Nation’s Top Basketball Teams to Play in Garden

Georgia Tech, North Carolina and Notre Dame, expected to be among the nation’s top teams, will play this season in Madison Square Garden, which will present its largest college basketball schedule since 1975-76.

The Garden schedule consists of the semifinals and final of the first Big Apple National Invitation Tournament, the ECAC Holiday Festival, six regular-season games, the Big East postseason championship playoffs and the postseason National Invitation Tournament.

The schedule:

Nov. 29 and Dec. 1, semifinals and final of Big Apple NIT; Dec. 26, Holiday Festival, Iona vs. St. Bonaventure and St. John’s vs. James Madison; Dec. 28, Holiday Festival championship; Jan. 9, North Carolina and Fordham and Georgia Tech vs. Rutgers; Jan. 11, CCNY-NYU and Georgetown vs. St. John’s; Jan. 22, St. Peter’s vs. Manhattan and St. John’s VS. Fordham; Jan. 25, Holy Cross vs. Fairfield and Iona vs. Fordham; Feb. 19, La Salle vs. Army and Notre Dame vs. Manhattan; Feb. 26, Fairleigh Dickinson vs. Marist and Syracuse vs. St. John’s.

The Big East playoffs are scheduled March 5-8; the postseason NIT March 24-26.