&M. The tournament will be over 10 days with a total of 18 games played.
Our Wade Houston Tipoff Classic schedule is here‼️
— Louisville Basketball (@LouisvilleMBB) November 3, 2020
📰: https://t.co/YvfUE1CXUA pic.twitter.com/BPCyeLo5R6
Louisville will play 5 of the teams with 2 days off between each matchup except for the last, which will have 3 days in between. Louisville tips off the season facing Missouri Valley Conference foe Southern Illinois on November 25th. On November 27, they face former Louisville assistant coach Kevin Willard and his Seton Hall Pirates. On November 29th, the Cards will play Southwestern Athletic Conference member Prairie View A&M. Then an in-state rivalry is renewed when the Cards face the Hill Toppers of WKU on December 1st. They wrap up the tournament with a December 4th game against UNC Greensboro of the Southern Conference. Click the link in the tweet above for more details.
The tournament is named after Wade Houston who played for UofL in the 60s and coached at Male High in the early 70s before becoming a highly successful assistant under Denny Crum. Houston was the ace recruiter for Crum and helped recruit many of the members of both the 80 and 86 title teams before taking a job as head coach of the University of Tennessee. Houston is now a businessman and pillar of the Louisville community.
