The BB&T Classic, originally the Franklin National Bank Classic, was a Washington, D.C.–based college basketball event held annually from 1995 to 2017. It raised funds for the Children's Charities Foundation, a fund-raising organization that financially supports Washington, D.C.–area charities, and was staged on or around the first weekend in December. Its name changed in 1999 after BB&T acquired Franklin National Bank that year.[1] Played as a tournament with championship and consolation games from 1995 to 2004, the BB&T Classic was a non-tournament showcase event from 2005 to 2017. A decreasing ability to attract marquee teams and declining fan interest and television coverage led to its demise after the 2017 edition.

BB&T Classic
SportMen's college basketball
Founded1995
Ceased2017
No. of teams4
CountryUnited States
Venue(s)Capital One Arena, Washington, D.C.
Most titlesMaryland (4)

Founding

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Former ambassador and vice-presidential press secretary Peter Teeley[1] and Washington, D.C.-area sportswriter and author John Feinstein[2] organized the Classic in 1995, hoping to raise US$500,000 for the Children's Charities Foundation in the Classic's first year.[1] Abe Pollin, owner of USAir Arena in Landover, Maryland, agreed to host the Classic there, with an initial commitment of three years.[1] In the late 1990s and early 2000s, the BB&T Classic was a legitimate tournament with national attention that attracted powerhouse teams.[2]

Venue

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The BB&T Classic originally took place at USAir Arena, later known as USAirways Arena, in Landover, Maryland. After the MCI Center, later known as the Verizon Center and then as Capital One Arena, opened in downtown Washington, D.C., in 1997, the Classic moved there. The event remained there for the rest of its existence.

Format

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Tournament, 1995–2004

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Originally, the event lasted two days and featured four teams, highlighted by local mainstays Maryland and George Washington, accompanied by two nationally recognized programs. The first day consisted of a doubleheader pitting each of the local teams against one of the national teams. The following afternoon, a championship game was held between the two opening-round winners. A consolation game between the two teams who lost in the opening round also took place.

Showcase event, 2005–2017

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In 2005, the BB&T Classic's format was altered due to a declining ability to attract nationally renowned programs, partly because under National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) rules participating teams had to give up two home games in their schedule in order to participate in the tournament. The Classic transformed in 2005 from a tournament into a tripleheader showcase played as a single-evening weeknight event. In 2008 and 2009, it was played as a doubleheader. It returned to the tripleheader format in 2010, but from 2011 through 2014 it was a doubleheader. In 2015, the format again changed, with the Classic consisting of a single game. In 2016 and 2017, the Classic returned to a doubleheader format.

Television coverage

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In its early years, the event was broadcast both nationally on ABC and locally on Washington, D.C.'s WDCA. After the Classic changed from a tournament to a showcase event, broadcast television interest in covering it waned, and coverage migrated to cable television. The 2005 and 2006 editions were shown on Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic; in later years the Mid-Atlantic Sports Network (MASN) televised the BB&T Classic. In 2014, Fox Sports 1 and ESPN3 each carried one game. CBS Sports Network televised the lone game played in 2015. In both 2016 and 2017 Fox Sports 1 televised the Georgetown game, while CBS Sports Network carried the George Washington game in 2016 and MASN televised it in 2017.

Demise

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In 2006, the NCAA changed its scheduling rules, allowing colleges to play up to four games in an "exempt" tournament (an in-season tournament whose games counted as only one game in a team′s 27-game schedule) every season, rather than in only two "exempt" tournaments every four years.[2] This made "exempt" tournaments far more popular for major college basketball programs and led to a proliferation of such tournaments.[2] "Non-exempt" events like the BB&T Classic had difficulty attracting major teams in the new scheduling environment because participating schools not only had to give up a home game (and the revenue it generated) to take part in the Classic,[2] but also could not play as many games overall as they could if they played in an exempt tournament. By 2011, with few marquee teams participating, attendance had dwindled dramatically at the Classic, raising doubts about its ability to survive.[2]

