Fang's Bites

College Basketball Viewing Picks For 02/16 & 02/17/2013, All Times Eastern

Men’s Schedule Courtesy of Matt’s College Sports

Announcing Assignments Courtesy of Eye on Sky and Air Sports

Saturday, February 16

Pregame & Studio Shows
College GameDay live from Lawrence, KS — ESPNU, 10 a.m./ESPN, 11 a.m.
75 Years of NCAA March Madness: Top 10 Improbable Heroes — CBS, 12:30 p.m.
College GameDay live from Lawrence, KS — ESPN, 8 p.m.
Big Ten Finale ’12-’13 — Big Ten Network, 10 p.m.
Inside College Basketball — CBS Sports Network, midnight
College Basketball Live — ESPN2, midnight

11 a.m.
Kent State at Ohio — ESPNU (Joe Davis/Brooke Weisbrod)

11:30 a.m.
Central Connecticut State at Mount St. Mary’s — Fox College Sports Atlantic (Dave Popkin/Tim Capstraw/Paul Dottino)

noon
Boston College at Florida State — ACC Network (Tom Werde/Dave Odom)
Virginia at North Carolina — ACC Network (Steve Martin/Eddie Fogler)
Notre Dame at Providence — Big East Network (Eamon McAnaney/Bob Wenzel)
Clayton State at Montevallo — CBS Sports Network (Jason Knapp/TBD)
William & Mary at Old Dominion — Comcast SportsNet (Houston/Mid-Atlantic/New England/Northwest/Philadelphia)/CSS (Brent Harris/Brian Oliver)
Villanova at UConn — ESPN (Mike Patrick/Len Elmore)
Xavier at Dayton — ESPN2 (Mike Crispino/Stephen Bardo)

Women’s: Michigan State at Michigan — Big Ten Network (Lisa Byington/Stephanie White)

1 p.m.
Kentucky at Tennessee — CBS (Ian Eagle/Clark Kellogg)
Pittsburgh at Marquette — CBS (Spero Dedes/Greg Anthony)
Rutgers at DePaul — ESPNU (Beth Mowins/Tim Welsh)
St. Joseph’s at LaSalle — NBC Sports Network (Dave Strader/Mike Kaplan)

Women’s: Central Connecticut State at Mount St. Mary’s — Fox College Sports Pacific (Paul Dottino/Phyllis Mangina/John Schmeelk)

1:30 p.m.
Oklahoma at Oklahoma State — Big 12 Network (Dave Armstrong/Bryndon Manzer)
TCU at Iowa State — Big 12 Network (Chad McKee/Kevin Lehman)
Florida at Auburn — SEC Network (Clay Matvick/Joe Dean)

2 p.m.
Army at Navy — CBS Sports Network (Bob Socci/Chris Spatola)
Purdue at Indiana — ESPN (Bob Wischusen/Dan Dakich)
Virginia Tech at North Carolina State — ESPN2 (Carter Blackburn/Fran Fraschilla)
Georgia Tech at Wake Forest — Fox Sports Net-regional (Arizona Plus/Carolinas/Detroit/North Plus/Prime Ticket/San Diego/South/Tennessee/Sun Sports/Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic/NESN)

Women’s: Pittsburgh at Syracuse — Big East Network (Bob Picozzi/LaChina Robinson)

2:30 p.m.
SMU at Tulane — Fox Sports Net-national/Fox College Sports Atlantic (Pete Pranica/Dan Bonner/Debbie Antonelli)

3 p.m.
Creighton at Evansville — ESPNU (Mitch Holthus/Mark Adams)
Northern Arizona at North Dakota — Fox College Sports Central (Dan Hammer/Greg Stemen)

4 p.m.
Texas Tech at West Virginia — Big 12 Network (Mark Neely/Rich Zvosec)
Butler at Fordham — CBS Sports Network (Brad Johansen/Steve Lappas)
Georgia State at George Mason — Comcast SportsNet (Chicago/Houston/Mid-Atlantic/Northwest/Philadelphia)/CSS (Joe Beninati/John Feinstein)
Missouri at Arkansas — ESPN (Mark Jones/Jimmy Dykes)
UCLA at Stanford — ESPN2 (Dave Pasch/Bill Walton)
South Carolina at Alabama — SEC Network (Dave Baker/Jon Sundvold)

Women’s: UConn at Rutgers — SNY
Women’s: Western Michigan at Ohio — STO

4:30 p.m.
Houston at Tulsa — Fox Sports Net-national/Fox College Sports Atlantic (Ron Thulin/Mike Gminski/Jenn Hildreth)

Women’s: North Dakota at Northern Arizona — Fox Sports Arizona Plus (Jordan Byrd/Sharon Falor/Heather Hodgeson)

5 p.m.
Mississippi State at LSU — ESPNU (Tom Hart/Matt Doherty)
Western Illinois at South Dakota State — Fox College Sports Pacific (Tom Nieman/Brad Newitt)

6 p.m.
Temple at UMass — CBS Sports Network (Brent Stover/Steve Wolf)
Duke at Maryland — ESPN (Dave O’Brien/Doris Burke/Jeannine Edwards)
Detroit at Valparaiso — ESPN2

6:30 p.m.
Texas A&M at Vanderbilt — Fox Sports net-regional (Arizona Plus/Detroit Plus/Midwest Plus/South/Southwest/West/Wisconsin/Sun Sports) (Dave Neal/Larry Conley)

