Students at the University of Texas Arlington play a little night basketball outside one of the dorm halls. Photo courtesy of www.uta.edu.
If you ever thought that a kissing or dancing marathon was hard, try playing a competitive basketball game that starts at midnight.
That is what Memphis University and the University of Massachusetts did last night as they kicked off ESPN’s 24-hour college basketball marathon at 12 a.m. EST in Memphis, Tenn. No, the team two teams are not playing for 24-hours straight, but ESPN will be broadcasting live college basketball games for 24-hours straight.
The marathon is a new marketing strategy by ESPN to hype the upcoming college basketball season. Only ratings will show if the ploy actually worked, but the fans of every team are more than excited.
Memphis was able to nearly sell-out its arena with students and fans cheering till 2 a.m. EST with no sign of stopping.
“I would be more than excited to watch a basketball game at midnight,” PLU senior Brian Erickson said. “Not only does it give you a chance to watch a great sports, but it gives you a reason to stay up and skip your classes the next day. I don’t know if I could play in a game that late though.”
For those of you that are staying up with me to watch the games, here is a full schedule of the marathon, with scores of the games that have already been played (all times are eastern):
• Midnight: UMass 58 at Memphis 80
• 2 a.m.: Fresno St. 85 at St. Mary’s 99
• 4 a.m.: Idaho St. at Hawaii (ESPN)
• 6 a.m.: College Hoops Tip-Off Special (ESPN)
• 10 a.m.: Penn at Drexel (ESPN)
• Noon: Liberty at UNC-Asheville (ESPN)
• 2 p.m.: Iowa at Kansas (women) (ESPN)
• 4 p.m.: Centenary at Baylor (ESPN)
• 6 p.m.: Richmond at Syracuse (ESPN)
• 7 p.m.: NIT Regional Final-Purdue (ESPNU)
• 7:30 p.m.: NIT Regional Final-Boston College (ESPN2)
• 8 p.m.: College GameDay-Chapel Hill (ESPN)
• 9 p.m.: Kentucky at North Carolina (ESPN)
• 9 p.m.: Florida Gulf Coast at Kansas (ESPNU)
• 9:30 p.m.: NIT Regional Final-Oklahoma (ESPN2)
• 11:30 p.m.: NIT Regional Final-Arizona (ESPN2)
For full coverage of all the games, tune in to ESPN, ESPN2 or visit ESPN.com
