BB&T Classic

BB&T Classic
Sport	Men's college basketball
Founded	1995
Ceased	2017
No. of teams	4
Country	United States
Venue(s)	Capital One Arena, Washington, D.C.
Most titles	Maryland (4)

Last updated July 28, 2023

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 the 2017 edition.

Founding

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

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

Tournament, 1995–2004

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

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

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 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

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

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

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

* – Denotes overtime period

1995

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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