The hope of Feinstein and others that the BB&T Classic would serve as showcase for competition among major Washington, D.C.-area college basketball programs was never realized, partly due to cool relations between the local teams and Feinstein's own public criticism of Georgetown for not taking part.[1] The only area team other than George Washington and Maryland to take part in a BB&T Classic tournament was George Mason in 2004 (the tournament format's final year); after that, the Patriots made four showcase-event appearances between 2005 and 2013 before their participation came to and end. Navy made four showcase appearances, all between 2005 and 2010, while American played only in two showcase years and Howard in only one. The closest the BB&T Classic ever came to fulfilling Feinstein's vision of showcasing Washington-area teams was in 2005, the first showcase year, when an all-local lineup of American, George Mason, George Washington, Howard, Maryland, and Navy took part.

Interest in play by the tournament's two stalwarts, Maryland and George Washington, eventually waned. Maryland played in the first 19 BB&T Classic events, but made its last appearance in 2013 – Maryland head coach Mark Turgeon citing a lack of national television coverage, ever-shrinking crowds, and the loss of a home game as reasons for his team to end its relationship with the Classic[1] – leaving George Washington as the only team to play in all 20 BB&T Classics through 2014.[3] By 2014, Feinstein's association with the Classic had come to an end, and with him no longer involved relations between the Classic and Georgetown warmed; that year Georgetown made its first appearance, allowing the Classic to continue to field two major local teams, and the Hoyas took part in the final four editions of the BB&T Classic. However, George Washington did not participate in 2015, leaving Georgetown as the only local participant in what turned out to be a single-game version of the Classic that year.[4] George Washington returned to the Classic in 2016 but then announced that 2017 was its final year of participation.[citation needed]

The final edition of the BB&T Classic took place on December 3, 2017, with a doubleheader in which George Washington defeated Temple and Georgetown beat Coppin State at Capital One Arena before a crowd of only 6,335 for the two games combined.[1] The Classic was quietly discontinued, with little apparent notice of its demise by the press or fans.[1] During its 23-season run, it raised over US$10 million for the Children's Charities Foundation.[1]

Yearly champions, runners-up, and MVPs

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Year Champion Runner-Up Consolation Winner 4th Place Tournament MVP
1995 UMass Florida Maryland George Washington Marcus Camby, UMass
1996 Maryland George Washington California Mississippi State Keith Booth, Maryland
1997 George Washington Maryland Kansas Penn Shawnta Rogers, George Washington
1998 Maryland DePaul Stanford George Washington Steve Francis, Maryland
1999 George Washington Maryland Illinois Seton Hall SirValiant Brown, George Washington
2000 Maryland George Washington St. John's Michigan SirValiant Brown, George Washington
2001 Maryland Connecticut George Washington Princeton Lonny Baxter, Maryland
2002 Notre Dame Texas Maryland George Washington T. J. Ford, Texas
2003 Gonzaga George Washington West Virginia Maryland Ronny Turiaf, Gonzaga
2004 George Washington Maryland Michigan State George Mason TJ Thompson,
George Washington
Showcase Format
Date Game One Game Two Game Three
12/5/2005 Navy 82
Howard 73
George Mason 75
American 35
George Washington 78
Maryland 70
12/3/2006 Bucknell 60
George Mason 57
George Washington 63
Virginia Tech 62
Notre Dame 81
Maryland 74
12/2/2007 Auburn 74
George Washington 70
East Carolina 68
George Mason 65
VCU 85
Maryland 76
12/7/2008 Virginia Tech 79
Navy 70
Maryland 76
George Washington 53
None
12/6/2009 George Washington 81
Navy 69
Villanova 95
Maryland 86
None
12/5/2010 Florida 67
American 48[5]
Navy 64
George Washington 57[6]
Temple 64
Maryland 61[7]
12/4/2011 Maryland 78
Notre Dame 71
VCU 75
George Washington 60
None
12/2/2012 Maryland 69
George Mason 62
George Washington 67
Manhattan 55
None
12/8/2013 Oklahoma 81
George Mason 66
George Washington 77
Maryland 75
None
12/7/2014 Georgetown 78
Towson 46
George Washington 78
Charlotte 70
None
12/12/2015 Georgetown 87
UNC Wilmington 82
None None
12/4/2016 Georgetown 77
Elon 74
Florida State 67
George Washington 48
None
12/3/2017 George Washington 71
Temple 67
Georgetown 76
Coppin State 60
None

