LAWRENCE — ESPN’s “College GameDay” show will be in Kansas City, Missouri, for the Big 12 Conference men’s basketball tournament championship game, the league announced Thursday.
It’ll be the first time the show has been at the Big 12 tournament since 2006, and the first-ever time it’ll be at the T-Mobile Center for the title contest. The game itself is set for March 14, with the show scheduled for 11 a.m. (CT) and game for 5 p.m. (CT). Right now, No. 2 Arizona leads the race for the Big 12 regular season title, but the bracket for the tournament has a lot to be decided with No. 4 Houston, No. 5 Iowa State, No. 14 Kansas and No. 16 Texas Tech all lurking not far behind.
“This marks the show’s fourth visit to a Conference game this season, tying the record for most visits to a single conference’s sites for the show,” the Big 12 release read. “The Big 12 previously hosted GameDay four times in 2018.”
The Big 12 release continued: “Now in its 22nd season, College GameDay is hosted by Sports Emmy Award winner Rece Davis, alongside Curt Gowdy Media Award recipient Jay Bilas, two-time conference coach of the year Seth Greenberg and former national champion and two-time NABC Player of the Year Jay Williams. College sports insider Pete Thamel will contribute remotely.”
Kansas’ season continues Saturday with a game on the road against Arizona. The two sides met earlier this season at KU, where the Jayhawks picked up a win against Arizona. Following this, Kansas has a road game on Tuesday at Arizona State and a game the following weekend at home against Kansas State.
The last time that Kansas won the Big 12 tournament was back in 2022, during its run to a national title in the NCAA tournament. Coach Bill Self and company also made the final of the 2023 Big 12 Tournament. The Jayhawks have positioned themselves well to make postseason runs this year, but will need freshman Darryn Peterson to remain available if they are to reach their ceiling.
Jordan Guskey covers University of Kansas Athletics at The Topeka Capital-Journal. He was the 2022 National Sports Media Association’s sportswriter of the year for the state of Kansas. Contact him at jmguskey@gannett.com or on Twitter at @JordanGuskey.
This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: ESPN ‘College GameDay’ show to visit Big 12 tournament’s title game