Iowa Big Four men's college basketball

The Hy-Vee Classic consisted of games between Iowa's four NCAA Division I men's basketball teams: Iowa, Iowa State, Northern Iowa, and Drake. For 2012–2018, the rivalry consisted of a one-day two game event at Wells Fargo Arena each December, originally called the Big Four Classic but now known as the Hy-Vee Classic, Iowa and Iowa State playing each other in an ongoing-home and home series, and Drake and Northern Iowa playing each other regularly as members of the Missouri Valley Conference. Grinnell College was previously considered a part of the Big Four prior to their demotion to NCAA Division III athletics when they were members of the MVIAA and Missouri Valley Conference.

Hy-Vee Classic

Hy-Vee Classic Logo
Sport	Basketball
Founded	1979 (Round robin) 2012 (Big 4 Classic)
No. of teams	4
Country	United States
Headquarters	Iowa
Most recent champion(s)	Iowa (2018–19)
Most titles	Iowa (15)
Related competitions	Big Ten Conference, Big 12 Conference, and Missouri Valley Conference

100km
62miles

Northern Iowa

Drake

Iowa

Iowa State

  

Locations of Drake, Iowa, Iowa State, and Northern Iowa

History

For decades, Iowa State (of the Big 12 Conference) and Iowa (of the Big Ten Conference) had home-and-home series with in-state rivals Drake and UNI, with Iowa visiting Drake in even-numbered years and Northern Iowa in odd-numbered years (with the corresponding return trips to Iowa in the opposite years) and Iowa State visiting Northern Iowa in even-numbered years and Drake in odd-numbered years. Drake and Iowa State, in particular, played in 104 of 105 seasons.^[1]

In the 2000s, Iowa State, wanting to gain a greater presence in the Des Moines area, offered and played multiple games at Wells Fargo Arena with various teams. When they offered Drake the opportunity to move their rivalry to Wells Fargo Arena, Drake declined. Iowa and Iowa State also offered Drake and UNI money to play only in Iowa City/Ames but both schools declined.^[2]

During the 2010/2011 seasons, Iowa and Iowa State began to feel pressure from losing to Northern Iowa and Drake in their non-conference schedule and to allow for more games against Power 5 conference in hopes of building a strong non-conference schedule for consideration for at-large bids for future NCAA Tournaments. Drake and Northern Iowa did not want to lose the match-ups. A neutral site concept was seen as the best for everyone involved and the Big Four Classic was born.^[3]

Hy-Vee signed on as the sponsor of the event. The initial contract ran from 2012–2015. It was later extended to 2017. As part of the 2019 extension, the event was renamed the Hy-Vee Classic.^[4][5]

Hy-Vee Classic

The event was held on the third Saturday of December. In 2013 the event was moved to the first Saturday of December, but attendance from students preparing for finals dropped considerably so the event was moved back to the third Saturday, although all four universities host December Commencement exercises on the day.

The event consists of two games played back to back. Initially, in even numbered years, Iowa played Northern Iowa and Drake played Iowa State. In odd numbered years, Iowa played Drake and Northern Iowa played Iowa State. The even-odd rotation was switched as part of the 2016–2019 extension. The schools also rotate hosting duties in this order: Iowa, Drake, Iowa State, Northern Iowa.

Which game is first/second and at what times is largely determined by television. Initially there was hope for both games making it to national television audiences, however this has largely been unsuccessful to date due to college football bowl games and other established basketball events on the same day nationally. The Big Ten & Big 12 have rights to the games Iowa and Iowa State respectively are played in. If both conference TV partners pass on the game, ESPN can televise through the Missouri Valley Conference's deal with the network. Otherwise, the games will air locally on Mediacom 22.^[2] In 2015, the Iowa State-Northern Iowa game broadcast on ESPNU (aided by both teams being ranked) and the Drake-Iowa game was broadcast on ESPN3 marking the first national television broadcast from the event.

Financially, the four schools split revenue 25–25–25–25. This has resulted in Drake and UNI making a much larger profit than they did, although it does come at the expense of the loss of a major home game each year.^[6] The event did not sell out in its first year, but has each year since.^[7]

In addition to the loss of on-campus home games against in-state rivals, Drake and Northern Iowa play either Iowa or Iowa State, but not both in the same season. As Drake and Northern Iowa cannot play each other in the classic due to their Missouri Valley Conference affiliations, there is no way to formally determine an official champion between the four schools in a tournament-style format.

Regular season results

Key

	Drake victories
	Iowa State victories
	Iowa victories
	UNI victories
	No title/game

