Iowa Big Four men's college basketball

Hy-Vee Classic
Hy-Vee Classic Logo
SportBasketball
Founded1979 (Round-Robin),
2012 (Big 4 Classic)
No. of teams4
CountryUnited States
HeadquartersIowa
Most recent
champion		Iowa (2018–19)
Most titlesIowa (15)
Related
competitions		Big Ten Conference,
Big XII Conference,
Missouri Valley Conference
110km
68miles
Drake
Northern Iowa
Iowa State
Iowa
Locations of Iowa, Iowa State, Northern Iowa, and Drake

The Hy-Vee Classic consisted of games between Iowa's four NCAA Division I men's basketball teams: Iowa, Iowa State, Northern Iowa, and Drake. For 2012–2018, the rivalry consisted of a one-day two game event at Wells Fargo Arena each December, originally called the Big Four Classic but now known as the Hy-Vee Classic, Iowa and Iowa State playing each other in an ongoing-home and home series, and Drake and Northern Iowa playing each other regularly as members of the Missouri Valley Conference. Grinnell College was previously considered a part of the Big Four prior to their demotion to NCAA Division III athletics when they were members of the MVIAA and Missouri Valley Conference.

History

For decades, Iowa (of the Big Ten Conference) and Iowa State (of the Big XII Conference) had home-and-home series with in-state rivals Northern Iowa and Drake (both of the Missouri Valley Conference), with Iowa visiting Northern Iowa in odd-numbered years and Drake in even-numbered years (with the corresponding return trips to Iowa in the opposite years) and Iowa State visiting Northern Iowa in even-numbered years and Drake in odd-numbered years. Iowa State and Drake, in particular, played in 104 of 105 seasons.[1]

In the 2000s, Iowa State, wanting to grow a greater presence in the Des Moines area, offered and played multiple games at Wells Fargo Arena against various teams. When they offered Drake the opportunity to move their rivalry to Wells Fargo Arena, Drake declined. Iowa and Iowa State also offered Northern Iowa and Drake money to play solely in Iowa City/Ames but both schools declined.[2]

During the 2010/2011 seasons, Iowa and Iowa State began to feel pressure from both losing to Northern Iowa and Drake in their non-conference schedule and the need to allow for more games against Power 5 conference competition in hopes of building a stronger non-conference resume for consideration of at-large bids for future NCAA Tournaments. Northern Iowa and Drake did not want to lose the in-state match-ups. A neutral site concept was seen as the best for everyone involved and the Big Four Classic was born.[3]

Hy-Vee signed on as the sponsor of the event. The initial contract ran from 2012–2015. It was later extended to 2017. As part of the 2019 extension, the event was renamed the Hy-Vee Classic.[4][5]

Hy-Vee Classic

The event was held on the third Saturday of December. In 2013 the event was moved to the first Saturday of December, but attendance from students preparing for finals dropped considerably so the event was moved back to the third Saturday, although all four universities host December Commencement exercises on that same day.

The event consists of two games played back to back. Initially, in even numbered years, Iowa played Northern Iowa and Iowa State played Drake; in odd numbered years, Iowa played Drake and Iowa State played Northern Iowa. The even-odd rotation was switched as part of the 2016–2019 extension. The schools also rotate hosting duties in this order: Iowa, Drake, Iowa State, Northern Iowa.

Which game is first/second and at what times is largely determined by television. Initially there was hope for both games broadcasting to a national television audience; however, this has largely been unsuccessful to date due to both college football bowl games and other established basketball events falling on the same day. The Big Ten & Big XII have rights to the games that Iowa and Iowa State, respectively, compete in. If both conference TV partners pass on the game, ESPN can telecast through the Missouri Valley's deal with the network; otherwise, the games air locally on Mediacom (MC22).[2] In 2015, the Northern Iowa-Iowa State game broadcast via ESPNU (aided by both teams being ranked) and the Drake-Iowa game was broadcast on ESPN3 marking the first national television broadcast from the event.