[8]

Results by school

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Team Appearance
Years
Tournament
Record
Tournament
Championships
Showcase
Record
Overall
Record
American
2005, 2010
0–2
0–2
Auburn
2007
1–0
1–0
Bucknell
2006
1–0
1–0
California
1996
1–1
none
1–1
Charlotte
2014
0–1
0–1
Connecticut
2001
1–1
none
1–1
Coppin State
2017
0–1
0–1
DePaul
1998
1–1
none
1–1
East Carolina
2007
1–0
1–0
Elon
2016
0–1
0–1
Florida
1995, 2010
1–1
none
1–0
2–1
Florida State
2016
1–0
1–0
George Mason
2004–2007,
2012, 2013
0–2
none
1–4
1–6
George Washington
1995–2014,
2016, 2017
10–10
1997, 1999,
2004
7–5
17–15
Georgetown
2014–2017
4–0
4–0
Gonzaga
2003
2–0
2003
2–0
Howard
2005
0–1
0–1
Illinois
1999
1–1
none
1–1
Kansas
1997
1–1
none
1–1
Manhattan
2012
0–1
0–1
Maryland
1995–2013
13–7
1996, 1998,
2000, 2001
3–6
16–13
Michigan
2000
0–2
0–2
Michigan State
2004
1–1
none
1–1
Mississippi State
1996
0–2
none
0–2
Navy
2005,
2008–2010
2–2
2–2
UNC Wilmington
2015
0–1
0–1
Notre Dame
2002, 2006,
2011
2–0
2002
1–1
3–1
Oklahoma
2013
1–0
1–0
Penn
1997
0–2
none
0–2
Princeton
2001
0–2
none
0–2
Seton Hall
1999
0–2
none
0–2
St. John's
2000
1–1
none
1–1
Stanford
1998
1–1
none
1–1
Temple
2010, 2017
1–1
1–1
Texas
2002
1–1
none
1–1
Towson
2014
0–1
0–1
UMass
1995
2–0
1995
2–0
VCU
2007, 2011
1–1
1–1
Villanova
2009
1–0
1–0
Virginia Tech
2006, 2008
1–1
1–1
West Virginia
2003
1–1
none
1–1

Brackets

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* – Denotes overtime period

1995

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Semifinals
December 2
Championship
December 3
      
5 UMass 50
19 Maryland 47
5 UMass 80
Florida 58
Florida 75
George Washington 66 Third Place Game
December 3
19 Maryland 98
George Washington 81

1996

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Semifinals
December 8
Championship
December 9
      
Maryland 80
California 64
Maryland 74
George Washington 68
George Washington 57
Mississippi State 36 Third Place Game
December 9
California 78
Mississippi State 45

1997

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Semifinals
December 7
Championship
December 8
      
2 Kansas 83
23 Maryland 86
23 Maryland 66
George Washington 70
Penn 62
George Washington 66 Third Place Game
December 8
2 Kansas 89
Penn 71

1998

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Semifinals
December 6
Championship
December 7
      
5 Stanford 60
2 Maryland 62
2 Maryland 92
DePaul 75
DePaul 87
George Washington 79 Third Place Game
December 7
5 Stanford 70
George Washington 56

1999

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Semifinals
December 4
Championship
December 5
      
Seton Hall 63
George Washington 72
George Washington 74
Maryland 69
16 Illinois 67
Maryland 69 Third Place Game
December 5
Seton Hall 61
16 Illinois 72

2000

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Semifinals
12/2/1995
Championship
12/3/1995
      
Michigan 51
13 Maryland 82
13 Maryland 71
George Washington 63
19 St. John's 75
George Washington 85 Third Place Game
12/3/1995
Michigan 83
19 St. John's 97

2001

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Semifinals
December 2
Championship
December 3
      
5 Connecticut 84
George Washington 76
Connecticut 65
2 Maryland 77
Princeton 53
2 Maryland 61 Third Place Game
December 3
George Washington 60
Princeton 57

