Syracuse's move to the Atlantic Coast Conference from the Big East is proving not to be enough to end the school's basketball rivalry with Georgetown.
The schools announced on Tuesday they have agreed to a four-year alternating home-and-home series that begins during the 2015-16 season. The series kicks off at the Verizon Center, which is Georgetown's primary basketball home.
"We're excited to announce the renewal of the Georgetown-Syracuse rivalry," Georgetown athletic director Lee Reed said. "The re-establishment of this series is good for college basketball fans across the country. I know that our program and fans will be excited to have a game against Syracuse on our schedule. This is something that both schools have worked very hard to have happen, and we're very happy to have this series continue."
Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim and Georgetown's John Thompson III each expressed enthusiasm over the renewed rivalry -- the schools were basketball powerhouses in the Big East Conference. Resumption of the rivalry, however, comes as no surprise to either coach.
"There was talk about going to New York City and that would have been fine, but a home-and-home is good," Boeheim told ESPN. "It's a good series. It was always going to happen. We had St. John's and Villanova. I'm not sure we would have done three in one year, but we'll pick up one of those two (when the Georgetown series starts)."
Syracuse holds the series edge 49-41.
"At no point did we not think this was going to happen," Thompson told ESPN. "The length of the deal may just be a formality. I don't ever see this not happening. This is something that is important to our program and to college basketball."
Thompson said that the teams will eventually return to Madison Square Garden for a game. But for now they are focused on the home-and-home series.
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