Rock Hill, S.C. – Winthrop men's basketball has been selected to be a part of the Field of 68 Opening Day Marathon which will take place on Monday, Nov. 3.
The Field of 68 is partnering with Visit York County at the Rock Hill Sports & Event Center as well as Sanford Sports and the Sanford Pentagon to launch a new, innovative event on the opening day of the college basketball season. On Nov. 3, 2025, the Field of 68 will be broadcasting 'The Field of 68 Opening Day Marathon,' a six-game, all-day event featuring three showcase games in each venue.
The Marathon features the following matchups:
In Rock Hill, SC:
Queens vs. Winthrop | Bradley vs. St. Bonaventure | High Point vs. Furman
In Sioux Falls, SD:
Drake vs. Northern Arizona | Murray State vs. Omaha | South Dakota State vs. Merrimack
Tickets go on sale at September 5th at
ticketmaster.com for the games in Sioux Falls, SD and at TicketReturn for the games in Rock Hill, SC.
The games will be broadcast on The Field of 68's YouTube Channel and X feeds, and the network's popular After Dark show will be broadcast live with a set at both venues. The times of the games will be released later. "We are honored to be involved in this event, which has some of the elite programs in the country that exist outside the sport's traditional power structure," Field of 68 founder Rob Dauster said. "This is a great opportunity for us to be able to provide more coverage for these teams that frankly don't get enough. What we do at the Field of 68 is try and give teams at all levels the coverage they deserve."
"Visit York County is excited to partner with the Field of 68 Media Network to host six top collegiate basketball programs, including our very own Winthrop Eagles," said Andy Clinton, the president of Visit York County. "It's very rewarding to see a relationship built with Jeff Goodman and Rob Dauster a few years ago evolve into a national event to kick off the college basketball season. Visiting teams and spectators will stimulate our local economy while York County will also be in the national spotlight for three intriguing matchups on the Field of 68 Media Network."
The Marathon will kick off at 8 a.m. with a matchup between local rivals Queens and Winthrop, the first game of the 2025-26 college basketball season.
"It's an unbelievable way to represent a local rivalry," Leonard said. "I appreciate Coach Prosser playing the game every year. The fact that we're able to do it in this type of setting is great for both of our programs, so we're really excited about it."
This is the fourth year that Queens has been a Division I program, and they are coming off of a 20-win season where they played in the CBI. Winthrop has won against Queens in each of the last two seasons.
"I'll probably have to have a couple cups of coffee that morning, maybe one the night before preparing for those guys," Prosser said. "We've had great games up to this point the last couple of years. It'll be a challenge whenever it is, and if it's 8 o'clock on the first day, it will be 8 o'clock on the first day."
Furman has been one of the best programs in the SoCon under Bob Richey, reaching the second round of the 2023 NCAA Tournament, while Flynn Clayman takes over a High Point team that dominated the Big South in two seasons under Alan Huss.
"For the health of college basketball, in November, you have to go and challenge yourself," Richey said. "The more games like this, where great programs that have won at a high level get together, there's no downside to it. To be here in Rock Hill, at this great facility, we are thrilled to be a part of it."
"I love challenging our team right away," first-year coach Clayman said. "Opening night, there's gonna be a ton of excitement, I expect this place to be absolutely rocking by tip-off. It's a first-class area and facility in Rock Hill. And it's an elite place for a college basketball game."
Bradley is one of the best programs in the Missouri Valley, having won the regular season title in 2023 and finishing at least four games over .500 in the league in each of the last four seasons. They will be taking on St. Bonaventure and Mark Schmidt, who is widely regarded as one of the best X's-and-O's coaches in college basketball.
"When you play a good team in the first game of the season, you have your guys' attention more," Bradley head coach Brian Wardle said. "It gives you extra juice heading into that first week. We're so excited about this event. It's a great location, great city… and it's gonna be a high-level game that we're thrilled to be a part of."
"We're really excited to be the second game of the season, play in Rock Hill and face a great opponent," Schmidt said. "Coach Wardle does a great job, does it the right way, and his teams are well-coached. They lost a lot of guys, we lost a lot of guys. Our guys are excited to play a great program, a successful program, very similar to us - a little under the radar. Great venue, our alumni will come to the game and we're very excited about it."
