The BB&T Classic Basketball Tournament is a Washington, DC based basketball tournament that has been held annually since 1995, when it was known as the Franklin National Bank Classic. It is staged at the Verizon Center

Verizon Center

Verizon Center is a sports and entertainment arena in Washington, D.C., USA, named after telecommunications sponsor Verizon Communications, and has been nicknamed the "Phone Booth" because of its association with telecommunications companies...

, on or around the first weekend in December. The tournament raises funds for the Children's Charities Foundation, a fund-raising organization that financially supports Washington-area charities

Format

Originally, the event lasted two days and featured four teams, highlighted by local mainstays Maryland

University of Maryland, College Park

The University of Maryland, College Park is a top-ranked public research university located in the city of College Park in Prince George's County, Maryland, just outside Washington, D.C...

 and George Washington

George Washington University

The George Washington University is a private, coeducational comprehensive university located in Washington, D.C. in the United States...

 (GW), accompanied by two nationally recognized programs. The first day would consist of a doubleheader

Doubleheader

Doubleheader may refer to:*Doubleheader - Two baseball games played between the same two teams on the same day.*Doubleheader - An all-inclusive sports broadcast of two games back-to-back....

 pitting each of the local teams against each of the national teams. The following afternoon, a championship game would be held between the two opening round winners. A consolation game between the two teams who lost in the opening round was introduced in 1995.

In 2005, the tournament format was altered due to an inability to attract nationally renowned programs, partially because teams would have two less home games. The event ballooned into a single-evening weeknight event with a tripleheader,

The event has been broadcast both nationally on ABC

College Basketball on ABC

ESPN College Basketball on ABC presented by KFC was a television program on ABC that broadcast regular season NCAA Division I men's basketball games. In 1987, ABC began televising college basketball games on a regular basis. As CBS and NBC were also broadcasting college games at the time, this...

 and locally on Washington D.C.'s WDCA

WDCA

WDCA, virtual channel 20, is a television station in Washington, D.C.. Owned by Fox Television Stations, a division of the News Corporation, WDCA is a sister station to Fox network outlet WTTG , and is affiliated with the co-owned MyNetworkTV programming service...

. The 2005 and 2006 editions were shown on CSN Mid-Atlantic

Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic

Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic is a regional sports network that delivers live-game coverage and sports news and entertainment television programming to more than 4.7 million households throughout the Washington, D.C...

, in recent yeart the BB&T Classic has been televised on MASN

Mid-Atlantic Sports Network

Mid-Atlantic Sports Network is a regional sports network owned by two Major League Baseball franchises—the Baltimore Orioles and Washington Nationals -- and televises every available game of both teams, live and in high-definition...

.

Tournament results

Year	Champion	Runner-Up	Consolation	4th Place	Tournament MVP
1995	UMASS	Florida	Maryland	GW	Marcus Camby Marcus Camby Marcus D. Camby is an American professional basketball player, who currently plays for the Portland Trail Blazers of the NBA. He is a former Defensive Player of the Year during the 2006–07 NBA season, leading the league in blocked shots per game... , UMass
1996	Maryland	GW	Cal	Mississippi State	Keith Booth Keith Booth Keith Eugene Booth is an American basketball coach and former player. Booth played college basketball at the University of Maryland from 1994 to 1997. He was an assistant coach at his alma mater under Gary Williams from 2004 to 2011... , Maryland
1997	GW	Maryland	Kansas	Penn	Shawnta Rogers Shawnta Rogers Shawnta Rogers is an American professional basketball player and former star at The George Washington University of the Atlantic 10 Conference. He attended Lake Clifton High School in Baltimore, Maryland, where he was born. A 5' 4" point guard, Rogers was named the Atlantic 10 Player of the Year... , GW
1998	Maryland	DePaul	Stanford	GW	Steve Francis Steve Francis Steven D'Shawn Francis is an American professional basketball player who last played for the Beijing Ducks of the Chinese Basketball Association. He had also played for the Houston Rockets, Orlando Magic, and New York Knicks... , Maryland
1999	GW	Maryland	Illinois	Seton Hall	SirValiant Brown, GW
2000	Maryland	GW	St. John's	Michigan	SirValiant Brown, GW
2001	Maryland	Connecticut	GW	Princeton	Lonny Baxter Lonny Baxter Lonny Leroy Baxter is an American professional basketball player. He is 203 cm in height, and plays the position of power forward-center.-College:... , Maryland
2002	Notre Dame	Texas	Maryland	GW	T. J. Ford T. J. Ford Terrance Jerod "T. J." Ford is an American professional basketball player who currently plays for KK Zagreb. Having been awarded numerous top basketball accolades in high school and college, Ford entered the 2003 NBA Draft and was selected eighth overall by the Milwaukee Bucks... , Texas
2003	Gonzaga	GW	West Virginia	Maryland	Ronny Turiaf Ronny Turiaf Ronny Turiaf is a French professional basketball player for the New York Knicks of the NBA. Turiaf has been a member of the French national basketball team.... , Gonzaga
2004	GW	Maryland	Mich St	George Mason	TJ Thompson, GW
2005	GW	Maryland

Date	Game One	Game Two	Game Three	Date	Consolation	Championship
12/2/1995	UMass 50 Maryland 47	Florida 75 GW 66	N/A	12/3/1995	Maryland 98 GW 81	UMass 80 Florida 58
12/8/1996	Maryland 80 Cal 64	GW 57 Miss St 36	N/A	12/9/1996	Cal 78 Miss St 45	Maryland 74 GW 68
12/7/1997	Maryland 86 Kansas 83	GW 66 Penn 62		12/8/1997	Kansas 89 Penn 71	GW 70 Maryland 66
12/6/1998	Maryland 62 Stanford 60	DePaul 87 GW 79	N/A	12/7/1998	Stanford 70 GW 56	Maryland92 DePaul 75
12/4/1999	GW 72 Seton Hall 63	Maryland 69 Illinois 67	N/A	12/5/1999	Illinois 72 Seton Hall 61	GW 74 Maryland 69
12/2/2000	Maryland 82 Michigan 51	GW 85 St John's 75		12/3/2000	St John's 97 Michigan 83	Maryland 71 GW 63
12/2/2001	UConn 84 GW 76	Maryland 61 Princeton 53	N/A	12/3/2001	GW 60 Princeton 57	Maryland 77 UConn 65
12/7/2002	Texas 100 GW 92	Notre Dame 79 Maryland 67	N/A	12/8/2002	Maryland 93 GW 82	Notre Dame 98 Texas 92
12/6/2003	GW 70 West Virginia 64	Gonzaga 82 Maryland 68	N/A	12/7/2003	West Virginia 78 Maryland 77 (OT)	Gonzaga 96 GW 91
12/4/2004	GW 96 Michigan St 83	MD 78 Geo Mason 54		12/5/2004	Mich St 66 Geo Mason 60	GW 101 Maryland 92
12/5/2005	Navy 82 Howard 73	Geo Mason 75 American 35	GW 78 Maryland 70
12/3/2006	Bucknell 60 Geo Mason 57	GW 63 Virginia Tech 62	Notre Dame 81 Maryland 74
12/2/2007	Auburn 74 GW 70	East Carolina 68 Geo Mason 65	VCU 85 Maryland 76
12/7/2008	Virginia Tech 79 Navy 70	Maryland 76 GW 53	N/A
12/6/2009	GW 81 Navy 69	Villanova 95 Maryland 86	N/A
12/5/2010	Florida 67 American 48	Navy 64 GW 57	Temple 64 Maryland 61
12/4/2011	Maryland Notre Dame	GW VCU

External links

• Official site