Quick MBK notes on Villanova-Oklahoma & Gavitt Tipoff

* CBS Sports' Jon Rothstein reports that Villanova & Oklahoma will face each other in Hawai'i on Monday 12/7/14.  I understand the significance of the day (Pearl Harbor Day), though I'm curious on the logistics and potential television outlets for the game.  Rothstein's report did not mention who was organizing the game and with it being on a Monday, it is likely going to be an afternoon game in Hawai'i to be a nighttime game on the east coast.

With Rothstein being the first to report, that might be a clue that CBS is organizing the game to air on CBS Sports Network.  As far as I can tell, he was the first to report that Iowa St. and South Carolina would be facing off at Barclays Center last year and that game ended up on CBSSN.

* In late February, I went through some scheduling items with respect to the Gavitt Tipoff games between the Big East and Big Ten.  After going the press releases a few times, plus asking around, there are a couple other items to note:

• Nothing is spelled out saying that the Big East & Big Ten would host one game each per night.
• It is possible, due to facility related issues, that the confines of a single week could be relaxed

I had to re-read the press releases a few times and nowhere did it state that a school from each conference would host one game per night.  So it is possible that an evening could be a doubleheader on ESPN, BTN, ESPN/BTN (splitting two Big Ten games) or FS1.  I'm assuming CBSSN is not going to get access to any of the Big East games.

One matchup has apparently been leaked, again by Rothstein: Nebraska at Villanova

Some of the Big East schools play in arenas with at least one professional team as a tenant.  While schools like St. John's and Villanova could conceivably host a game in their smaller on-campus arena, there could be a situation where a game has to move to the following week, or maybe stretch the event into a full week long event to get every game in based on the hosts.

The plan was to release the pairings in the spring and with the leaked matchup, we could see the pairings & dates very soon..