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Wisconsin and St. John’s to square-off ... in Sioux Falls?

Bo Ryan

Wisconsin head coach Bo Ryan watches his team against Syracuse in the first half of an East Regional semifinal game in the NCAA men’s college basketball tournament, Thursday, March 22, 2012, in Boston. (AP Photo/Michael Dwyer)

AP

Every year, the college hoops season kicks off with games played in random and exotic locales.

There are tournaments in the tropics and games played on aircraft carriers. Last season, UConn and Michigan State traveled all the way to Germany to play an exhibition.

On Monday night, Wisconsin and St. John’s announced that they would be kicking off their season on November 8th by playing a game ... in Sioux Falls, SD?

“In terms of locale, Wisconsin fans from around the Midwest will have the opportunity to travel to Sioux Falls and watch the game, and it just made sense for us in terms of intelligent travel for our team,” UW associate head coach Greg Gard said in a statement. “We’ve been approached by several broadcasting networks to play a neutral site game around the world and we felt that given the time of when it needed to be played, the location and the opponent that this was a great fit for us.”

The goal? Exposure for a new, $19 million, 3,250 seat facility called the Sanford Pentagon. It’s the first Division I basketball game that will be played in the arena that houses the NBDL’s Sioux Falls Skyforce.

You can find Rob on twitter @RobDauster.