First Annual College Hoops Tip-Off Marathon
ESPN's first annual College Hoops Tip-Off Marathon -- featuring 23 consecutive hours of college basketball-themed programming on ESPN -- begins at midnight ET Tuesday, Nov. 18 (11:59 p.m. ET on Nov. 17) with Massachusetts at No. 12 Memphis and conclude with Kentucky at No. 1 North Carolina at 9 p.m ET. The new initiative will highlight the beginning of the 2008-09 men's college basketball season.
ESPN's coverage will include a game played in five different United States time zones -- Eastern, Central, Mountain, Pacific and Hawaiian -- and teams from at least 14 different conferences and leagues (Big Ten, Big 12, Big East, SEC, ACC, Atlantic 10, Conference USA, WAC, WCC, Big Sky, Ivy, Colonial, Big South and Summit). Highlights include:
• Play: Big Number Challenge
• Nine live games on ESPN, including a women's matchup
• Live game telecasts on ESPN at midnight, 2 a.m., 4 a.m., 10 a.m., noon, 2 p.m., 4 p.m., 6 p.m. and 9 p.m.
• A special one-hour College GameDay Driven by State Farm to originate from North Carolina at 8 p.m. including coverage of National Champion Kansas raising its title banner
• Thirty-three hours of coverage on ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU and ESPN360.com highlighted by 14 game telecasts
• ESPN360.com offering a simulcast of every ESPN and ESPN2 telecast
• Massachusetts at No. 12 Memphis (midnight) and Kentucky at #1 North Carolina (9 p.m.) simulcast on the ABC SuperSign in Times Square in New York City
• A four-hour SportsCenter Special: College Hoops Tip-Off Presented by Samsung Behold beginning at 6 a.m. featuring extensive college basketball-themed programming: coaches interviews, announcer reports from game sites and a behind-the-scenes feature on North Carolina hosted by Jay Bilas
• Extended chats, game related stories, SportsNation polls, blogs and more on ESPN.com
• ESPN Mobile TV offering a simulcast of all nine ESPN games and an 11:30 p.m. ESPN2 telecast
• An Interactive Tuesday application similar to the networks Tuesday college football telecasts for the 6 p.m. Richmond at Syracuse telecast featuring fan opinions integrated into the telecast through comments via texting, phone calls, online chats and interactive polls
• ESPN Classic televising four classic men's college basketball games Monday, Nov. 17:
4 p.m.: 1990 Kentucky at North Carolina
6 p.m.: 2004 Duke at North Carolina
8 p.m.: 2008 Tennessee at Memphis
10 p.m.: 2008 NCAA Championship: Kansas vs. Memphis