College Basketball Jones: ESPN Tip-Off Has 25 Hours, 19 Games, 21 Conferences
By BigLeadSports
According to ESPN, this will be its most extensive college b-ball tip-off ever, with 25 consecutive hours of live game action, including 17 men’s games, two women’s games and 11 ESPN telecasts.
Coverage will run across ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU and ESPN3.com.
The “College Hoops Tip-off Marathon Presented by Disney Parks” begins Tuesday, Nov. 15, at midnight (ET) with Washington State at Gonzaga.
The schedule will feature four of the sport’s winningest men’s programs – Duke, Kansas, Kentucky and Michigan State – in the inaugural State Farm Champions Classic doubleheader from New York. A special one-hour edition of ESPN’s College GameDay will originate from Madison Square Garden for the State Farm Champions Classic, providing pre-game, halftime, in-between and post-game reports and analysis.
Other events will include the EA Sports Maui Invitational from Memphis, the TicketCity Legends Classic from Austin, the State Farm Women’s Tip-Off Classic from Knoxville and the Dick’s Sporting Goods NIT Season Tip-Off from several locations.
According to ESPN, 21 conferences will be represented: ACC, Atlantic Sun, Atlantic 10, Big East, Big Ten, Big 12, Conference USA, Colonial, Metro Atlantic Athletic, Mid-American, Missouri Valley, Mountain West, Ohio Valley, Pac-12, SEC, Southern, Southwestern Athletic, Sun Belt, Western Athletic and West Coast.
ESPN said that either the Ivy League or America East will be added dependent on if Syracuse plays Brown or Albany, respectively.