By james art 
SIOUX FALLS, SD (Dakota News Now) – As we turn back the clocks, it’s time to turn up the heat in gyms across the country because basketball season is right around the corner.
And it will start in a big way for NCAA Division One tomorrow at the Sanford Pentagon.
The venue will host the “Field of 68 Opening Day Showcase,” featuring three mid-major games capped off by South Dakota State taking the floor in the evening.
It’s the brainchild of longtime college basketball reporter Jeff Goodman, who runs the Field of 68 media network, and wanted to kick off the college hoops season in a special way.
Among the games tomorrow is former SDSU head coach Scott Nagy making his debut as Southern Illinois’ new head coach against the College of Charleston.
Which raises an obvious question.
Did Goodman try to get Nagy to face the South Dakota State program he coached for 21 seasons from 1995-2016?!
“Of course I tried! I was a failure! And with Scott, he’s too nice a human being to try to convince him. Like once you said no the first time, that was it! You won’t. This dude is the best guy in this business. Goodman said of his efforts to get Nagy to play SDSU early on.
Nagy will make his Saluki debut against the College of Charleston at 11:00 am. Saint Louis University will then take on Santa Clara at 2:00 p.m. The event will conclude at 5:00 PM with SDSU vs. McNeese State, each coming off seasons in which they qualified for the NCAA Tournament.
“We’ve been wanting to do something like this for a while because, frankly, college basketball starts off with a bang. I mean there are no good games, there are all games that are bought. I’ve been complaining about it for years and we felt like we could help out and put some intermediate big games together and that’s what we were lucky enough to do.” Goodman says.
If you can’t make it to the Pentagon, all games will be streamed on Field of 68’s YouTube and X (formerly Twitter) platforms.
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