Three Big 5 teams in ESPN's hoops marathon

ESPN released the schedule for its season-opening 24-hour college basketball marathon on Tuesday, November 16, and three Big 5 teams are included in this year's slate.

The only game that will take place in our region is Marist at Villanova at 5:30 p.m. That game is part of the NIT Season Tip-off. The other games are La Salle at Baylor at 2 p.m., and Saint Joseph's at Penn State at a time to be determined.

Two of the morning games involve teams with local ties. Schuylkill 16 member Monmouth will host Stony Brook at 6 a.m., and former Penn guard Andrew Toole's Robert Morris squad visits Kent State at 8 a.m. I do not know if that is RMU's season opener. If it is, it's Toole's first game as a head coach.

A few of the other games are pretty interesting. Steve Lavin's debut at St. John's will take place at 2 a.m. Eastern Time when the Red Storm play at St. Mary's. There's also Butler at Louisville at 8 p.m., in the first game at the Cardinals' new arena. And there's a women's game with arguably the two best teams coming into the season: Baylor at Connecticut at 6 p.m.

Here is the full schedule:

12:00 a.m.: Miami (Fla.) at Memphis, ESPN
2:00 a.m.: St. John's at Saint Mary's, ESPN
4:00 a.m.: Central Michigan at Hawai'i, ESPN
6:00 a.m.: Stony Brook at Monmouth, ESPN
8:00 a.m.: Robert Morris at Kent State, ESPN
10:00 a.m.: Northeastern at Southern Illinois, ESPN

12:00 p.m.: Oral Roberts at Tulsa, ESPN
2:00 p.m.: La Salle at Baylor, ESPN
4:00 p.m.: Virginia Tech at Kansas State, ESPN
5:30 p.m.: Marist at Villanova (NIT Season Tip-Off), ESPNU
6:00 p.m.: Ohio State at Florida, ESPN
6:00 p.m.: Baylor Women at Connecticut Women, ESPN2

7:30 p.m.: Miami (Ohio) at Duke (CBE Classic), ESPNU
8:00 p.m.: Butler at Louisville, ESPN
9:30 p.m.: Belmont at Tennessee (NIT Season Tip-Off), ESPNU
10:00 p.m.: South Carolina at Michigan State, ESPN
11:00 p.m.: San Diego State at Gonzaga (CBE Classic), ESPN2
11:30 p.m.: Nevada or Pacific at UCLA (NIT Season-Tip-Off), ESPNU

Time TBD: Saint Joseph's at Penn State, ESPN3.com
Time TBD: North Dakota at Wisconsin, ESPN3.com