College Hoops Viewing Guide For New Year’s Day 2017

This list of games is not exhaustive by design. For a full schedule and more specific information about coverage—particularly for ACC RSN, ASN, CSN, and FSN games—visit Matt’s College Sports on TV Website.

If you’re only able to listen today, check out TuneIn’s college basketball lineup.

All times are Eastern, adjust accordingly.

ACC

Syracuse Orange (8-5) at Boston College Eagles (7-6), 12:30 p.m. (ESPNU)

The Orange have already lost to UConn, Georgetown, and St. John’s this year, but falling to the Eagles would be a whole different level of “low.”

American Athletic

Tulane Green Wave (3-10, 0-1) at No. 23 Cincinnati Bearcats (11-2, 1-0), 7 p.m. (CBSSN)

The best in the American hosts the worst, so keep this in mind when making your viewing selections for the evening.

Big East

St. John’s Red Storm (7-7, 1-0) at DePaul Blue Demons (7-7, 0-1), 2 p.m. (FS1)
Providence Friars (10-4, 0-1) at No. 13 Butler Bulldogs (11-2, 0-1), 3 p.m. (CBSSN)
Marquette Golden Eagles (10-3, 1-0) at Seton Hall Pirates (10-3, 0-1), 4:30 p.m. (FS1)

If you had “St. John’s and Marquette” as the Big East teams scheduled to play today with 1-0 records, get yourself to Vegas yesterday! The Red Storm will look to win in Rosemont to put themselves in an unexpected early tie for first, while the Bulldogs will look to hand the Friars a second straight defeat to get themselves back to .500. That’s also where Seton Hall would like to put itself following an expected opening loss at Creighton, but Marquette is eager to keep itself among the lead pack—and among the conference’s NCAA contenders.

Big Ten

Nebraska Cornhuskers (7-6, 1-0) at Maryland Terrapins (13-1, 1-0), 12 p.m. (BTN)
Michigan Wolverines (10-3) at Iowa Hawkeyes (8-6, 0-1), 2:15 p.m. (BTN)
Penn State Nittany Lions (8-6, 0-1) at Rutgers Scarlet Knights (11-3, 0-1), 2:30 p.m. (ESPNU)
Minnesota Golden Gophers (12-2, 0-1) at No. 15 Purdue Boilermakers (12-2, 1-0), 4:30 p.m. (BTN)
Ohio State Buckeyes (10-3) at Illinois Fighting Illini (10-4, 0-1), 7 p.m. (BTN)

Curiously, the two Big Ten schools involved in New Year’s Six games tip off their conference campaigns today—both on the road. Michigan has the easier task, arguably, as they open with an Iowa squad that was torched by Purdue on Wednesday and looks destined to play on conference tournament Wednesday. Illinois, who looked atrocious at Maryland on Tuesday, will look to get Ohio State off to a poor start.

In the early game, Nebraska can get to a surprising 2-0 by winning its second straight on the road to start Big Ten play. Later in the day, either Penn State or Rutgers will get itself out of the basement, at least temporarily, while Minnesota is staring an 0-2 start in the face, thanks to its trip to Purdue. That would be quite a disappointment for a team that had higher hopes after a putting up a decent (though home-heavy) record in November and December.

MVC

Bradley Braves (6-8, 1-0) at Wichita State Shockers (11-3, 1-0), 2 p.m. (Cox-Kansas/ESPN3)
Illinois State Redbirds (9-4, 1-0) at Loyola-Chicago Ramblers (10-4, 0-1), 2 p.m. (ESPN3)
Northern Iowa Panthers (5-7, 0-1) at Evansville Purple Aces (9-5, 0-1), 4 p.m. (ESPN3)
Drake Bulldogs (3-10, 1-0) at Southern Illinois Salukis (7-7, 0-1), 5 p.m. (ESPN3)

After defeating SIU and Loyola, respectively, Bradley and Drake find themselves tied for first in the Valley. Don’t expect the Braves to remain there after this afternoon, as they have to visit a Shocker team that looks to be a heavy favorite to win the league crown. Meanwhile, the Ramblers will look to rebound by knocking off the visiting Redbirds, and the Panthers and Purple Aces will look to get to .500 after they picked up disappointing opening losses.

Mountain West

New Mexico Lobos (8-5, 1-0) at San Diego State Aztecs (8-4), 5 p.m. (CBSSN)

The Aztecs will look to hit the ground running in their league opener, particularly after Nevada’s loss to Fresno State last night.

Pac-12

Colorado Buffaloes (10-3) at Utah Utes (9-3), 6:30 p.m. (ESPNU)
No. 18 Arizona Wildcats (12-2, 1-0) at Stanford Cardinal (8-5, 0-1), 8 p.m. (Pac-12 Networks National/Arizona/Bay Area)
Washington Huskies (7-5) at Washington State Cougars (7-5), 8:30 p.m. (ESPNU)
Arizona State Sun Devils (8-6, 1-0) at California Golden Bears (9-4, 0-1), 10 p.m. (Pac-12 Networks National/Arizona/Bay Area)

The Pac-12’s Mountain and Washington schools start league play off right—with big rivalry games (though for Washington and Wazzu, their meetings look like opportunities for what should be rare conference wins). The Arizona schools, meanwhile, will look to sweep their respective trips to the Bay Area, though the more surprising feat would occur if ASU grabs a win at Cal.

Enjoy this post? Follow @ChrisDobbertean and @SBNBracketology on Twitter and like Blogging the Bracket on Facebook!