ESPN has always done a great job when covering the opening of the College Basketball season. There are multiple “Midnight Madnesses” and a bunch of good tournaments and matchups. Well they’re trying something different this year and they’ve dubbed it the “College Hoops Tip-Off Marathon”. What is it? Well it’s basically 14! College Basketball games in 23 hours starting at midnight on November 18th. Here’s the background from ESPN….
The games open at midnight ET with national championship game runner-up Memphis hosting Massachusetts, where Tigers head coach John Calipari once coached. It wraps up with the two winningest programs in college hoops history — Kentucky and North Carolina — meeting in Chapel Hill at 9 p.m. ET.
There are games featuring teams in 14 conferences and one women’s game (Iowa at Kansas, 2 p.m. ET on ESPN). It also includes four NIT semifinals and two games in the CBE Classic, including defending national champion Kansas hosting Florida Gulf Coast (9 p.m. ET, ESPN U).
Every game on ESPN and ESPN2 will be simulcast on ESPN360.com.
There will be two studio shows, including a four-hour special beginning at 6 a.m. ET. College GameDay will be in Chapel Hill at 8 p.m. ET.
That is just about the greatest (and craziest) idea I’ve ever heard. The whole event even gets a lead-in from Monday Night Football. The matchup that night isn’t the best in the Browns and Bills, but it should still keep some East Coasters up well into the night. Here’s the schedule and I’m seriously considering a 24-hour live-blog for this thing….
Tuesday, November 18th:
Midnight: UMass at Memphis (ESPN)
2 am: Fresno St. at St. Mary’s (ESPN)
4 am: Idaho St. at Hawaii (ESPN)
6 am: College Hoops Tip-Off Special (ESPN)
10 am: Penn at Drexel (ESPN)
Noon: Liberty at UNC-Asheville (ESPN)
2 pm: Iowa at Kansas (women) (ESPN)
4 pm: Centenary at Baylor (ESPN)
6 pm: Richmond at Syracuse (ESPN)
7 pm: NIT Regional Final-Purdue (ESPNU)
7:30 pm: NIT Regional Final-Boston College (ESPN2)
8 pm: College GameDay-Chapel Hill (ESPN)
9 pm: Kentucky at North Carolina (ESPN)
9 pm: Florida Gulf Coast at Kansas (ESPNU)
9:30 pm: NIT Regional Final-Oklahoma (ESPN2)
11:30 pm: NIT Regional Final-Arizona (ESPN2)
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