Schedules and commits

Good morning! It’s a great morning to snag tickets to The Field of 68 Opening Day Showcase. There really isn’t a better way to spend Nov. 4 than watching three basketball games.

So get some seats, and let’s dive into what happened on Monday.

1. Is your November hoops schedule set yet?

On that note, may as well start planning out your other college basketball trips for November. Thanksgiving Week will get all the attention — with the Maui Invitational, the Players Era Festival, a non-conference matchup between Duke and Kansas in Vegas are just the biggest events — but the week before has more than its fair share of must-see TV.

Like the Hall of Fame Classic.

As far as four-team MTEs go, this is a solid lineup of the reigning MWC champ, an always-entertaining offensive program, one of the AAC’s more underrated programs, and a team with a new coach and perhaps the fan favorite for 2024-25.

Just as important, Iowa, Saint Louis and Wichita State are all driving distance from KC, which means this one should be packed with different fan bases eager to enjoy a long weekend.

But when you’re searching for tickets, be sure you snag the right Hall of Fame event. (These don’t go on sale until Sept. 10.)

There are a bunch of Hall of Fame MTEs, so it’s easy to mix-up this event with the others. Those are:

• Hall of Fame Series Las Vegas (Nov. 4): Ohio State vs Texas

• Hall of Fame Series Phoenix (Nov. 15): Grand Canyon vs. ASU

• Hall of Fame Series Baltimore (Nov. 15): Virginia vs. Villanova

• Hall of Fame Series New York (Dec. 14): Gonzaga vs UConn

• Hall of Fame Showcase (Dec. 14): Providence, Fordham, Bryant, St. Bonaventure

• Chris Paul HBCU Challenge (Dec. 19-20): Norfolk State, Alabama State, Delaware State, Grambling

• Hall of Fame Classic: (Dec. 21): ASU, UMass, Temple, Rhode Island

Not enough? No worries, more scheduling news also come out on Monday, though you’ll have to break out your December calendar:

• Holiday Hoopsgiving in Atlanta on Dec. 14 is a solid triple header that features Auburn vs. Ohio State, Georgia vs. Grand Canyon and Arizona State vs. Florida. No time and ticket info for that yet.

• Georgetown and Syracuse set the same date — Dec. 14 — to resume one of the sport’s famed rivalries. They previously announced this (they haven’t played since 2016-17) as part of a five-year series between the schools.

• Finally, the MKE Tip-Off (Dec. 15) in Milwaukee features Northwestern vs. Georgia Tech, San Francisco vs. Loyola (Chicago) and Milwaukee vs. Akron.

Hm. Atlanta in December? It’s not quite Maui in November, but I could make time.

2. Georgetown’s international quest for a big man

Ed Cooley missed on a couple of big men in the transfer portal. But Georgetown still found a way to snag a 7-footer for the 2024-25 season.

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