March 6, 2012

Weekly Game Highlights
Championship Week

ESPN continues to showcase a record number of Championship Week Presented by DICK’S Sporting Goods men’s hoops games – totaling 137 conference tournament games across ESPN, ABC, ESPN2, ESPNU and ESPN3 – through Sunday, March 11.

By the end of the week, ESPN will have covered 23 Division I conference title games and action from 25 conferences overall. The schedule includes the entire ACC Tournament, with no local market blackouts for the first time, and all 15 games of the BIG EAST Tournament, all 11 of the SEC, nine from the Big 12 and four from the Big Ten.

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ESPN’s 2012 Championship Week Presented by DICK’S Sports Goods continues with its women’s basketball coverage across ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU and ESPN3. This week’s highlights:

• The title game from the BIG EAST Championship Presented by American Eagle Outfitters on Tuesday, March 6, at 7 p.m. with the only women’s title game to be televised on ESPN
• Final games from the Sun Belt and Summit League Championships on Tuesday at 2 p.m. and 4 p.m., respectively, on ESPNU and ESPN3
• The crowning of the conference winner from the MEAC, SWAC, Horizon League and NEC over the weekend – all on ESPNU and ESPN3
• Additional games from the Southland, MAC, WAC, Colonial, Big South and Missouri Valley Championships on ESPN3 available in local markets via syndication including

Overall, the networks will have presented a record 88 women’s college basketball conference tournament games from Thursday, March 1 to Sunday, March 11, and will combine to offer game action from 21 Division I conference championship games from 25 conferences, including the Division II CIAA Tournament and Gulf South final.

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The Konica Minolta Face-Off Classic features the nation’s top-ranked programs in one of the premier men’s lacrosse in-season tournaments this Saturday, March 10, from Baltimore. Week highlights:

 • No. 14 Princeton faces No. 8 North Carolina in the first game of the Konica Minolta Face-Off Classic (11 a.m.), followed by No. 3 Cornell against No. 1 Virginia (1:30 p.m.) – both games will air on ESPNU HD and will be called by Eamon McAnaney, Quint Kessenich & Paul Carcaterra
• The final game of the Classic will be shown on ESPN3 and feature UMBC vs. No. 2 Johns Hopkins (4 p.m.)
• A women’s game between Manhattan and No. 17 Johns Hopkins will air on Wednesday (7 p.m., ESPNU)

Schedules & Announcers
Studio | Men’s Basketball | Women’s Basketball | Lacrosse

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More Than 13 Hours of Hoops Coverage for Selection Sunday

ESPN’s extensive multiplatform coverage of Selection Sunday, March 11 – the day the 68-team field for the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Tournament is announced – will be highlighted by more than 13 hours of television programming across ESPN, ABC, ESPN2 and ESPNU.

Many of the top men’s college basketball experts will contribute throughout the day, including Jay Bilas, Adrian Branch, Dan Dakich, LaPhonso Ellis, Hubert Davis, Jimmy Dykes, Fran Fraschilla, Dino Gaudio, Doug Gottlieb, Andy Katz, Joe Lunardi, Digger Phelps, Miles Simon, Bob Valvano, Dick Vitale, Tim Welsh and Jay Williams.

Full Selection Sunday Schedule

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Jay Bilas Speaks Out

Who’s won an Emmy, played an alien cop in Hollywood and has more opinions than ESPN college basketball analyst Jay Bilas? No one, so we recommend you take a listen to the former Duke star’s media conference call for quotes on the state of the game as we head into the 2012 NCAA Men’s Championship.

 

 

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Spotlight: Beth Mowins Goes Behind-the-Scenes

Beth Mowins is recognized for her versatility behind the microphone but is best known for her calls on women’s college basketball games. She is currently working a four-day stretch at the BIG EAST Women’s Basketball Championship with analyst Brooke Weisbrod, calling games from the second-round (ESPN3), quarterfinals ( E S P N U / E S P N 3 ), semifinals (ESPNU) and the title bout (ESPN).

The hard work and dedication of not only Beth and Brooke, but the entire ESPN crew comes across during the telecasts of the games.

Check out the slideshow of everything ESPN behind-the-scenes – as told by Beth, a former women’s basketball player at Lafayette College, where she was a three-time all-conference selection, 1,000-point scorer and is still the school’s all-time assists leader with 715.

Beth Mowin’s Behind-the-Scenes

And check out Brooke’s ESPN Front Row piece from over the weekend – Brooke Weisbrod: Woman of Steel

 

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On the

 

Your homecourt for college hoops, ESPNU will televise more than 60 hours of comprehensive Tournament Countdown studio programming beginning Selection Sunday, March 11 at 8 p.m. and extending past the last dribble of the NCAA Men’s and Women’s Basketball Championships on Tuesday, April 3.

2012 ESPNU Tournament Countdown programming highlights:

• Tournament Countdown: College Basketball Live Special – Seasoned basketball reporter Andy Katz will once again preview the upcoming madness by interviewing all 68 men’s coaches in a five-hour special to tipoff the basketball postseason.
• Tournament Countdown: The Experts – After selections are made on Sunday, ESPNU’s panel of experts will breakdown each first- and second-round game, providing viewers insight into filling out their own brackets. They
will also educate fans on the sleepers and the names you need to know. On Monday, The Experts will walk through each round of the tournament and explain who viewers should expect to be cutting down the nets in New Orleans.• Tournament Countdown: Road to the Championship – A look back in separate 30-minute specials at the journey each final four team took to reach the top tier of the national bracket with features and analysis.
• Tournament Countdown: ESPNU College Basketball WhipAround – ESPNU host Dari Nowkhah takes viewers around the country and into the press room to preview and review every second round game of the NCAA Men’s Basketball Championship.
• SportsCenterU – Gets extra playing time at the end of the night to breakdown all of the college basketball action around the country during ESPNU Tournament Countdown coverage.
• Crunch Time: Champ Week Edition – Captures every crucial moment from ESPN’s 137 Championship Week games.
• Tournament Countdown: ESPNU Film Room – ESPNU’s roster of former coaches single out the X’s & O’s viewers need to understand as team’s head to the Final Four.
• 2012 NIT Selection Show – In advance of the network’s coverage the National Invitational Tournament (NIT), the nation’s oldest post-season college basketball tournament, Nowkhah and analyst Dino Gaudio will announce the 32-team field live on ESPNU.
• Tournament Countdown will once again include extensive NCAA Women’s Basketball coverage from the court and in the studio. Full details surrounding NCAA Women’s Basketball to be released on Wednesday.

Full ESPNU Tournament Countdown Schedule

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College Sports Media Kit
ESPN MediaZone’s Home for Everything College Sports