Bluebloods Kentucky and UCLA will meet for a fourth straight season in 2017 after the CBS Sports Classic announced the event had been extended through 2019.
The event features perennial powers Kentucky, North Carolina, Ohio State and UCLA.
The 2017 event will be held on Saturday, Dec. 23 at New Orleans’ Smoothie King Center. Dates and locations for the 2018 and 2019 doubleheaders will be announced at a later date. Over the duration of the extension, the programs will face each other in a round-robin format.
Matchups for 2017 will feature Ohio State taking on North Carolina and UCLA facing Kentucky. Games in 2018 will include Kentucky-North Carolina and Ohio State-UCLA, while contests in 2019 will feature North Carolina-UCLA and Ohio State-Kentucky. The games will be televised by CBS Sports.
UCLA and Kentucky played in the event in 2014 (with Kentucky winning), and then the two schools had a home-and-home separate from the event the last two years. UCLA knocked off a No. 1-ranked Kentucky team in both games, including a 97-92 win at Rupp Arena on Dec. 3.
Now in its third edition, the 2016 CBS Sports Classic will be held this Saturday, Dec. 17 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, with Kentucky facing North Carolina and UCLA meeting Ohio STate.
Together, Kentucky, North Carolina, Ohio State and UCLA have won 25 NCAA Championships and made 175 NCAA Tournament appearances. Since 2006, each team has appeared in at least two Final Fours, while each of the four has played in at least one national championship game, including North Carolina’s appearance in the final game last year. They are among college basketball’s all-time winningest programs, combining for more than 7,700 victories.
