College GameDay (branded as ESPN College GameDay covered by State Farm for sponsorship reasons) is an ESPN program that covers college basketball and is a spin-off of the successful college football version. Since debuting on January 22, 2005, it airs on ESPN Saturdays in the conference play section of the college basketball season at 10 or 11 A.M. ET at a different game site each week. Before 2015, the college basketball version always appeared at the ESPN Saturday Primetime game location. Since the 2014–2015 season, the show has appeared at a top game of the week, similar to the college football version. The program has also appeared at the site of the Final Four.
When College GameDay tipped off its 7th season on January 15, 2011, the show expanded to two hours, with the first hour airing on ESPNU, followed by the second hour on ESPN. The first game of the 2011 schedule marked the first time the show has originated from a site that has featured a men's and women's game played in the same day.
Duke – North Carolina is the most featured matchup, appearing 21 times on College Gameday. The next closest is Florida – Kentucky with 8 appearances. Arizona – UCLA, Kansas – Kentucky and Kansas – Texas currently sit at 4.
History
The program has appeared in many different spots throughout each basketball arena. At Kansas, they were in the program's museum; at Kentucky, they were at the entrance of the arena; at UConn, they were on the concourse; at Gonzaga, Florida, and Marquette, they were on the court; and at Duke, they were in Krzyzewskiville, the tent village outside Cameron Indoor Stadium. It is also worth noting that in recent years (except for the Final Four), the morning airings of this program have taken place on the court.
Through the 2023–2024 basketball & football seasons, 42 schools (Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Auburn, Baylor, Boston College, Clemson, Colorado, Duke, Florida, Florida State, Houston, Indiana, Iowa State, Kansas, Kansas State, Kentucky, Louisville, LSU, Memphis, Michigan, Michigan State, Missouri, North Carolina, North Carolina State, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Oregon, Pittsburgh, Purdue, Tennessee, Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, UCLA, Vanderbilt, Virginia Tech, Washington, West Virginia and Wisconsin) have hosted College GameDay for both basketball and football events. With the addition of Women's teams also hosting College GameDay, only 4 schools: LSU, Tennessee, UConn And Virginia Tech have hosted both Men and Women's programs.
Starting with the fourth season (2008), the basketball version of GameDay is broadcast in high-definition on ESPN HD.
On January 16, 2010, the 6th-season premiere of College GameDay, the show was broadcast live from the site of a women's college basketball game for the first time ever as it made an appearance at Harry A. Gampel Pavilion on the main campus of the University of Connecticut in Storrs, Connecticut. The show covered the women's college basketball game between Notre Dame Fighting Irish and the Connecticut Huskies.
On March 9, 2013, College GameDay had a men's doubleheader from 2 different sites (Washington, D.C., and Chapel Hill, North Carolina) for the first time in the show's history. On January 18, 2014, College GameDay opened its tenth season with another men's doubleheader, this time, at The Palestra in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and at Gampel Pavilion.
On April 7, 2014, longtime analyst Digger Phelps announced his retirement and would not return for the 2015 season.[1] That summer, Jalen Rose announced he would not return due to his priorities with NBA Countdown. As a result of the two departures, ESPN announced that Seth Greenberg and Jay Williams would be analysts for 2015 and beyond.[2]
On September 30, 2014, ESPN announced that College GameDay would no longer have a set schedule, just like the football version of the show. Instead, the location will be chosen the week before to give the network a better opportunity to pick games with ranked teams and interesting story lines.[3]
On January 10, 2023, ESPN announced it would be adding three women's college basketball shows in one season, equaling the total number of women's games they had done in the show's history, bringing the overall total for women's games to six.[5] Also since the first time since 2008, ESPN returned to the Final Four in Houston for both the Semifinal & Championship game.[6]
LaPhonso Ellis was part of significant ESPN layoffs, ending his three-year run on the show. It was also announced the Jay Williams would be returning to the show.[7]
In the UK, College GameDay was shown in full during BT Sport's decade on air (2013–2023), unless live sport was being aired on all of its channels. In July 2023, BT Sport was relaunched as TNT Sports following the sale of BT Sport to Warner Bros. Discovery EMEA.[8] This saw the cessation of ESPN studio programming and therefore College Gameday is no longer shown in the UK. The football version of the show returned in November following an agreement between Sky Sports and ESPN which sees Sky Sports broadcasting three NCAA basketball games each week plus March Madness.[9] However, Gameday has not been seen on Sky Sports since the deal came into effect.
Since the program was launched in 2005, the show has been on the road. However, all shows in 2021 were broadcast from ESPN's headquarters in Bristol, Connecticut due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Appearances by school
Announced and visited locations as of February 23, 2025. All schools are listed with their current athletic brand names and conference affiliations, which do not necessarily match those of a given school during its last GameDay appearance.
The North Carolina Tar Heels and Duke Blue Devils both have been featured on GameDay a record 31 times each, with Duke hosting the most games at 15. The Carolina–Duke rivalry has been the most frequent matchup featured 21 times, with North Carolina leading the series 11–10 record over its rival.
In the UK, College GameDay was shown in full during BT Sport's decade on air (2013–2023), unless live sport was being aired on all of its channels. In July 2023, BT Sport was relaunched as TNT Sports following the sale of BT Sport to Warner Bros. Discovery EMEA.[10] ESPN programming did not transfer to TNT Sports, and College Gameday stopped being shown at this point.
In November 2023, following an agreement between Sky Sports and ESPN, College Basketball returned to UK screens, but in a much diminished form with three games shown each week, and this deal did not see the return of College GameDay to UK television screens.[11]
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