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It was previously announced that the California Golden Bears will play in 2019’s Empire Classic Benefiting Wounded Warriors Project along with the Georgetown Hoyas, the Texas Longhorns, and the Duke Blue Devils; the tournament will span November 21 and 22 (with regional games against Cal Baptist and Prairie View A&M).
Yesterday, Jon Rothstein of CBS Sports tweeted that—according to some more-mysterious-than-Mysterio sources—the first-round games have been set and the Golden Bears will face off against the elite Blue Devils.
Sources: Duke will play Cal and Georgetown will face Texas in the first round of the 2019 Empire Classic at Madison Square Garden.
— Jon Rothstein (@JonRothstein) July 10, 2019
This will be quite a daunting game for Cal. The Bears will have all of four games of experience (plus one exhibition game) under new head coach Mark Fox as we attempt to rebuild after a 8–23 season. Duke is basically the polar opposite—2019 will be the 40th season for Coach Mike Krzyzewski and they’re coming off of a 2018 season that ended with them ranked fourth in the nation and a 32–6 record. At least Zion will be gone?