ESPN Fourth Annual College Hoops Tip-Off Marathon TV Schedule for Tuesday, November 15, 2011

via press release:

ESPN Celebrates Opening of Hoops Season with Fourth Annual College Hoops Tip-Off Marathon

25 consecutive hours of game action highlighted by Champions Classic doubleheader with College GameDay on-site; 17 men’s games; two women’s games for first time; and 11 ESPN telecasts

For the fourth consecutive year, ESPN will celebrate the opening of the college basketball season with a marathon of college basketball coverage across ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU and ESPN3.com. This year’s College Hoops Tip-off Marathon Presented by Disney Parks Tuesday, Nov. 15, beginning at midnight ET, will include 19 live matchups – 17 men’s and two women’s – in a minimum of 25 hours, highlighted by ESPN’s 11 game telecasts and a special one-hour College GameDay Driven by State Farm. ESPN3.com will offer two exclusive games as well as a simulcast of every ESPN and ESPN2 telecast.

The schedule will feature four of the sport’s winningest programs – Duke, Kansas, Kentucky and Michigan State – in the inaugural State Farm Champions Classic doubleheader, 15 teams that played in last year’s men’s NCAA Tournament, including Final Four participant Kentucky; and four women’s NCAA Tournament teams from last year, including defending National Champion Texas A&M. Highlights:

• ESPN will televise nine consecutive games, tipping off every two hours beginning at midnight with Washington State at Gonzaga.

• ESPN’s final two games of the marathon will feature the new State Farm Champions Classic doubleheader in New York: No. 5 Duke vs. Michigan State at 7 p.m. followed by No. 2 Kentucky vs. No. 18 Kansas at 9 p.m. The three-year men’s event will feature Duke, Kansas, Kentucky and Michigan State playing each other from a different neutral site location each year (Atlanta in 2012 and Chicago in 2013).

• A special one-hour edition of ESPN’s College GameDay at 6 p.m. will originate from Madison Square Garden for the State Farm Champions Classic, providing pre-game, half-time, in-between and post-game reports and analysis.

• Twenty-one conferences will be represented: ACC, Atlantic Sun, Atlantic 10, BIG EAST, Big Ten, Big 12, Conference USA, Colonial, Metro Atlantic Athletic, Mid-American, Missouri Valley, Mountain West, Ohio Valley, Pac-12, SEC, Southern, Southwestern Athletic, Sun Belt, Western Athletic and West Coast. Either the Ivy League or America East will be added dependent on if Syracuse plays Brown or Albany, respectively.

• Four of the top five teams – and nine of the top 25 – in ESPN.com senior college basketball writer Andy Katz’s early men’s preseason top 25 poll will participate: No. 2 Kentucky, No. 3 Ohio State, No. 4 Syracuse, No. 5 Duke, No. 8 Memphis, No. 12 Florida, No. 16 Baylor, No. 18 Kansas and No. 25 Gonzaga. The schedule includes two matchups between teams ranked in Katz’s poll: No. 12 Florida at No. 3 Ohio State (at 8 p.m. on ESPN2) and No. 2 Kentucky vs. No. 18 Kansas from New York City (at 9 p.m.) on ESPN.

• ESPNU and ESPN2 will each televise a women’s game: Louisville at defending National Champion Texas A&M at 4 p.m. on ESPNU and Miami at Tennessee in the State Farm Women’s Tip-Off Classic at 6 p.m. on ESPN2.

2011 College Hoops Tip-Off Marathon Schedule for ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU and ESPN3.com