Syracuse and Temple headline the inaugural Gotham Classic, an event that includes five teams and culminates with a meeting between the Orange and the Owls on Dec. 22 at Madison Square Garden in New York City.
Joining Temple and Syracuse will be Alcorn State, Canisius, and an NCAA tournament participant from last season, Detroit.
The schedule is as follows:
Dec. 15: Canisius at Syracuse
Dec. 17: Alcorn State at Temple
Dec. 17: Detroit at Syracuse
Dec. 19: Canisius at Temple
Dec. 19: Detroit at Alcorn State
Dec. 22: Syracuse vs. Temple (@ Madison Square Garden)
Dec. 27: Detroit at Temple
Dec. 27: Alcorn State at Canisius
Dec. 29: Alcorn State at Syracuse
Dec. 29: Canisius at Detroit
Syracuse will likely a Top-25, if not Top-15 team when the first polls are released this fall, despite the fact that Jim Boeheim’s team has lost Dion Waiters, Scoop Jardine, Fab Melo, and Kris Joseph from last season’s team.
Temple also loses two big pieces, Ramone Moore and Juan Fernandez, but returns 17-point scorer Khalif Wyatt and brings a solid recruiting class that is headlined by New York native Daniel Dingle.
Detroit returns former McDonald’s All-American guard Ray McCallum, Jr., from a team that finished 22-14 and lost to Kansas in the Round of 64 of the NCAA tournament.
Canisius begins its first season under head coach Jim Baron, while Alcorn State looks to improve on a 10-22 finish last season.
Daniel Martin is a writer and editor at JohnnyJungle.com, covering St. John’s. You can find him on Twitter:@DanielJMartin_