Financially, the four schools split revenue 25–25–25–25. This has resulted in Northern Iowa and Drake making a much larger profit than they previously did, although it has come at the expense of the loss of a major home game each year.[6] The event did not sell out in its first year, but has each year since.[7]

In addition to the loss of on-campus home games against in-state rivals, Northern Iowa and Drake play one of either Iowa or Iowa State (but not both) in the same season. As UNI and DU cannot face each other in the classic (due to their Missouri Valley Conference affiliations), there is no way to formally determine an official champion between the four schools in a tournament-style format.

Regular season results

Key

Drake victories
ISU victories
Iowa victories
UNI victories
No game/title

Round-Robin era

Season Drake – ISU
score 		Drake – Iowa
score 		Drake – UNI
score (1) 		Drake – UNI
score (2) 		ISU – Iowa
score 		ISU – UNI
score 		Iowa – UNI
score 		Champion
1979–80 87–66 66–77 DNP DNP 64–67 DNP 78–46 Iowa
1980–81 72–74 68–90 DNP DNP 59–85 83–69 86–52 Iowa
1981–82 72–56 49–60 62–58 DNP 68–79 78–65 84–53 Iowa
1982–83 47–52 63–68 73–65 DNP 56–73 73–50 DNP Iowa
1983–84 72–79 OT 43–66 55–67 DNP 76–72 2OT 91–75 DNP Iowa State
1984–85 73–74 DNP DNP DNP 54–50 69–61 DNP Iowa State
1985–86 77–69 43–55 DNP DNP 74–61 83–60 DNP
1986–87 51–55 62–69 86–52 DNP 64–89 79–60 DNP Iowa
1987–88 77–83 57–70 88–77 DNP 102–100 OT 80–75 DNP Iowa State
1988–89 66–80 72–96 72–87 DNP 71–91 88–80 95–76 Iowa
1989–90 114–117 OT 54–68 63–71 OT DNP 87–89 92–80 74–77
1990–91 69–86 61–80 67–83 DNP 73–75 62–68 72–68 Iowa
1991–92 61–92 56–83 51–56 84–96 98–84 84–66 108–85 Iowa State
1992–93 81–119 65–80 69–59 62–64 OT 51–78 74–67 64–44 Iowa
1993–94 67–83 86–90 54–71 79–102 86–79 79–66 81–76 Iowa State
1994–95 69–94 68–103 78–67 82–71 76–63 81–62 80–48 Iowa State
1995–96 62–65 66–98 76–82 66–83 50–56 DNP 78–73 Iowa
1996–97 50–74 59–79 68–81 55–76 81–74 DNP 72–63 Iowa State
1997–98 63–61 60–90 60–74 55–68 59–60 48–54 78–84 Northern Iowa
1998–99 56–57 74–78 78–72 57–83 53–74 57–61 83–67 Iowa
1999–2000 48–44 76–83 2OT 58–54 54–56 79–66 73–41 67–59 Iowa State
2000–01 55–75 71–73 65–63 65–71 OT 68–80 69–55 74–42 Iowa
2001–02 72–58 59–101 56–71 71–77 53–78 88–69 76–78 Northern Iowa
2002–03 55–76 49–50 75–73 48–59 73–69 75–73 63–54 Iowa State
2003–04 77–83 56–74 56–76 79–84 OT 84–76 79–76 66–77 Iowa State
2004–05 46–73 75–91 81–72 60–61 63–70 82–99 76–73 Iowa
2005–06 74–89 60–65 72–91 49–51 72–60 68–61 63–67 OT Iowa State
2006–07 80–78 75–59 74–61 67–59 59–77 70–57 57–55 Drake
2007–08 79–44 56–51 58–54 65–55 56–47 61–48 62–55 Drake
2008–09 66–63 60–43 59–81 47–46 57–73 71–66 65–46 Drake
2009–10 70–90 67–71 51–67 48–57 81–71 60–63 67–50 Northern Iowa
2010–11 43–91 52–59 49–69 72–69 75–72 54–60 51–39
2011–12 74–65 68–82 68–83 52–66 86–76 62–69 60–80 Northern Iowa

