Twelve years after ESPN first broadcasted College GameDay from the site of a college football game – Florida State at Notre Dame in 1993 – the network created its college basketball brethren to visit arenas ahead of highly anticipated matchups on Saturday mornings in January, February, and March.
The show is set to return in 2022-23 with a full eight-show schedule – after zero shows in 2020-21 and seven shows last year – beginning on Jan. 14, 2023.
Here are predictions for ESPN College GameDay basketball locations this season:
January 14: Kentucky at Tennessee
Location: Knoxville, Tenn.
Tennessee has been featured on GameDay six times, including' 2019 and 2020 – and the Lady Vols were featured in 2022 – but they've hosted only twice, most recently in 2011.
Kentucky has been featured at least once annually since 2010 and was most recently a road team for GameDay last January when they visited Kansas. They hosted in February 2019 when Tennessee was in town, one of two GameDay appearances for a Vols-Wildcats game (2010).
Other potential options: Providence at Creighton, Wisconsin at Indiana, Arizona at Oregon, and Texas Tech at Texas.
January 21: UCLA at Arizona
Location: Tucson, Ariz.
From 2011-17, Arizona was a GameDay staple; they hosted three times and had two road appearances. But since 2018, they've appeared only once; they hosted vs. Oregon last February.
Voice got a little scratchy on College GameDay today. Out too late in Tucson poppin' bottles in the club; that's what winners do.
— Jay Bilas (@JayBilas) January 28, 2012