Men’s Basketball: Reported Michigan State At Duke For Champion’s Classic

A source has reportedly confirmed to CBS Sports that the Michigan State Spartans have finalized its plans for the game against the Duke Blue Devils in the annual Champions Classic. MSU will travel to Durham, North Carolina and play Duke in their home arena of Cameron Indoor Stadium on Dec. 1.

It is unclear at the current time why Kansas and Kentucky are able to agree on a neutral court venue, but Michigan State is forced to yet again play at Duke. In the absence of any clear indication, it feels safe to blame Coach K. So I am going to here. This is absurd that MSU will be making its fourth trip to Cameron Indoor Stadium under Coach Izzo while the Blue Devils have played just twice in East Lansing during that same timeframe.

Further, why on earth are Kansas and Kentucky able to make a neutral court game work, but MSU and Duke cannot? Big Ten policies make no sense, though there has been chatter about that. Unless Kansas and Kentucky insist on fans and MSU cannot allow any, why would Indianapolis be any different for the Spartans than flying to North Carolina? Why would a neutral court somewhere else not be viable with no fans if it is something else such as too many players sharing locker room space or some issue such as that?

Fine, we get basketball at least (hopefully). Coach Izzo has always had a play anyone, anywhere, anytime mentality. Now that I got the complaining out of my system above, I suppose I should move on past the apparent Coach K string pulling for absurd competitive advantage posturing. Tip-off time will be announced at a future time, and reports suggest we will know the full schedule next week.

In the meantime, bring on an empty Cameron Indoor Stadium and beat Duke! Go Green!