Dixie Classic (basketball tournament)

Dixie Classic

Sport	Basketball
Founded	1949
Ceased	1960
No. of teams	8
Country	United States
Most titles	NC State (7)

The Dixie Classic was an annual college basketball tournament played from 1949 to 1960 in Reynolds Coliseum. The field consisted of the "Big Four" North Carolina schools, the host NC State Wolfpack, Duke Blue Devils, North Carolina Tar Heels, and Wake Forest Demon Deacons, and four teams from across the country.

North Carolina State head coach Everett Case originated the idea of the Classic. His assistant, Carl "Butter" Anderson provided the name. The tournament was played over a three-day period every December, just after Christmas, on North Carolina State's home court.^[1]

The Classic consisted of three rounds. In the first round the four North Carolina schools would each play a visiting team. The winners of the first round game would advance in the winners' bracket and the losers would advance in the losers' bracket. Each day would have four games played until the third and final day when a champion would be crowned. No team from outside North Carolina ever won the Classic.

The tournament came to an end after a point-shaving scandal in 1961 involving players from both North Carolina State and North Carolina.^[2]^[3]

In 2011 The Classic: How Everett Case and His Tournament Brought Big-Time Basketball to the South by Bethany Bradsher (ISBN 978-0-9836825-2-3) was published telling the story of the Dixie Classic.

Championship games

Year	Winner	Runner-up	Result	Most valuable player	Team
1949	NC State	Penn State	50–46	Dick Dickey	NC State
1950	NC State (2)	Colgate	85–76	Sammy Ranzino	NC State
1951	NC State (3)	Cornell	51–49	Lee Terrill	NC State
1952	NC State (4)	Brigham Young	75–59	Ernie Beck	Penn
1953	Duke	Navy	98–83	Rudy D'Emilio	Duke
1954	NC State (5)	Minnesota	85–54	Ronnie Shavlik	NC State
1955	NC State (6)	North Carolina	82–60	Ronnie Shavlik (2)	NC State
1956	North Carolina	Wake Forest	63–55	Lennie Rosenbluth	North Carolina
1957	North Carolina (2)	NC State	39–30	Pete Brennan	North Carolina
1958	NC State (7)	Michigan State	70–61	John Richter	NC State
1959	Wake Forest	North Carolina	53–50	Billy Packer	Wake Forest
1960	North Carolina (3)	Duke	76–71

All games played at Reynolds Coliseum, Raleigh, North Carolina.^[1]

References

^ ^a ^b Peeler, Tim (August 11, 2008). "Remembering Reynolds: The Dixie Classic". North Carolina State University. Retrieved November 25, 2008. ^{[dead link]}
^ "University Life". Biographical Conversations with William Friday. UNC-TV. Retrieved November 25, 2008.
^ Carr, A.J. (March 16, 2006). "Dixie Classic scandal left bad taste". The News & Observer. Retrieved November 25, 2008. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help) ^{[dead link]}

External links

NCAA men's college basketball tournaments

Division I

Early season	Acrisure Invitational Asheville Championship Bahamas Championship Battle 4 Atlantis Belfast Classic Big 5 Classic Cancún Challenge Cayman Islands Classic Charleston Classic Continental Tire Main Event Diamond Head Classic Emerald Coast Classic Empire Classic ESPN Events Invitational Fort Myers Tip-Off Gulf Coast Showcase Hall of Fame Classic Hall of Fame Tip Off Jacksonville Classic Jamaica Classic Las Vegas Invitational Legends Classic Maui Invitational Myrtle Beach Invitational Nassau Championship NIT Season Tip-Off Northern Classic Paradise Jam Phil Knight Invitational Rady Children's Invitational SoCal Challenge Sunshine Slam Wooden Legacy
Defunct Early season	All-College Basketball Classic Coaches vs. Cancer Classic Corpus Christi Coastal Classic Crossover Classic DirecTV Classic Great Alaska Shootout Global Sports Classic Las Vegas Classic Puerto Rico Tip-Off Savannah Invitational Southland Basketball Tip-Off Vancouver Showcase
Conference postseason	ACC America East The American ASUN Atlantic 10 Big 12 Big East Big Sky Big South Big Ten Big West CAA Conference USA Horizon Ivy League MAAC MEAC Mid-American Missouri Valley Mountain West Northeast Ohio Valley Pac-12 Patriot SEC Southern Southland SWAC Sun Belt Summit WAC West Coast
Defunct Conference postseason	American South American West Big Eight East Coast Great Midwest Great West Metro Southwest
Postseason	NCAA Division I Tournament National Invitation Tournament College Basketball Invitational CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament College Basketball Crown (starting in 2025)
Defunct Postseason	The Basketball Classic Vegas 16 National Commissioners Invitational Tournament National Intercollegiate Basketball Tournament

Division II

Conference postseason	CCAA CACC Carolinas East Coast Great American GLIAC GLVC G-MAC Great Northwest Gulf South Lone Star Mountain East Northeast-10 Northern Sun Pacific West Peach Belt PSAC RMAC South Atlantic SIAC Sunshine State
Defunct Conference postseason	Heartland
Postseason	NCAA Division II Tournament

