Men’s Basketball: Pitt to host ESPN College GameDay

The Pitt men’s basketball team will host an ESPN broadcast this season before its January… The Pitt men’s basketball team will host an ESPN broadcast this season before its January 21 home game against Louisville, the sports network announced Thursday.

ESPN has included Pitt four times in the past for its College GameDay broadcast, which offers basketball analysis, news, features and predictions on upcoming games while being filmed in front of a college’s fan base.

Pitt last hosted the show in 2007 when the Panthers defeated Georgetown 74-69. more than 3,000 fans attended the and formed the backdrop for the broadcast.

Rece Davis, Jay Bilas, Hubert Davis, Digger Phelps and Bob Knight host GameDay while Dan Shulman, Dick Vitale and Erin Andrews usually handle the game broadcast. The show is usually aired twice: from 11:00 a.m. to noon and an hour before tip off from 8:00-9:00 p.m.

The basketball team also participated in the first ever GameDay in 2005 when the Panthers defeated Connecticut on the road 76-66. Overall, Pitt has gone 3-1 in GameDay contests, losing at Marquette 75-71 in 2007 and defeating Villanova 57-54 last year.

Pitt’s five GameDay appearances rank tied for second with Connecticut second in Big East programs behind Louisville (6) and ahead of Syracuse (4), Notre Dame (2) and Georgetown (2). Pitt is one of 19 schools in the country who have hosted the show for both basketball and football.

Pitt football hosted GameDay in 2005 when the Panthers fell to Notre Dame 42-21 at Heinz Field.

The Big East leads the country in GameDay appearances with 30 and total days hosted with 14. GameDay also guarantees the Big East two visits a year, which is more than any other conference in the nation.

College GameDay will also visit Florida State on Jan. 14, Arizona on Jan. 28, Missouri on Feb. 14, Vanderbilt on Feb. 11, Michigan on Feb. 18, Connecticut on Feb. 25 and Duke or Kansas on March 3.