Cards' Hoops Opener vs. Butler will be Featured on ESPN
August 16, 2010 | Men's Basketball
Aug. 16, 2010
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - The University of Louisville's men's basketball season opener and first game in the new KFC Yum! Center against 2010 NCAA runner-up Butler University on Nov. 16 will be featured on ESPN at 8 p.m. during the network's third annual College Hoops Tipoff Marathon.
U of L's game is one of four featuring BIG EAST Conference schools that day on ESPN's family of networks, which also includes St. John's at St. Mary's (2 a.m., ESPN), Marist at Villanova in the Dick's Sporting Goods NIT Season Tip-Off (5:30 p.m., ESPNU) and Connecticut's women's home game against Baylor (6 p.m., ESPN2). ESPN's celebration of the opening of the college basketball season will include 20 live games - 19 men's and one women's -- in a minimum of 25.5 hours across ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPNU. ESPN3.com will offer two exclusive games as well as a simulcast of every ESPN and ESPN2 telecast, including the Cardinals against Butler.
Butler, which won a school-record 33 games (33-5 record), won the NCAA West Regional championship with victories over top-seeded Syracuse 63-59 and second-seeded Kansas State 63-56. The Bulldogs beat Michigan State 52-50 in the national semifinals before falling 59-61 to Duke in the title game to end a 25-game winning streak.
U of L will return nine lettermen from last season when the Cardinals won 20 games (20-13 record) for the eighth straight season against the nation's 11th toughest schedule, while earning its 36th NCAA Tournament appearance. The Cardinals have reached the NCAA Elite Eight three of the last six years. U of L's 2010-11 schedule is incomplete and will be announced in early September.
