The Golden Window has officially opened.
Pinnacle Bank Arena announced on its website Monday that it will host a multi-team event called the Golden Window Classic to open the college basketball season. The MTE will feature Nebraska and seven other teams and will run Nov 25-29.
Games will be played at Pinnacle Bank Arena and the Devaney Center. PBA will be open to fans — up to 25% capacity — while the games at the Devaney Center will be closed to the public. Tickets will go sale this week.
The rest of the field includes LSU, St. Louis, Northern Iowa, Western Kentucky, Nevada, San Francisco and Illinois State.
Elevate Hoops is hosting the MTE and match-ups, tipoff times, TV details and ticket prices will be announced later. Information is subject to change pending any further COVID-19-related developments.
LSU went 21-10 under Will Wade last season and although the Tigers lost two of their top three scorers, they return their other three starters and add a top-10 recruiting class led by 5-star guard Cameron Thomas. Nevada went 19-12 during its first season under Steve Alford but lost its top four scorers from that team.
St. Louis went 23-8 under Travis Ford last season and returns almost its entire team led boy four double-digit scorers in guard Jordan Goodwin (15.5 points and 10.4 rebounds per game), guard Javonte Perkins (15.0 points pr game), big man Hasahn French (12.4 points and 10.4 rebounds per game) and Guard Gibson Jimerson (10.8 points per game, 42.9% from 3).
Ben Jacobsen’s Northern Iowa went 25-6 in the Missouri Valley and returns its top three scorers including the conference’s top scorer in point guard AJ Green (19.7 points per game). The Panthers’ conference mate, Illinois State, is coming off a 10-21 season and returns two of its top three scorers.
Western Kentucky went 20-10 under Rick Stansbury last year and returns four of its top five scorers headlined by Taveion Hollingsworth (16.6 points and 4.2 rebounds per game) and big man Charles Bassey (15.3 points and 9.8 rebounds per game). Nebraska sophomore guard Dalano Banton spent his freshman year at Western Kentucky before entering the transfer portal.
Nevada went 19-12 in its first season under Steve Alford but lost its top fourscores and six of its top nine from that team. Sophomore Zane Meeks is the team’s leading returning scorer at 6.4 points per game while Robby Robinson (2.7 points and 5.7 rebounds per game) is the only returning starter.
San Francisco went 22-12 last year under Todd Golden and returns two of its top four scorers in senior guard Jamaree Bouyea (12.2 points, 4.4 rebounds and 3.5 assists per game) and junior guard Khalil Shabazz (10.6 points per game).
Illinois State is coming off a 10-21 season under Dan Mullen and lost its top two scorers. Eleven different players started at least two games for the Redbirds last year and only four of them are back led by sophomore guard DJ Horne (8.7 points per game, 40.2% from 3).
Elevate Hoops has been working on putting the Lincoln MTE together since Nebraska withdrew from the relocated Myrtle Beach Invitational, which eventually got canceled. Multiple reports detailed how Elevate Hoops was hoping to create a tournament with up to 16 teams, and Oklahoma State, Cleveland State and Colorado State agreed to participate before eventually pulling out. The event was waiting on feedback from the Big Ten about Nebraska’s ability to participate.
In addition to its games in the Golden Window Classic, Nebraska will face Georgia Tech in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge in Lincoln, the only nonconference game Nebraska had confirmed to this point.
Per CBS Sports’ Jon Rothstein, the Big Ten is hoping to release its 2020-21 conference schedule sometime this week.
