ESPN’s “College GameDay” makes its eighth appearance at Rupp Arena on Saturday, helping make the “greatest tradition in college basketball” also the focal point of the entire college basketball world for an hour.
Coming to town for Saturday night’s SEC/Big 12 Challenge game between No. 9 Kansas and No. 8 Kentucky, the “GameDay” crew, talent and staff spend hours preparing for the 60-minute morning broadcast on ESPN.
Friday morning, the production crew, a group of 29 people, begins putting the set in place after unloading Thursday afternoon. Because the teams don’t practice in Rupp, the crew doesn’t have to wait till they’re off the floor as they did at Duke last week.