24-hour hoops marathon
ESPN's broadcast to kick off the 2008-09 season
On a night when college hoops’ top two teams escaped upsets, what’d we learn?
That Cole Aldrich and Sherron Collins are the key to Kansas’ season? Or that Kalin Lucas is Michigan State’s go-to guy? We knew all that going in.
Try this: Don’t forget recent history because Gonzaga and Memphis are actually good. Again.
The old cliché still applies, I guess. The more things change – both teams lost four starters from last season – the more they stay the same.
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Those watching the end of the 24-hour hoops marathon Tuesday night should see some classics. Gonzaga vs. Michigan State. Arkansas vs. Louisville. Memphis vs. Kansas.
The final two are part of the Naismith Hall of Fame Classic and features four of the game’s most successful programs.
Not that those four exhibited Hall of Fame behavior during the offseason. Rob Dauster at Ballin’ Is a Habit thinks the tourney name is worthy of a little irony. Perhaps the Role Models Classic? I mean, do you remember what kind of offseason those four had?
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ESPN’s 24-hour college hoops marathon opened with an upset, but I’m not sure how many people stuck around. Poor shooting will do that.
UCLA clanked its way to a 68-65 double overtime loss to Cal State Fullerton, the first time the Bruins lost an opener in Ben Howland’s tenure. They hoisted 84 shots, hit just 31 percent of those and were a brutal 5 of 28 from beyond the arc.
If East Coast hoopheads were looking for reasons to stay up late, this wasn't it.
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The college hoops godsend returns for another season. And it’s even better.
ESPN announced the schedule for its hoops marathon to open the 2009-10 season. It added a few timeslots, bringing the total to 19 total games – 17 on the men’s side and 2 from the women.
And, unlike last season when ESPN used a kickoff show to fill some of the time, it’s truly a round-the-clock day. Monmouth and St. Peter’s, two New Jersey schools, play each other at 6 a.m. ET. It’s followed by Drexel at Niagara at 8 a.m. That's some dedication.
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Twenty-four hours of hoops. Now this is a proper start to the college basketball season.
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Rule of thumb when planning the fall months is to let the NFL, baseball playoffs and college football carry the load (fantasy football gets lumped into the NFL). NASCAR’s chase gets some attention, along with an occasional golf event, depending on who’s involved. Once the NBA begins, that works into the mix.
Those sports are the backbone to just about any site’s coverage. College basketball is usually secondary until the NFL season ends and Duke-North Carolina gets all the casual fans involved (we die-hards will be watching on Nov. 10 when Coaches Vs. Cancer tourney kicks off).
So imagine the die-hards’ glee at ESPN’s brilliant idea: A hoops marathon to give college basketball a proper season opener.
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