RELATED CLICKS:
2009-10 Northern Colorado schedule | USA Today story

GREELEY, Colo. -- Northern Colorado's appearance in this year's Hawaii Rainbow Classic just got a whole lot sweeter.

The Bears are set to face the host Rainbows in the tournament finale Monday, Nov. 16, and that game was announced this week as part of ESPN's College Hoops Tip-Off Marathon. Tad Boyle's program will get its first national-TV exposure when the ball goes up at 11 p.m. local time (4 a.m. ET/2 a.m. MT).

This will be the first ESPN coverage for any Northern Colorado athletic team, after the football team appeared on ESPN2 during its 1996 and 1997 Division II national-title games and the men's basketball team played on ESPNU during its appearance in the Guardians Classic in 2005.

"That whole week is going to be huge for our program," Bears coach Tad Boyle said. "The Rainbow Classic has been around for a long time, and I've been trying to get our team to Hawaii since I got here."

ESPN's second annual College Hoops Tip-Off Marathon -- consecutive live college basketball games to celebrate the start of the season -- will be highlighted by 12 live games in 24 consecutive hours on ESPN on Tuesday, Nov. 17.

Northern Colorado's contest from Hawaii's Stan Sheriff Center will be the third game of a tripleheader to kick off the event. Cal State Fullerton at UCLA will start the marathon at midnight ET, followed by San Diego State at St. Mary's (2 a.m. ET).

The final two ESPN telecasts on Nov. 17 will showcase Gonzaga at Michigan State, coming off a National Championship game appearance last year, at 8 p.m. and Memphis vs. Kansas, Boyle's alma mater, from St. Louis in a Hall of Fame Showcase contest.

Kansas is the No. 1 team in ESPN.com’s preseason polls by Andy Katz and Dick Vitale, and Michigan State is ranked second by Katz and third by Vitale.

All in all, the unprecedented exposure for the Bears figures to pay dividends this season, as the program embarks on Boyle's fourth season in Greeley, and in future seasons.

"We've kind of known that this game had national-TV possibilities since we began talking to Hawaii," Boyle said, "and so we've kind of known it was going to be such a late start, locally, and back here in Greeley. But, when it comes down to it, none of that really matters to me. I'll do whatever necessary to get this program the exposure it deserves.

"Our current players are excited for the chance, and we're excited as a staff to be able to go into future recruits' homes and say we've been on ESPN. It's one of the most recognizable brands in the world."

At least 20 conferences will be represented during the 24-hour marathon, and ESPN's coverage will include games from five United State time zones -- Eastern, Central, Mountain, Pacific and Hawaii-Aleutian -- from 14 states, plus the District of Columbia: Arizona, California, Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa, Michigan, Missouri, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Texas and Virginia.

"I try to have one or two marquee trips a year," Boyle said. "When you're recruiting basketball players, they want to play against good competition ... and you can't do much better than Hawaii in November. And the Rainbow Classic is a great field for us. We're going to have a chance to play two games on a neutral court, and then we'll have Hawaii. There are a lot of appealing aspects of that trip."