There are far too many things in sports that, unfortunately, will never return. Times change. Thankfully, the Field of 68 is here to warm your nostalgic heart.
College basketball fans rejoice. The Field of 68 is reviving college basketball’s 24-hour tip-off marathon. Remember watching games from morning to midnight? Experience that feeling again on Nov. 2, with eight matchups running from High Point vs. Liberty at 12:01 a.m. ET to Furman vs. Bethune-Cookman, which tips off at 8 p.m. The games will be streamed on the Field of 68’s YouTube channel and on X.
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ESPN started the 24-hour tip-off marathon in 2008 but discontinued it in 2017, citing programming challenges. Now, it’s back, albeit on a different platform and in a different format. The Worldwide Leader in Sports started with 14 games across five time zones. The Field of 68’s version is eight games across two time zones (Sioux Falls, S.D. and Rock Hill, South Carolina). This edition also only features mid-major programs.
“I was at ESPN when they had it going, and I know everybody loved it, myself included, the diehards,” Jeff Goodman, co-founder of the Field of 68, told Awful Announcing. “And to me, I didn’t understand why it went away. Probably financial reasons, I would assume. When we started this thing up, we never had any intent of doing games. And then all of a sudden we started doing one, and then we did three the next year. And then I’m like, I said it in jest, I think, to Rob (Dauster) first. ‘Let’s do 24 hours straight.’ We went three to six, and then I’m like, ‘We can do this. We can absolutely do it.’ I think the coolest part is obviously bringing it back for the diehards.”
The Field of 68 has aired games before; its cofounders, Goodman and Dauster, are well known in the college basketball world. Both said that getting teams to agree to participate wasn’t difficult, though there were challenges.
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“It wasn’t hard to get people to agree to play in it,” Dauster said. “It was hard to get teams to agree to play each other. What I mean is that every one of these coaches has a different philosophy when it comes to how they want to schedule in the non-conference. Some guys really want to load up on games where they know they can win by 40, or they want to put together a schedule where they’re 11-1 heading into conference play. Some coaches are only looking to play teams on a neutral site that are top 50 or projected top 75 in the NET or are projected to win their league.”
Of the 16 teams participating in this year’s event, 11 won 20 games last season, and five reached the NCAA tournament. High Point was the only team in the field to win a tournament game in March.
While the 24-hour tip-off marathon is made for college basketball diehards, there are reasons for casuals to check it too. High Point went 31-5, beating Wisconsin in the NCAA tournament, before losing to Arkansas. Murray State is expected to have its best team since entering the Missouri Valley Conference in the 2022-23 season.
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“We have nine teams that are currently projected to win their conference,” Dauster said. “Fourteen different conferences are represented, and 11 teams are coming off 21-win seasons. There’s good mid-major basketball.
“If you want to see a team that’s got a chance to be a Cinderella, I think McNeese State, Murray State, High Point, and Furman are probably going to be four of the best, if not the four best, mid-majors we’re going to have in college basketball next year.”
Dauster will be at the two games in Sioux Falls, and Goodman will attend the six in Rock Hill.
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“Yeah, which is kind of unfair because he’s 15 years younger,” Goodman said of Dauster. “I need my sleep, as my wife can probably attest to. So I’m going to be cranky by the end of it.”
The post For Field of 68, bringing back college basketball’s 24-hour tip-off marathon is a labor of love appeared first on Awful Announcing.
