The College Basketball Experience Classic (formerly known as the Guardians Classic) is an annual season-opening college basketball tournament founded in 2001. The tournament is currently sponsored by O'Reilly Auto Parts and is held in mid-November. Sixteen invited teams, representing 16 different athletic conferences, are divided into groups of four. The initial two rounds are played at regional sites on back to back days and are hosted by a participating team. Each regional site winner then moves on to the championship round in Kansas City, Missouri, with the games played at Sprint Center. The championship round takes place one week after the initial round. In 2006, the event was renamed the College Basketball Experience Classic (CBE) after the college basketball fan interactive facility. The event is organized by the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) and produced by the Gazelle Group.

Marquette has participated in the 2006 and 2010 College Basketball Classic Tournaments. In 2006, Marquette defeated Hall of Fame coaches Bobby Knight and Mike Krzyzewski in back-to-back nights to take home the 2010 crown.