No College GameDay for U of L-Duke matchup

ESPN's traveling College GameDay college basketball show is headed not to Louisville but to Ames, Iowa, on Jan. 17, much to the chagrin of Cards fans wondering why the Worldwide Leader has yet to pay a visit to the KFC Yum! Center.

GameDay's first college basketball show of the season will feature Iowa State's home game against Kansas, ESPN announced Tuesday. It's not a poor matchup -- the Cyclones won the Big 12 Conference tournament last year and the Jayhawks are a perennial power -- but it's also not U of L vs. Duke.

Contacted by The Sporting News, ESPN spokesperson Rachel Siegel said the network couldn't have gone to the KFC Yum! Center regardless that day, when the Cards and Blue Devils tip off at noon on ESPN or ESPN2.

For its first six weeks, according to The Sporting News, GameDay can choose between only two "flex" matchups per week. And for its first week, those were earlier determined as West Virginia-Texas or Iowa State-Kansas.

College GameDay, which features top on-air talent Rece Davis, Jay Bilas, Seth Greenberg and Jay Williams, this year uses a more flexible schedule that "will give College GameDay the option to react to storylines as the season develops to better ensure visits to top games on ESPN networks each week," according to ESPN's news release on the first stop.

"Sites will be announced one week prior within the GameDay show."

U of L also plays key Saturday games on ESPN or ESPN2 Jan. 31 against North Carolina and then March 7 for its season finale against Virginia.