Oklahoma State to Play Louisville in 2020 Armed Forces Classic, per Report

The annual Armed Forces Classic — a televised college hoops game broadcast on an ESPN entity from an armed forces base — will feature Oklahoma State in 2020.

CBS Sports’ Jon Rothstein reported Wednesday that one of the event’s doubleheaders will be a showdown between Oklahoma State and Louisville, and will be played from North Carolina. In previous years the event has been held at Fort Bliss, Puerto Rico, South Korea, Germany, Honolulu and other locales.

Sources: Louisville will play Oklahoma State in the 2020 Armed Forces Classic in North Carolina.

— Jon Rothstein (@JonRothstein) April 1, 2020

The game is typically held in the first few weeks of November, though a definitive date has not been set yet.

This should be a great early season test for Oklahoma State and its new fearless leader, Cade Cunningham. Louisville went 24-7 this past season and, despite projected losses of Lamarr Kimble, Ryan McMahon, Dwayne Sutton and Jordan Nwora, should be pretty loaded again in 2020. Rising sophomore guard David Johnson could be a breakout star next year, Samuell Williamson has NBA potential, and Jay Scrubb, the No. 1 junior college player in America, is slated to join the bunch.

So that means if Scrubb doesn’t turn pro, a showdown between the No. 1 high school player (Cade Cunningham) and the No. 1 junior college player (Scrubb) could really be on the table in this one. (Translated: ESPN won’t have a hard time selling this matchup!)

Oklahoma State is 1-3 all-time against Louisville in basketball with the Cardinals having won three-straight in the series. OSU won 72-71 in Stillwater in 1980, but lost 67-66 in 1982 at Louisville, 92-90 in 1988 at Louisville, and then 78-63 in the second round of the 1993 NCAA Tournament. The one win for OSU in the series came a season removed from Louisville winning the NCAA championship under Deny Crum.