SoCon gets ESPN2 matchup

John Iamarino is going to have his DVR set Friday on a channel he watches regularly but rarely sees a Southern Conference team on -- ESPN2.

Iamarino is the SoCon commissioner, and Wofford will play at the College of Charleston on Friday in his league's only regular-season basketball matchup being televised on one of ESPN's major networks.

"We can't buy that kind of good stuff for this school and our program," Wofford coach Mike Young said. "We had an opportunity to play it on ESPN2, so we had to move it to Friday."

Both the Terriers and Cougars will play SoCon contests on back-to-back nights. Wofford will play at The Citadel on Thursday while Charleston is hosting Furman across town.

"I'm not real excited about that when these league games are so precious and there's so much on the line and at stake," Young said. "We tried to move other games, but that didn't work out. So this is what we're doing, and here we go."

The SoCon's contract with ESPN entails live coverage of the tournament championship game and two other "exposures," as in two teams on TV.

Iamarino said the contract expires at the end of June and they'll begin negotiating soon. He'd like to get more SoCon games on the giant set of networks.

"I think it's very valuable," Iamarino said. "For two coaches to agree to play back to back, that shows you right there. In the last couple of years, the game has been a great showcase for Stephen Curry and Davidson.

"Now you have Charleston and maybe some folks didn't get to see them beat North Carolina and tune in to see them or to catch Wofford, which is making some news."

With the reward of national exposure come the difficulties of playing on consecutive nights.

"It's kind of unique, but ESPN2 is putting it on TV," Charleston coach Bobby Cremins said. "We want to make sure we stay positive and confident."

At Wofford (12-7, 4-2) three coaches are preparing for The Citadel while another preps for the Cougars (11-6, 6-0).

"I think sometimes we make far too much about playing back to back," Young said. "Guys play every day in the summer, we played back to back at the Cable Car Classic, and to win the (conference) tournament you're going to have to play three or four straight."

Doing so would land a team back on ESPN again.

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