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Field of 68 organizes opening day marathon that features mid-major basketball programs

The 2026-27 college basketball season will open with a marathon event featuring 16 mid-major programs.

The Field of 68 is reviving a tipoff event that is similar to the one ESPN ran for nine seasons before ending it in 2017.

The Field of 68 has eight games scheduled for Nov. 2, beginning with High Point and Liberty at 12:01 a.m. Eastern. All of the games will stream on the Field of 68’s YouTube channel and on X. Six of the games will be played in Rock Hill, South Carolina, with the other two in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.

The full slate (all times Eastern):

12:01 a.m.: High Point vs. Liberty, Rock Hill.

3 a.m.: Grambling vs. Northern Illinois, Rock Hill.

6 a.m.: Appalachian State vs. Merrimack, Rock Hill.

9 a.m.: Winthrop vs. Queens, Rock Hill.

11:30 a.m.: Murray State vs. Tennessee State, Sioux Falls.

2 p.m.: UTEP vs. Northern Kentucky, Sioux Falls.

5:30 p.m.: UAB vs. McNeese State, Rock Hill.

8 p.m.: Furman vs. Bethune-Cookman, Rock Hill.

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AP college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-basketball-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-basketball

A trailblazing women’s class enters the Hall: 1996 US Olympic team, Parker, Delle Donne, Holdsclaw

UNCASVILLE, Conn. (AP) — Dawn Staley and the 1996 Olympic women's basketball team paved the way for the WNBA and players such as Candace Parker, Elena Delle Donne and Chamique Holdsclaw. The team that started the Americans' 30-year Olympic dominance will be enshrined in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame on Saturday along with Parker, Delle Donne and Holdsclaw They will be joined by NBA player Amar’e Stoudemire, longtime NBA official Joey Crawford, NBA coaches Doc Rivers and Mike D’Antoni and Gonzaga coach Mark Few in the Hall of Fame. “It's taken a long time for that particular team that set the stage for everything that's happened since,” Staley said. “There were players that came before us that didn't strike while the iron was hot. I thought we struck when the iron was hot and provided a way for us to see professional basketball come into existence after. Then for the last 30 years we've had it. ” Parker and Delle Donne were young, but remembered that Olympic team and its importance.
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