ESPN’s College GameDay Covered By State Farm Opens 2015 Season In Iowa

Courtesy: ESPN

Officials with ESPN have announced the site of the network’s first broadcast in its 2015 college basketball broadcast season.

ESPN will open the 2015 season of College GameDay covered by State Farm on Saturday, January 17^th in Ames, Iowa. The first in the network’s eight-week season, the broadcast will come ahead of the Saturday Primetime presented by DirecTV matchup between #17 Iowa State and #12 Kansas. Tipoff for the Big 12 contest is scheduled for 9pm ET. College GameDay covered by State Farm will cover not only the matchup between Iowa State and Kansas but all of the day’s games. It all starts at 10am ET on ESPNU. ESPN picks up coverage at 11am ET and then offers another edition at 8pm ET.

Audiences will see some new faces throughout this season of ESPN’s College GameDay covered by State Farm. Analysts Seth Greenberg and Jay Williams join the returning team of host Rece Davis and analyst Jay Bilas. Dan Shulman will also be back along with reporter Shannon Spake. They will be joined by Jay Bilas for full coverage of the matchup between the Hawkeyes and Jayhawks.

Over on ESPN, #14 West Virginia will be on the road against #10 Texas the same day. Tipoff for that game is scheduled for 6:15pm ET. Dave Flemming and Fran Fraschilla will have the call for the game.  The site for each week’s broadcast of College GameDay covered by State Farm will be announced a week ahead of those games within the show’s broadcast. More information on the ESPN family of networks’ college basketball coverage is available online at:

Website: http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/ESPNCBB

To keep up with the latest sports and entertainment news and reviews, go online to http://www.facebook.com/philspicks and “Like” it. Fans can always keep up with the latest sports and entertainment news and reviews in the Phil’s Picks blog at https://philspicks.wordpress.com.

ESPN Family Of Networks Covering Entire Men’s 2014 NIT

Courtesy: ESPN

The 77^th annual National Invitation Tournament (NIT) tips off tonight and the ESPN family of networks will have exclusive coverage of the entire tournament.

Every game of the annual NIT will be carried across the ESPN family of networks and online on ESPN3 via WatchESPN.  Round One tips off tonight at 7pm with games on ESPN, ESPN2, and ESPNU.  The Mountaineers of West Virginia will take on the Georgetown Hoyas on ESPN, while the Florida State Seminoles will face Florida Gulf Coast on ESPN2.  The third of the 7pm games sees Robert Morris on the road against St. John’s on ESPNU.  St. John’s is making a record 30^th appearance in this year’s NIT and is one of six teams in this year’s tournament that also made an appearance in the 2013 NIT.  The other five teams on that list are: Florida State, Indiana State, Louisiana Tech, Robert Morris, and Southern Miss.

Illinois and Boston University lead off coverage of Day Two at 7pm on ESPN2 with Iona and Louisiana Tech following at 7:30pm on ESPN3 at 7:30pm ET.  Florida Gulf Coast reached the NCAA Tournament’s “Sweet Sixteen” round in 2013.  This year marks the first time that the school will play in the NIT.  It is one of three schools that will make its first ever appearance in the NIT this year.  The other two schools making their first appearance in the NIT this year are High Point and Utah Valley.

Round Two of the NIT is March 20th – 24^th.  Quarterfinals are scheduled for March 25^th – 26^th.  Semifinals are April 1^st and the NIT Championship follows April 3^rd.

The complete NIT First Round coverage schedule is listed below.

2014 NIT First Round Schedule:

Date	Time (ET)	Game	Network
Tue, March 18	7 p.m.	NIT First Round: West Virginia at Georgetown Mike Patrick & Dan Dakich	ESPN
	7 p.m.	NIT First Round: Florida Gulf Coast at Florida State Mark Jones & Darrin Horn	ESPN2
	7 p.m.	NIT First Round: Robert Morris at St. John’s Dave Pasch & Tim Welsh	ESPNU
	8:15 p.m.	NIT First Round: High Point at Minnesota Clay Matvick & Mark Wise	ESPN3
	8:15 p.m.	NIT First Round: Belmont at Green Bay Jim Barbar & Sean Harrington	ESPN3
	9 p.m.	NIT First Round: Indiana State at Arkansas Brad Nessler & Jimmy Dykes	ESPN
	9 p.m.	NIT First Round: Davidson at Missouri Bob Wischusen & Malcolm Huckaby	ESPN2
	9 p.m.	NIT First Round: Georgia State at Clemson Tom Hart & Bob Valvano	ESPNU
	11 p.m.	NIT First Round: Utah at St. Mary’s Dave Flemming & Sean Farnham	ESPN2
Wed, March 19	7 p.m.	NIT First Round: Illinois at Boston University Sean McDonough & Tim Welsh	ESPN2
	7:30 p.m.	NIT First Round: Iona at Louisiana Tech Brett Dolan & Daymeon Fishback	ESPN3
	8 p.m.	NIT First Round: Vermont at Georgia Joe Davis & Dino Gaudio	ESPNU
	8:30 p.m.	NIT First Round: Toledo at Southern Miss Roy Philpott & Joe Dean	ESPN3
	9 p.m.	NIT First Round: UC Irvine at SMU John Saunders & Fran Fraschilla	ESPN2
	10 p.m.	NIT First Round: LSU at San Francisco Roxy Bernstein & Bill Walton	ESPNU
	10:30 p.m.	NIT First Round: Utah Valley at California Trey Bender & Jon Crispin	ESPN3

 

More information on the ESPN family of networks’ coverage of the NIT is available online at http://www.facebook.com/ESPNCollegeBasketball and http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball.  To keep up with the latest sports and entertainment news and reviews, go online to http://www.facebook.com/philspicks and “Like” it.  Fans can always keep up with the latest sports and entertainment in the Phil’s Picks blog at https://philspicks.wordpress.com.