Hy-Vee Classic era

Wells Fargo Arena

Date Winning
Team		 Score Losing
Team		 Attendance
December 15, 2012 Iowa 80–73 Northern Iowa 13,180
Iowa State 86–77 Drake
December 7, 2013 Iowa State 91–82 OT Northern Iowa 14,512
Iowa 83–66 Drake
December 20, 2014 Iowa State 83–54 Drake 15,124
Northern Iowa 56–44 Iowa
December 19, 2015 Iowa 70–64 Drake 15,424
Northern Iowa 81–79 Iowa State
December 17, 2016 Iowa 69–46 Northern Iowa 15,028
Iowa State 97–80 Drake
December 16, 2017 Iowa 90–64 Drake 13,828
Iowa State 76–65 Northern Iowa
December 15, 2018 Iowa State 77–68 Drake 12,236
Iowa 77–54 Northern Iowa

On-Campus Facilities

Season Drake – UNI
score (1) 		Drake – UNI
score (2) 		ISU – Iowa
score
2012–13 85–55 71–64 80–71
2013–14 76–66 70–67 85–82
2014–15 64–40 69–53 90–75
2015–16 77–44 82–66 83–82
2016–17 79–60 71–63 78–64
2017–18 68–54 71–64 84–78
2018–19 57–54 83–77 98–84

Post Hy-Vee Classic era

Season Drake – UNI
score (1) 		Drake – UNI
score (2) 		Drake – UNI
score (MVC) 		ISU – Iowa
score
2019–20 83–73 70–43 77–56 84–68
2020–21 80–59 77–69 DNP 105–77
2021–22 82–74 OT 74–69 OT DNP 73–53
2022–23 88–81 2OT 82–74 DNP 75–56
2023–24 77–63 91–77 DNP 90–65
2024–25 66–52 64–58 OT DNP 89–80
2025–26 February 15 March 1 TBD 66–62

Future match-ups

Iowa announced on June 14, 2018 that it was exercising its contractual right to leave the Hy-Vee Classic after the 2018 season, leaving the future of the Hy-Vee Classic in doubt.[8] While Iowa and Iowa State have not ruled out further participation, comments by both schools indicate that they would prefer to not play games in Des Moines and would rather play home games at each school's respective home arena.

Outright Big Four Championships by team

Team Number
of
Championships		 Last
Season
Claimed
Iowa 15 2018–19
Iowa State 13 2017–18
Northern Iowa 6 2015–16
Drake 3 2008–09

See also

References

  1. ^ "Big Four Classic a success but emotions remain". The Gazette. Retrieved 29 August 2017.
  2. ^ a b "WILLIAMS: Stuff you probably didn't know about the Big 4 Classic". 17 December 2016. Retrieved 29 August 2017.
  3. ^ "Iowa State Athletics". www.cyclones.com. Retrieved 29 August 2017.
  4. ^ "Big Four Classic is extended through 2017". The Des Moines Register. Retrieved 29 August 2017.
  5. ^ Center, Iowa Events. "The Hy-Vee Classic Extended through 2019 – Iowa Events Center". www.iowaeventscenter.com. Retrieved 29 August 2017.
  6. ^ "Iowa, UNI have differing views of 'Big Four Classic'". The Gazette. Retrieved 29 August 2017.
  7. ^ Doxsie, Don (17 December 2014). "Big Four Classic sold out, extended for two years". Retrieved 29 August 2017.
  8. ^ "Hy-Vee Classic to end after 2018, as Iowa announces it's pulling out". The Des Moines Register.
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