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Kentucky coach John Calipari is close to completing another type of Champions Classic with three of the more iconic programs -- North Carolina, UCLA and Ohio State -- to match the current one the Wildcats are in with Duke, Kansas and Michigan State. According to multiple sources, the four-team, doubleheader event with UK, UNC, UCLA and Ohio State would follow the same format of the current Champions Classic with a three-year rotation of matchups and sites. The event would begin in the 2014-15 season at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, then move to Indianapolis before a third year in Las Vegas. Matchups for the event are to be determined. This is the third year of the Champions Classic, which began in 2011 in New York, went to Atlanta last season and will be at the United Center in Chicago on Nov. 12. Kentucky will play Michigan State, and Duke will take on Kansas. All four teams have committed to continuing the series with a new three-year rotation in 2014. UCLA coach Steve Alford confirmed the Bruins are in the event, but Ohio State coach Thad Matta didn't say whether the Buckeyes had been locked in yet. However, a source said Kentucky has firm commitments from all three schools. Kentucky is in the midst of a home-and-home series with North Carolina. This season's game will be Dec. 14 at Chapel Hill, with a return game in 2014 in Lexington. The expectation would be that in the year Kentucky is supposed to play North Carolina -- not in the first year of the event -- they would take a year or two off from that series. Kentucky's nonconference schedule in the coming years would include the annual series with Louisville, a game from each of these two Champions Classic-type events, North Carolina and a Big 12-SEC Challenge game.
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