Entries Tagged 'Scheduling' ↓

Kentucky will play on half of ESPN’s “Super Tuesday” schedule of eight games this coming Southeastern Conference basketball season.

ESPN announced its SEC “Super Tuesday” schedule on Monday. The all-sports network plans to release its entire SEC college basketball schedule on Thursday.

That Thursday announcement should clear the way for Kentucky to — finally — release its entire schedule for the 2009-10 season. UK officials have said they were waiting for ESPN to announce its schedule first. Then UK plans to unveil its schedule on a television show.

As for “Super Tuesday,” UK will play four times: at Florida on Jan. 12, at South Carolina on Jan. 26, against visiting Ole Miss on Feb. 2 and at Mississippi State on Feb. 16.

Other “Super Tuesday” matchups are Tennessee at Alabama on Jan. 19, Tennessee at Vanderbilt on Feb.9, Tennessee at Florida on Feb. 23 and Vanderbilt at Florida on March 2.

Former UK guard Dale Brown, a starter on the 1993 Final Four team, is now coaching Dillard University, a NAIA school in New Orleans.

Brown is seeking to play Kentucky in an exhibition game this upcoming season. His cash-strapped program needs the funds from such games to keep afloat.

Brown has already spoken with former UK teammate John Pelphrey, now the Arkansas coach, about an exhibition game. And he’s lined up an exhibition with South Carolina, coached by Lexington native Darrin Horn.

Now Brown would like to add exhibition games with UK and Ole Miss.

Good luck to Brown, a good guy facing a Herculean task of building a basketball program at Dillard.

Kentucky won’t announce its 2009-10 schedule until this summer, perhaps as late as September.

Meanwhile, details will dribble out.

For instance, Austin Peay has announced its schedule for next season. That schedule includes a game at Kentucky on Dec. 19.

Austin Peay will also play games against Memphis and Tennessee. But, clearly, the game at Kentucky has the program’s attention.

“A visit to Rupp Arena is something our student-athletets will remember for a long time,” Coach Dave Loos said on the Austin Peay website.

The official word comes out later Tuesday on Kentucky’s game against Connecticut in the SEC-Big East Challenge.

The two heavyweights have played only once: in the 2006 NCAA Tournament second round. UConn won 87-83.

Kentucky will play UConn on Dec. 9 in Madison Square Garden. The other game in the doubleheader will have St. John’s playing Georgia.

The other site for the SEC-Big East Challenge this season is Tampa, where Florida will play Syracuse and DePaul will meet Mississippi State.

Connecticut, which went 31-5 in a Final Four run this past season, figures to have three of the Big East Conference’s best players next season. The three are guard Jerome Dyson, who missed the last 12 games of this past season because of a knee injury, point guard Kemba Walker (All-Big East Rookie Team) and forward Stanley Robinson, who had 15 points and 13 rebounds against Michigan State in the Final Four.

The Huskies add McDonald’s All-American Alex Oriahki (6-9, 245) to cushion the loss of center Hasheem Thabeet to early entry into the NBA.

Alas, a name familiar to followers of recruiting will not be eligible to play for UConn. Ater Majok, a native of Sudan and a high school student from Australia, once was recruited by Kentucky. He sat out last season because he only partially qualified.

Majok, a skilled 6-10 forward, will not be eligible to play until Dec. 20.

It’s official. Kentucky will play in the 2010 Maui Invitational. The tournament made it official on Wednesday by announcing the 2010 field.

As always, there will be rugged competition. Other 2010 teams include Connecticut, Michigan State and Oklahoma.

A return to Hawaii should take some of sting away from Kentucky’s 0-2 start.

Here’s the Maui release:

Connecticut, the 2005 tournament champion, currently ranked No. 2 in the 2008 USA TODAY/ESPN Top 25 Preseason Coaches’ Poll, will return for its third Maui appearance. Kentucky, a seven-time NCAA champion, currently the winningest team in the history of college basketball both in all-time wins and all-time winning percentage, will return to Maui with an 8-4 all-time stat including a trip to the winner’s circle in 1993.  Michigan State, the 1991 Maui champion with a 6-3 tournament record, was a part of one of the greatest games in tournament history when, in a 2005 semi-final contest, the Spartans faced off against Gonzaga and Adam Morrison, who holds a tournament record of 43 points from that game.  Oklahoma, currently ranked No. 1 in this year’s BIG 12 preseason poll, holds a 5-4 Maui record with its last appearance in 2006.  ACC team Virginia returns for its fourth tournament appearance with a 5-3 overall record.  The 1982 upset between then-ranked No. 1 Virginia and host school Chaminade University paved the way for the creation of the EA SPORTS Maui Invitational.  2006 NCAA Sweet Sixteen team, Washington, will make its Maui debut in 2010 along with fellow Maui newcomer Wichita State who last played in the NCAA Tournament in 2006, when they upset second-seeded Tennessee to reach the Sweet Sixteen.

ESPN plans to celebrate the start of another college basketball season by televising games for more than 24 straight hours.

Kentucky will be part of the marathon. UK’s game against North Carolina on Nov. 18 (which tips off at 9 p.m.) is in the schedule.