2002

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Semifinals
December 7
Championship
December 8
      
2 Texas 100
George Washington 92
2 Texas 92
Notre Dame 98
Notre Dame 79
9 Maryland 67 Third Place Game
December 8
George Washington 82
9 Maryland 93

2003

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Semifinals
December 6
Championship
December 7
      
West Virginia 64
George Washington 70
George Washington 91
17 Gonzaga 96
17 Gonzaga 82
Maryland 68 Third Place Game
December 7
West Virginia 78
Maryland 77

2004

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Semifinals
December 4
Championship
December 5
      
11 Michigan State 83
George Washington 96
George Washington 101
Maryland 92
George Mason 54
Maryland 78 Third Place Game
December 5
11 Michigan State 66
George Mason 60

2005

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Showcase Format – No Tournament
December 5
   
Howard 73
Navy 82
December 5
   
American 35
George Mason 75
December 5
   
George Washington 78
Maryland 70

2006

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Showcase Format – No Tournament
December 3
   
George Mason 57
Bucknell 60
December 3
   
George Washington 63
Virginia Tech 62
December 3
   
Maryland 74
Notre Dame 81

2007

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Showcase Format – No Tournament
December 2
   
George Washington 70
Auburn 74
December 2
   
George Mason 65
East Carolina 68
December 2
   
Maryland 76
VCU 85

2008

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Showcase Format – No Tournament
December 7
   
Navy 70
Virginia Tech 79
December 7
   
George Washington 53
Maryland 76

2009

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Showcase Format – No Tournament
December 6
   
George Washington 81
Navy 69
December 6
   
Maryland 86 86
Villanova 95

2010

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Showcase Format – No Tournament
December 5
   
American 48
Florida 67
December 5
   
George Washington 57
Navy 62
December 5
   
Maryland 61
Temple 64

2011

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Showcase Format – No Tournament
December 4
   
Maryland 78
Notre Dame 71
December 4
   
VCU 75
George Washington 60

2012

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Showcase Format – No Tournament
December 2
   
Maryland 69
George Mason 62
December 2
   
George Washington 67
2 Manhattan 55

2013

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Showcase Format – No Tournament
December 8
   
George Mason 66
Oklahoma 81
December 8
   
George Washington 77
Maryland 75 75

2014

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Showcase Format – No Tournament
December 7
   
Georgetown 78
Towson 46
December 7
   
George Washington 78
Charlotte 70

2015

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Showcase Format – No Tournament
December 12
   
Georgetown 87
UNC Wilmington 82

2016

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Showcase Format – No Tournament
December 4
   
Georgetown 77
Elon 74
December 4
   
George Washington 48
Florida State 67

2017

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Showcase Format – No Tournament
December 3
   
George Washington 67
Temple 61
December 3
   
Georgetown 76
Coppin State 60

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Anonymous, "The Demise Of The BB&T Classic," hoyasaxa.com, December 11, 2018 Retrieved August 1, 2018
  2. ^ a b c d e f "Gellman, Brett, "How To Save the BB&T Classic," dcist.com, December 15, 2011 Retrieved August 1, 2019". Archived from the original on August 2, 2019. Retrieved August 2, 2019.
  3. ^ Feinstein, John, "Maryland, Georgetown basketball should follow example of Philadelphia’s Big Five," washingtonpost.com, December 4, 2014. Archived March 11, 2016, at the Wayback Machine
  4. ^ 2015 BB&T Classic web site
  5. ^ "Video: Men's Basketball Can't Sustain Second-Half Rally vs. #16/18 Florida". AUEagles.com. American University Athletics. December 5, 2010.
  6. ^ "Navy's Threes Sink Colonials, 64-57, in BB&T Classic". GWSports.com. George Washington University Athletics. December 5, 2010.
  7. ^ "Maryland Falls To Temple, 64-61". UMTerps.com. University of Maryland Athletics. December 5, 2010.
  8. ^ "Past Winners of the BB&T Classic". Children's Charities Foundation. Retrieved 28 October 2011.
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