Rush The Court

College basketball doesn’t really have a traditional Opening Day/Night like most of the other sports. It’s more or less a mishmash of games scattered throughout early to mid-November that nobody really pays much attention to. But what we do have that no other sport has is Midnight Madness – a bacchanalia of excitement and frenzy that tips off the college hoops season in earnest. Midnight Madness is Christmas Eve come early – it feeds into every hoops fan’s hopes for the coming year, with visions of upset victories and championships dancing in our heads.

At Midnight Madness, every returner looks lean, mean and ready to have a breakout season.

At Midnight Madness, the freshmen all look like the next Melo or Shaq.

At Midnight Madness, even the walk-ons look ready to contribute this year.

Why Won’t ESPN Cover Midnight Madness Anymore?

And so, with all this excitement and the knowledge that the WWL is planning on showing over 400 hoops games on its 27 different channels this winter, what great things do they have planned for the big night? Live action from KU’s Late Night in the Phog, right? A check-in on Big Blue Madness in Lexington, perhaps? How about Late Night with Roy over in Chapel Hill? Sounds like a great night in front of the tube, right? Right?

ESPNU Midnight Madness Schedule (All times EDT)

Time – School

• 7 – 8 p.m. – Davidson
• 11 p.m. – 12 a.m. – Georgetown (delayed)
• 12 – 1 a.m. – Memphis (delayed)
• 1 – 1:30 a.m. – Southern Illinois (delayed)

Ummm… or not.

Look, we appreciate that ESPN is going to throw some mid-major love at Davidson and Southern Illinois Friday night. And sure, it’s worthwhile showing top five teams Georgetown and Memphis as well. But come on – ESPNU? We’re sure all five people who get that channel will be glued to their sets.

So what has ESPN decided to show on its other channels instead of Midnight Madness coverage? The flagship channel has college football – Hawaii vs. San Jose St. – no argument with that choice here. ESPN2, though, has NASCAR Busch Series all night – the equivalent of AAA baseball. Can’t wait for that. ESPN Classic is showing a bunch of old heavyweight fights (zzzzzzz…), and ESPN360 is showing its typical fare of the daily news shows repeats. Even the aforementioned ESPNU is wasting the prime hours of 8-11pm to show a high school football game instead, waiting until 11pm to show delayed broadcasts of Georgetown, Memphis and SIU.

The main point we’re making here is that unless you have ESPNU, and we know you don’t, there’s no way you’ll see more than a few clips on Sportscenter tomorrow night. It wasn’t that long ago when a whole night was devoted to this event – what happened? Way to step it up there, ESPN.