Hoop Heaven

[Olympic Fan]

Just wanted to make sure everybody knows that tomorrow is going to be one of the great days to watch college hoops -- even beyond the Duke-Kansas thriller to cap it off.

But Tuesday starts with a couple of small-time games in the morning -- Hartford at Florida Gulf Coast at 7 a.m. and Quinnipiac at LaSalle at 9 a.m. -- both on ESPN2

At 11 a.m., the deuce also has LSU at UMass, which could be a pretty good game (UMass beat Boston College Sunday).

At 1 p.m., we get West Virginia at Virginia Tech on ESPN.

Then a little gap ... don't know why, before at 5 p.m. we get NC State at Cincinnati on ESPN.

Then it gets REALLY interesting.

At 7 p.m. on ESPN 2, No. 14 VCU is at No. 24 Virginia

At 7:30 p.m. on ESPN, No. 1 Kentucky vs. No. 3 Michigan State in Chicago

At 9 p.m. on ESPN2, No. 10 Florida at No. 20 Wisconsin

At 9:30 p.m. (that's the scheduled start time, we'll be lucky if it goes off at 10 p.m.) No. 4 Duke vs. No. 5 Kansas in Chicago.

Very interesting to me that ESPN decided to make the 1 vs. 3 game the preliminary and feature the Duke-Kansas game instead.

Overall, a bounty of great college hoops to watch.

[bbosbbos]

Looking forward to the game day. I probably will start from the NC ST game.

[Dev11]

At 9:30 p.m. (that's the scheduled start time, we'll be lucky if it goes off at 10 p.m.) No. 4 Duke vs. No. 5 Kansas in Chicago.

GoDuke.com lists the game as starting at 10, and I am inclined to believe them, as the first game starts at 7:30 and normally they need half an hour to change over and start the second game. I am not sure why ESPN is advertising the second game as starting immediately following the first game.

That said, I would expect something more like a 10:15 start, given the average time for basketball games these days.

[Indoor66]

GoDuke.com lists the game as starting at 10, and I am inclined to believe them, as the first game starts at 7:30 and normally they need half an hour to change over and start the second game. I am not sure why ESPN is advertising the second game as starting immediately following the first game.

That said, I would expect something more like a 10:15 start, given the average time for basketball games these days.My Comcast listing has the Duke game at 10:00 P.M. - 12:00 Midnight.

[Henderson]

My Comcast listing has the Duke game at 10:00 P.M. - 12:00 Midnight.

Seems to me the gods should reward you stalwarts who stay up until 12:30 am and get up for work the next day.

Here's hoping all my east coast friends drift off to sleep with smiles.

[MCFinARL]

Very interesting to me that ESPN decided to make the 1 vs. 3 game the preliminary and feature the Duke-Kansas game instead.



Yes, I assume that is mostly because of the Wiggins versus Parker storyline. But now the recruiting situation with Okafor and Jones (which I suspect we will hear about ad nauseam during the game) adds another layer as well.

[DU82]

Very interesting to me that ESPN decided to make the 1 vs. 3 game the preliminary and feature the Duke-Kansas game instead.


I was surprised that the Duke-Michigan State game two years ago, Coach K's 903, was the early game. It certainly appears that they set the time up way in advance. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if they set the times up when they set up the match-ups at the start of the three year cycle. Although MSU's played all three of their games in the early slot IIRC, with the other teams playing 2 out of 3 late. I'd argue that MSU is the "weakest" draw for TV of the four.

It's made for ESPN, and when Bristol's involved, it doesn't necessarily make sense.

[jacone21]

Seems to me the gods should reward you stalwarts who stay up until 12:30 am and get up for work the next day.

Here's hoping all my east coast friends drift off to sleep with smiles.

If you get wound up like I do, you need at least an hour to calm down and get to sleep. So I'm looking at maybe drifting off by 2:00am. I hate the midnight games. Check that. I hate having to get up in the morning after midnight games.

[BD80]

ESPN has SCarolina v Baylor @3-5, no gap. Hoop heaven.

[-jk]

Seems to me the gods should reward you stalwarts who stay up until 12:30 am and get up for work the next day.

Here's hoping all my east coast friends drift off to sleep with smiles.

My God! As if!

It's those late games in Cameron that the gods reward. (If they reward us at all.) It's a 4 hour drive home, under the best of circumstances. (And VA has an unreasonable idea of "reckless driving"...)

-jk

[BD80]

... VA has an unreasonable idea of "reckless driving"...

-jk

Come to Deeetroit. Reckless is trying to stay below the speed limit.

[-jk]

Come to Deeetroit. Reckless is trying to stay below the speed limit.

I dunno. 9:00 tip, 11:15 horn. Bed in md. I wanna go fast.

-jk

[DU82]

My God! As if!

It's those late games in Cameron that the gods reward. (If they reward us at all.) It's a 4 hour drive home, under the best of circumstances. (And VA has an unreasonable idea of "reckless driving"...)

-jk

Well, a 76 in a 55 is ALWAYS reckless driving, even way back when...

3676

[Ichabod Drain]

At 7:30 p.m. on ESPN, No. 1 Kentucky vs. No. 3 Michigan State in Chicago


Isn't MSU ranked #2... making it a 1 vs 2 matchup?

[hurleyfor3]

Well, a 76 in a 55 is ALWAYS reckless driving, even way back when...

Except the game is in Illinois. The correct way to deal with an Illinois speeding ticket is to go to the courthouse the next day, hand the clerk a $100 bill and ask for "court supervision". The clerk then takes your $100 and puts your ticket wherever they put all the election ballots from Republican precincts in 1960.

(I had heard stories about Duke students doing FOIAs on Dean's speeding tickets and waving copies around during unc games. Until now I hadn't seen the actual ticket. That's awesome.)

[Newton_14]

My God! As if!

It's those late games in Cameron that the gods reward. (If they reward us at all.) It's a 4 hour drive home, under the best of circumstances. (And VA has an unreasonable idea of "reckless driving"...)

-jk

I honestly do not know how you do it dude. You are a trouper, that's for sure. I would have to find a bed in Durham and do the drive back the next morning in your circumstances.

As for Duke/Kansas being in the "feature slot", I do like it if only because it has to be killing Calimari that his semi-pro team is relegated to the undercard, rather than the main event. That in itself makes me smile.

[FerryFor50]

Isn't MSU ranked #2... making it a 1 vs 2 matchup?

That doesn't sound very fair...

[luburch]

Just turned on the Stanford/BYU game. This is a job saving/losing season for Coach Dawkins.

[BD80]

Just turned on the Stanford/BYU game. This is a job saving/losing season for Coach Dawkins.

He's already got two 4-star recruits in the 2014 class.

[Henderson]

Just turned on the Stanford/BYU game. This is a job saving/losing season for Coach Dawkins.

Didn't go so well. In the end, you have to put the ball in the basket. BYU did; Stanford not so much.

[75Crazie]

It's good to see VT beat West Virginia. There are few teams that I would root for a Huggins team over.