Not Yet March, But ESPN College Hoops Sked Has Lots Of Madness
By BigLeadSports
The games will air across the ESPN brand of networks, including ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, ESPN3, ABC, ESPN Regional Television, ESPN Mobile TV and ESPN Full Court.
ESPNU will tip off the season on Nov. 7, with a doubleheader from the 2K Sports Classic Benefiting Coaches vs. Cancer: William & Mary at St. John’s followed by Valparaiso at Arizona.
The schedule will conclude with Championship Week conference tournament coverage, March 1-11.
ESPN’s College GameDay Driven by State Farm, the eight-week Saturday morning and evening college basketball program originating from the site of ESPN’s Saturday Primetime Presented by DirecTV, will return for its eighth season beginning Jan. 14, from the campus of Florida State University in Tallahassee, Fla.
Among the season highlights are:
• Telecasts of at least one team from all 31 conferences on an ESPN network.
• Michigan State will take on North Carolina on the USS Carl Vinson in San Diego in the Quicken Loans Carrier Classic on Nov. 11 on ESPN. It marks the first men’s college basketball game to be played on the deck of a United States military aircraft carrier.
• The new three-year State Farm Champions Classic event will showcase four of the sport’s most storied programs squaring off at a neutral site. This year’s event on Nov. 15, pits Duke vs. Michigan State followed by Kentucky vs. Kansas at from Madison Square Garden.
• ESPN will televise two conference challenges showcasing 12 games from each: the 13th annual Big Ten/ACC Challenge Presented by Dick’s Sporting Goods Nov. 29-30 and the inaugural Big East/SEC Challenge Dec. 1-3.
• ESPN3 will offer a record 150 original productions and more than 1,100 total games, including simulcasts of every ESPN and ESPN2 telecast and ESPN Full Court pay-per-view game.
• The fourth annual College Hoops Tip-Off Marathon Presented by Disney Destinations will celebrate the start of the season with 21 live match-ups – 19 men’s and two women’s – in a minimum of 25 hours on Tuesday, Nov. 15. ESPN highlights include 11 game telecasts and a special one-hour College GameDay Driven by State Farm from Madison Square Garden in New York, site of the State Farm Champions Classic.