Since nobody really knows exactly when college basketball season starts, ESPN and four elite programs have put together a tipoff event to signal the advent of college hoops: the Champions Classic. The Duke Blue Devils, Kansas Jayhawks, Kentucky Wildcats, and Michigan St. Spartans will play a series of doubleheaders to start off the next three seasons, with 2012's to be held at the Georgia Dome on Nov. 13, 2012.
↵The Dome is also set to host the 2013 Final Four, meaning if you pretend the 2012 season extends all the way into 2013 you can pretend Atlanta has college hoops on lock just like it does football, where the Chick-fil-A Kickoff Game and SEC Championship Game tend to bookend championship-relevant regular season college football games.
↵New York is hosting the 2011 Champions Classic, and Chicago the 2013. Not a bad pair of basketball towns to be associated with.
↵In the Dome, MSU and Kansas will play one game and Duke and Kentucky the other.