Here’s the ESPN news release:

ESPN will celebrate the start of the 2008-09 college basketball season with the new College Hoops Tip-Off Marathon featuring 23 consecutive hours of live college basketball game and studio programming Tuesday, Nov. 18. The new creative way to mark the opening of the season will begin at midnight ET with a tripleheader of live games: Massachusetts at Memphis followed by Fresno State at St. Mary’s at 2 a.m. and Idaho State at Hawaii at 4 a.m. Coverage will conclude with Kentucky at North Carolina at 9 p.m.

ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPNU will offer 33 total hours of coverage overall highlighted by 14 game telecasts, including defending National Champion Kansas on ESPNU at 9 p.m. ESPN360.com will offer a simulcast of every ESPN and ESPN2 telecast.

ESPN’s College Hoops Tip-Off Marathon highlights include:

· The first of ESPN’s nine game telecasts will feature current Memphis coach John Calipari, a participant in last year’s NCAA Tournament Championship game, against Massachusetts, where he coached from 1988-96 and led the Minutemen to their only NCAA Final Four appearance.

· ESPN’s coverage will conclude at 9 p.m. with a showdown between the two winningest teams in college basketball history when Kentucky visits North Carolina, which returns all five starters — including National Player of the Year Tyler Hansbrough – to a team that made it to last year’s Final Four.

· College GameDay will originate from Chapel Hill, N.C., site of Kentucky at North Carolina (televised on ESPN at 9 p.m.), for a one-hour show at 8 p.m.

· In addition to games at midnight, 2 a.m., 4 a.m. and 9 p.m., ESPN will televise five live games consecutively beginning at 10 a.m.

· ESPN’s coverage will include a game played in five different United States time zones — Eastern, Central, Mountain, Pacific and Hawaiian – and at least 14 different conferences (Big Ten, Big 12, BIG EAST, SEC, ACC, Atlantic 10, Conference USA, WAC, WCC, Big Sky, Ivy, Colonial, Big South and Summit).

· ESPN’s 2 p.m. telecast will feature Iowa at Kansas in a women’s matchup.

· Coverage will include the College Hoops Tip-Off Special, a live four-hour studio show originating from ESPN’s studios in Charlotte, N.C., beginning at 6 a.m.

· In addition to the College Hoops Tip-Off Marathon coverage on ESPN, ESPN2 will televise a tripleheader of 2008 NIT Season Tip-Off matchups beginning at 7:30 p.m. ESPNU will offer a doubleheader beginning with a NIT Season Tip-Off game at 7 p.m. followed by a CBE Classic game at 9 p.m. featuring defending National Champion Kansas.

College Hoops Tip-Off Marathon Schedule for ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPNU

Kentucky basketball continues to fill up its pre-season calendar.

The Cats will begin “Boot Camp” on Monday. The camp is a lung-busting devotion to fitness. It can last anywhere from a few days to two weeks. Hopefully, the players will not be pooped when they hit the floor for Big Blue Madness on Oct. 10.

Kentucky also plans to have a Blue-White scrimmage this year. It’s tentatively scheduled for Nov. 1 in Rupp Arena. UK did not have a intra-squad scrimmage last year. Two reason: (1) In his first season as coach, Billy Gillispie had an incomplete roster. So would there be enough players to fill out the two teams? (2) The players on hand were learning a new system and adjusting to a new coach, so the time could be better spent in practice.

Of course, with 20 players (the number who posed for the team picture), Kentucky this year has enough players for a scrimmage. In fact, UK could divide the team into thirds and have one team play winners.

So UK fans will have several chances this pre-season to eyeball a team with many new faces. Those chances include Big Blue Madness on Oct. 10, the Blue-White scrimmage on Nov. 1, plus exhibition games on Nov. 3 and Nov. 7.

ESPN plans to stage its College GameDay program in conjunction with Kentucky’s basketball game against North Carolina on Nov. 18.

The GameDay show will run prior to the game from 8 to 9 p.m. Then UK will play No. 1 North Carolina.

Is there any doubt, then, that this will be a big game. College basketball’s two winningest programs and the full weight of ESPN’s coverage.

The UK-LSU basketball game next season will tip off later in the afternoon than originally scheduled. UK announced the change Wednesday.

Mark your calendars. Here’s the news release:

The game time for the Kentucky-LSU basketball game in Lexington has been changed to 4 p.m. EST.

Originally scheduled for 2:00 on Saturday, Feb. 28, the game has been moved to 4:00 p.m., but will still be carried by CBS.

Kentucky will play Kansas State in its first game in the host city for the 2008 Las Vegas Invitational. The other semifinal will pit West Virginia against Iowa.

Those games will be played on the Friday after Thanksgiving, Nov. 28. The two winners and two losers will play on Nov. 29.

Tournament organizers released the pairings on Friday. The teams will each play two games in their home arenas before going to Las Vegas. But those first two games have no bearing on the matchups in Las Vegas.

A few hundred tickets remain available for the games in Las Vegas. Those tickets can be bought at www.orleansarena.com or by calling 702-284-7777.