Round-Robin era

Season	Winner	Drake – ISU score	Drake – Iowa score	Drake – UNI score	Drake – UNI score (2)	ISU – UNI score	ISU – Iowa score	Iowa – UNI score
1979–80	Iowa	87–66	66–77	DNP	DNP	DNP	64–67	78–46
1980–81	Iowa	72–74	68–90	DNP	DNP	83–69	59–85	86–52
1981–82	Iowa	72–56	49–60	62–58	DNP	78–65	68–79	84–53
1982–83	Iowa	47–52	63–68	73–65	DNP	73–50	56–73	DNP
1983–84	Iowa State	72–79 OT	43–66	55–67	DNP	91–75	76–72 2OT	DNP
1984–85	Iowa State	73–74	DNP	DNP	DNP	69–61	54–50	DNP
1985–86		77–69	43–55	DNP	DNP	83–60	74–61	DNP
1986–87	Iowa	51–55	62–69	86–52	DNP	79–60	64–89	DNP
1987–88	Iowa State	77–83	57–70	88–77	DNP	80–75	102–100 OT	DNP
1988–89	Iowa	66–80	72–96	72–87	DNP	88–80	71–91	95–76
1989–90		114–117 OT	54–68	63–71 OT	DNP	92–80	87–89	74–77
1990–91	Iowa	69–86	61–80	67–83	DNP	62–68	73–75	72–68
1991–92	Iowa State	61–92	56–83	51–56	84–96	84–66	98–84	108–85
1992–93	Iowa	81–119	65–80	69–59	62–64 OT	74–67	51–78	64–44
1993–94	Iowa State	67–83	86–90	54–71	79–102	79–66	86–79	81–76
1994–95	Iowa State	69–94	68–103	78–67	82–71	81–62	76–63	80–48
1995–96	Iowa	62–65	66–98	76–82	66–83	DNP	50–56	78–73
1996–97	Iowa State	50–74	59–79	68–81	55–76	DNP	81–74	72–63
1997–98	Northern Iowa	63–61	60–90	60–74	55–68	48–54	59–60	78–84
1998–99	Iowa	56–57	74–78	78–72	57–83	57–61	53–74	83–67
1999–2000	Iowa State	48–44	76–83 2OT	58–54	54–56	73–41	79–66	67–59
2000–01	Iowa	55–75	71–73	65–63	65–71 OT	69–55	68–80	74–42
2001–02	Northern Iowa	72–58	59–101	56–71	71–77	88–69	53–78	76–78
2002–03	Iowa State	55–76	49–50	75–73	48–59	75–73	73–69	63–54
2003–04	Iowa State	77–83	56–74	56–76	79–84 OT	79–76	84–76	66–77
2004–05	Iowa	46–73	75–91	81–72	60–61	82–99	63–70	76–73
2005–06	Iowa State	74–89	60–65	72–91	49–51	68–61	72–60	63–67 OT
2006–07	Drake	80–78	75–59	74–61	67–59	70–57	59–77	57–55
2007–08	Drake	79–44	56–51	58–54	65–55	61–48	56–47	62–55
2008–09	Drake	66–63	60–43	59–81	47–46	71–66	57–73	65–46
2009–10	Northern Iowa	70–90	67–71	51–67	48–57	60–63	81–71	67–50
2010–11		43–91	52–59	49–69	72–69	54–60	75–72	51–39
2011–12	Northern Iowa	74–65	68–82	68–83	52–66	62–69	86–76	60–80

Hy-Vee Classic era

Date	Winning Team	Score	Losing Team	Attendance
December 15, 2012	Iowa	80–73	Northern Iowa	13,180
	Iowa State	86–77	Drake
December 7, 2013	Iowa State	91–82*	Northern Iowa	14,512
	Iowa	83–66	Drake
December 20, 2014	Iowa State	83–54	Drake	15,124
	Northern Iowa	56–44	Iowa
December 19, 2015	Iowa	70–64	Drake	15,424
	Northern Iowa	81–79	Iowa State
December 17, 2016	Iowa	69–46	Northern Iowa	15,028
	Iowa State	97–80	Drake
December 16, 2017	Iowa	90–64	Drake	13,828
	Iowa State	76–65	Northern Iowa
December 15, 2018	Iowa State	77–68	Drake	12,236
	Iowa	77–54	Northern Iowa

* indicates the number of overtime periods.

Post Hy-Vee Classic Era

Season	Drake – UNI score	Drake – UNI score (2)	Drake – UNI score (MVC)	ISU – Iowa score
2019–20	83–73	70–43	77–56	84–68
2020–21	80–59	77–69	DNP	105–77
2021–22	82–74 OT	74–69 OT	DNP	73–53
2022–23	88–81 2OT	82–74	DNP	75–56
2023–24	77–63	91-77	DNP	90–65

Future match-ups

Iowa announced on June 14, 2018 that it was exercising its contractual right to leave the Hy-Vee Classic after the 2018 season, leaving the future of the Hy-Vee Classic in doubt.^[8] While Iowa and Iowa State have not ruled out further participation, comments by both schools indicate that they would prefer to not play games in Des Moines and would rather play home games at each school's respective home arena.

Outright Big Four Championships by team

Team	Championships	Last Season Claimed
Iowa	15	2018–19
Iowa State	13	2017–18
Northern Iowa	6	2015–16
Drake	3	2008–09

See also

• Crossroads Classic
• Drake–Northern Iowa rivalry
• Iowa–Iowa State rivalry
• Iowa Corn Cy-Hawk Series
• Philadelphia Big 5

References

1. "Big Four Classic a success but emotions remain". The Gazette. Retrieved 29 August 2017.
2. "WILLIAMS: Stuff you probably didn't know about the Big 4 Classic". 17 December 2016. Retrieved 29 August 2017.
3. "Iowa State Athletics". www.cyclones.com. Retrieved 29 August 2017.
4. "Big Four Classic is extended through 2017". The Des Moines Register. Retrieved 29 August 2017.
5. Center, Iowa Events. "The Hy-Vee Classic Extended through 2019 – Iowa Events Center". www.iowaeventscenter.com. Retrieved 29 August 2017.
6. "Iowa, UNI have differing views of 'Big Four Classic'". The Gazette. Retrieved 29 August 2017.
7. Doxsie, Don (17 December 2014). "Big Four Classic sold out, extended for two years". Retrieved 29 August 2017.
8. "Hy-Vee Classic to end after 2018, as Iowa announces it's pulling out". The Des Moines Register.