Division III

Conference postseason	Allegheny Mountain American Rivers American Southwest Atlantic East C2C Centennial CUNYAC CCIW CCS Commonwealth Coast Empire 8 Great Northeast HCAC Landmark Liberty Little East MASCAC Michigan Middle Atlantic (MAC Commonwealth and MAC Freedom) Midwest Minnesota NESCAC NEWMAC New Jersey North Atlantic NACC NCAC Northwest Ohio Old Dominion Presidents' SAA SCIAC SLIAC Skyline SCAC SUNYAC United East Upper Midwest USA South Wisconsin
Defunct Conference postseason	ACAA Colonial States NECC
Postseason	NCAA Division III Tournament ECAC Tournaments

"Tobacco Road" team navboxes

v t e Duke Blue Devils men's basketball
Venues	The Ark (1906–1923) Alumni Memorial Gymnasium (1924–1930) Card Gymnasium (1930–1939) Cameron Indoor Stadium (1940–present)
Rivalries	Maryland Michigan North Carolina (Carlyle Cup)
Culture & lore	Blue Devil Big Four Tournament Blue blood status Cameron Crazies Champions Classic Dixie Classic I Hate Christian Laettner Krzyzewskiville "The Shot" Tobacco Road 1991 UNLV game
People	Head coaches NBA players Statistical leaders
Seasons	List of seasons 1905–06 1906–07 1907–08 1908–09 1909–10 1910–11 1911–12 1912–13 1913–14 1914–15 1915–16 1916–17 1917–18 1918–19 1919–20 1920–21 1921–22 1922–23 1923–24 1924–25 1925–26 1926–27 1927–28 1928–29 1929–30 1930–31 1931–32 1932–33 1933–34 1934–35 1935–36 1936–37 1937–38 1938–39 1939–40 1940–41 1941–42 1942–43 1943–44 1944–45 1945–46 1946–47 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50 1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60 1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24 2024–25
NCAA national championships in bold; NCAA Final Four appearances in italics

v t e NC State Wolfpack men's basketball
Venues	Thompson Gym (1925–1949) Reynolds Coliseum (1949–1999) PNC Arena (1999–present)
Rivalries	East Carolina North Carolina Wake Forest
Culture & lore	Dixie Classic/Big Four Tobacco Road 2018 corruption scandal
People	Head coaches NBA players Statistical leaders
Seasons	List of seasons 1910–11 1911–12 1912–13 1913–14 1914–15 1915–16 1916–17 1917–18 1918–19 1919–20 1920–21 1921–22 1922–23 1923–24 1924–25 1925–26 1926–27 1927–28 1928–29 1929–30 1930–31 1931–32 1932–33 1933–34 1934–35 1935–36 1936–37 1937–38 1938–39 1939–40 1940–41 1941–42 1942–43 1943–44 1944–45 1945–46 1946–47 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50 1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60 1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24
NCAA national championships in bold; NCAA Final Four appearances in italics

v t e North Carolina Tar Heels men's basketball
Venues	Bynum Gymnasium (1910–1923) Tin Can (1924–1938) Woollen Gymnasium (1938–1965) Carmichael Auditorium (1965–1986) Dean Smith Center (1986–present)
Rivalries	Duke (Carlyle Cup) Kentucky NC State Wake Forest
Culture & lore	Rameses The Marching Tar Heels Junior varsity team Inside Carolina Four corners offense Blue blood status Dixie Classic/Big Four Jumpman Invitational Tobacco Road Scandal
People	Head coaches Honorees Honored players NBA draftees Statistical leaders
Seasons	List of seasons 1910–11 1911–12 1912–13 1913–14 1914–15 1915–16 1916–17 1917–18 1918–19 1919–20 1920–21 1921–22 1922–23 1923–24 1924–25 1925–26 1926–27 1927–28 1928–29 1929–30 1930–31 1931–32 1932–33 1933–34 1934–35 1935–36 1936–37 1937–38 1938–39 1939–40 1940–41 1941–42 1942–43 1943–44 1944–45 1945–46 1946–47 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50 1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60 1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24 2024–25
Helms and Premo-Porretta national championships in bold; NCAA Final Four appearances in italics; NCAA championships in bolded italics

v t e Wake Forest Demon Deacons men's basketball
Venues	Gore Gymnasium (1935–1956) Winston-Salem War Memorial Coliseum (1956–1989) Greensboro Coliseum (alternate; 1959–1989) Reynolds Gymnasium (alternate; 1956–1989) LJVM Coliseum (1989–present)
Rivalries	North Carolina NC State
Culture & lore	Demon Deacon "O Here's to Wake Forest" Spirit of the Old Gold and Black Tobacco Road Dixie Classic/Big Four
People	Head coaches NBA players Statistical leaders
Seasons	List of seasons 1905–06 1906–07 1907–08 1908–09 1909–10 1910–11 1911–12 1912–13 1913–14 1914–15 1915–16 1916–17 1917–18 1918–19 1919–20 1920–21 1921–22 1922–23 1923–24 1924–25 1925–26 1926–27 1927–28 1928–29 1929–30 1930–31 1931–32 1932–33 1933–34 1934–35 1935–36 1936–37 1937–38 1938–39 1939–40 1940–41 1941–42 1942–43 1943–44 1944–45 1945–46 1946–47 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50 1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60 1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24
NCAA Final Four appearances in italics

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