Matt Bouldin, who, perhaps, has the best hair in D-I, will try and get the Zags an upset win at the Breslin Center.

Started writing this list out over the weekend.

As I feared, ESPN ran with the same idea this morning. I swear to you I only read the headline, so if anything below is repeated, it is purely coincidental.

With ESPN ready to unveil its mammoth coverage of the sport on its family of networks, here’s a canonical approach to what to look for during the course of the marathon. The press release from the company boast that ESPN will air  “at least 38 total hours of coverage with 19 games — 17 men’s and two women’s — in a minimum of 25 ½ hours.”

1) It all starts tonight at midnight with the Cal-State Fullerton-UCLA. The Bruins have become the team that people are waiting to see fall back into the pack.

2) Gonzaga-Michigan State (Tues., 9 ET) will break back memories of the greatest college game ever played in November. One overtime will more than satisfy me.

3) Andy Katz will probably marathon this whole thing. How many different ties will he go with?

4) Where’s the upset coming from? It’s hiding in there somewhere. I’ll go with Temple over Georgetown.

5) OK, who’s going to write the ultimate college-basketball-is-so-meaningless-why-should-we-care-right-now column that will go up tomorrow morning or Wednesday? I’ll be sure to link it in the Layup Line.

6) The girls are getting in on the act: a doubleheader will have  No. 1 UConn playing No. 14 Texas at 9:30 p.m. on ESPN2; its under card is No. 9 Tennessee vs. Texas Tech at 7 p.m. on ESPNU.

7) I love this idea, but can we try and get one or two more high-profile matchups for next season? Even something along the lines of a UMass-UConn could play well, or a Xavier-Butler kind of game.

Five time zones, 14 states and D.C. will be represented.

9) Pittsburgh is having a down year, but they’re probably going to beat Binghamton by 45.

Josh Pastner gets his first national chance to step out of John Calipari's shadow.

10) Kind of cool: The underrated Doris Burke and play-by-play man Dave Pasch get to open the doors and turn out the lights. They’re calling the first and last games of the marathon.

11) Clemson AT Liberty. Just keep an eye.

12) Will anyone DARE say the word “bubble”? Because there’s no reason that should happen.

13) Which color Hi-liter is Phelps going to go with to open the season? Allow me to set the odds. Green: 3-to-1; purple: 4-to-1; pink: 5-to-1; blue: 6-to-1; yellow: 12-to-1.

14) Twenty of the 31 conferences will be represented.

15) Will we see any outlandish predictions or curse-word slip-ups from any of the talking heads at ESPN? It’s going to be a long day …

16) Memphis-Kansas is going to be a great watch. Many ‘Hawks fans openly admit they’d rather not be top dog right now. Josh Pastner gets his coming-out party with the Tigers. Hoping this one is competitive.

17) For the first time through more than 8,200 live college basketball games in 30 years, ESPN will televise its first 6 a.m. and 8 a.m. games.

18) Rotnei Clarke. He and the Hogs are playing Louisville in the first game since Clarke’s silly 51-point performance. I predict he scores no more than 16.

19) Speaking of the Cards, they’ll be receiving some national pub because of Rick Pitino. Will this be a precursor for a potential Rick Pitino mini-meltdown in which he scolds the media to lay off his players about his problems? Hope not.

20) Monmouth at St. Peter’s is the 6 a.m. game. I hope it’s the rowdiest crowd of them all Tuesday.

21) Northeastern at Siena is worth the watch for the mere fact it’s the return of Raftery! Onions! God, do I love that man. And he’ll be sitting next his greatest complement, Mr. McDonough. There will be jokes about bad tipping and alcohol drinking.

22) Will we get at least five games worth watching in the final three minutes? If so, consider it a success.

23) Let’s try not to take this all too seriously, though. It’s fun and a novelty, but to anyone tweeting for 24 hours straight or live-blogging this quagmire of action, just take a step back, enjoy the games and avoid the unnecessary overkill.

24) And, of course, the schedule:

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