I was glad to see no Valley schools participated in the 24-hour ESPN hoopsfest on Tuesday. My reasons are spelled out in a column I wrote for the Journal Star.

The nut of my objection is that college games in the middle of the night — games that by design will finish well after midnight or start before dawn — are inherently anti-student, especially on a school day. The games between 8 a.m. and mid-afternoon aren’t any better, because that tends to be prime class time.

The secondary problem is the inequity in who has to cope with nonsensical hours: Of the 14 teams involved in the seven games played at hours counterproductive to being a good student, the only one representing one of the six BCS power conferences was Clemson. All 12 games played between 4 p.m. and 9:30 p.m., local times, involved BCS schools we already see every night in prime time.

While working on the column, I called the MVC to see if any member schools had been offered a chance to play in the game. Unfortunately, I didn’t get a return until after the newspaper deadline, but in a subsequent e-mail followup, I was told this by Mike Kern, associate commissioner for communications:

ESPN did reach out to us and asked about a couple of time slots, but none of them prime time … Of course, it’s flattering and a good opportunity, but an afternoon slot isn’t in the best interest for the fans, the student-body, or the team.   A Tuesday afternoon with school in session just doesn’t allow us to put our best foot forward for a national TV audience.

Good for the Valley.