Kent State Basketball Coach Says Students Can Skip Class For ESPN's Tip-Off Marathon

Coach Offers A Good Reason To Skip Class
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Kent State head coach Rob Senderoff reacts in the second half during an NCAA college basketball game against Western Michigan in the Mid-American Conference men's quarterfinals Thursday, March 8, 2012, in Cleveland. Kent State won 76-72. (AP Photo/Tony Dejak)

As if you needed another reason to skip classes, Kent State University students, men's basketball coach Rob Senderoff said he'd email your professor, excusing you from class Tuesday so long as you attended the Golden Flashes first home game instead, according to USA Today.

Senderoff tweeted on Tuesday:

Is this is a joke -- a funny way to interact with students and get any of them not in classes into the stands? Nope!

Perhaps Coach Sendy felt the pressure of ESPN's Tip-off Marathon, a crazy NCAA basketball debut that featured games broadcast live over 24 consecutive hours on Tuesday. As ESPN's Eamonn Brennan wrote:

How do you really know it's college basketball season? When you find yourself awake at 6 in the morning, strung out on caffeine, watching a Stony Brook-Monmouth game and wondering if that fan you hear weirdly whooping is actually in the crowd or a figment of your addled imagination. That fan was indeed in the stands.

The marathon's primetime games featured Michigan State vs. Kansas and Duke vs. Kentucky. Smaller, less renowned schools got less convenient time slots. Houston Baptist took on Hawaii at 4:00 a.m.

Senderoff's Golden Flashes took the national stage at noon Tuesday, according to his tweets, but only 2,415 fans made it to Kent State's Memorial Athletic and Convocation Center, which seats 6,327 for basketball games.

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