7 p.m.
Baylor at Kansas State — ESPNU (Brad Sham/Bob Valvano)
Princton at Harvard — NBC Sports Network (Randy Moss/Dalen Cuff)
Oregon at Washington State — Pac-12 Network (JB Long/Ernie Kent)

7:15 p.m.
Oakland at Missouri-Kansas City — Fox College Sports Pacific (Neil Harwell/Jaycie Pearson)

8 p.m.
Syracuse at Seton Hall — Big East Network (Mike Corey/Jim Spanarkel)
Michigan State at Nebraska — Big Ten Network (Kevin Kugler/Tim Doyle)
Memphis at Marshall — CBS Sports Network (Dave Ryan/Pete Gillen)
Georgia at Mississippi — ESPN2 (Dave Lamont, Kyle Macy)

8:30 p.m.
Texas A&M-Corpus Christi at Oral Roberts — Fox College Sports Central (David Garrett/Mickey Michaelec)

Women’s: Utah State at New Mexico State — Fox Sports Arizona Plus

9 p.m.
Portland at BYU — BYU TV (Dave McCann/Steve Cleveland/Robbie Bullough)
Texas at Kansas — ESPN/ESPN 3D (Dan Shulman/Jay Bilas/Holly Rowe)
Arizona State at Colorado — ESPNU (Dave Flemming/Sean Farnham)
San Diego State at UNLV — NBC Sports Network (Paul Burmister/Blaine Fowler)

11 p.m.
New Mexico State at Utah State — ESPNU (Roxy Bernstein/Corey Williams)
Oregon State at Washington — Fox Sports Net-national (Justin Kutcher/Marques Johnson/Laura McKeeman)
Cal State-Fullerton at Cal-Irvine — Fox Sports Prime Ticket/Fox Sports San Diego/Fox College Sports Central (Justin Alderson/Michael Cage/Kelli Tennant)

Sunday, February 17

noon
Penn State at Michigan — Big Ten Network (Tom Hamilton/Shon Morris)
Holy Cross at American — CBS Sports Network (Bob Socci/Steve Spatola)

1 p.m.
Ohio State at Wisconsin — CBS (Tim Brando/Bill Raftery)
Louisville at South Florida — ESPN (Rich Hollenberg/Bob Wenzel)

Women’s: North Carolina at Florida State — Fox Sports Net-regional (Carolinas/Prime Ticket/San Diego/South/Tennessee/Sun Sports/Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic/NESN) (Tom Werme/Chelsea Shine)

1:30 p.m.
Women’s: DePaul at Louisville — ESPNU (Jim Barbar/Sonya Beeler) (2013 Play 4Kay)
Women’s: West Virginia at Iowa State — Fox Sports Net-national (Ron Thulin/Brenda VanLengen)
Women’s: LSU at Mississippi State — Fox Sports Net-regional (Florida/North Plus/SportSouth) (Dave Baker/Daymeon Fishback)

2 p.m.
Women’s: Temple at St. Joseph’s — CBS Sports Network (John Sadak/Julianne Viani)
Women’s: South Carolina at Mississippi — SEC Network (Cara Capuano/Steffi Sorensen)

2:30 p.m.
2013 Play 4Kay
Women’s: Alabama at Auburn — ESPN2 (Clay Matvick/Brooke Weisbrod)
Women’s: Georgia Tech at North Carolina State — ESPN2 (Joe Davis/Deb Antonelli)
Women’s: Notre Dame at Marquette — ESPN2 (Pam Ward/Stephanie White)
Women’s: Oklahoma at Kansas — ESPN2 (Holly Rowe/Fran Fraschilla)

2 p.m.
Minnesota at Iowa — Big Ten Network (Brian Anderson/Sean Harrington)

3 p.m.
Arizona at Utah — Pac-12 Network (Paul Sunderland/Brevin Knight)

Women’s: Wake Forest at Duke — Fox Sports Net-regional (Carolinas/Prime Ticket/San Diego/South/Tennessee/Sun Sports/Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic/NESN) (Mike Hogewood/Christy Winters Scott)

3:30 p.m.
Women’s: Stanford at UCLA — ESPNU (Rich Cellini/Rosalyn Gold-Onwude) (2013 Play 4Kay)
Women’s: Texas at Texas Tech — Fox Sports Net-national (Bob Licht/Dan Hughes)

4 p.m.
Women’s: UNLV at San Diego State — CBS Sports Network (James Bates/Tammy Blackburn)

5 p.m.
Women’s: Towson at George Mason — Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic (Joe Beninati/John Feinstein)
Women’s: Cal at USC — Pac-12 Network (Krista Blunk/Mary Murphy)

2013 Play 4Kay
Women’s: Cincinnati at St. John’s — ESPN2 (Bob Picozzi/Rebecca Lobo)
Women’s: Iowa at Purdue — ESPN2 (Beth Mowins/Nell Fortner)
Women’s: Maryland at Virginia — ESPN2 (Melissa Lee/LaChina Robinson)
Women’s: Vanderbilt at Tennessee — ESPN2 (Adam Amin/Maria Taylor)

6 p.m.
Miami at Clemson — ESPNU (Carter Blackburn/Jay Williams/Allison Williams)

7 p.m.
Washington State at Oregon — Pac-12 Network (Ann Schatz/Ann Meyers-Drysdale)

7:30 p.m.
Illinois at Northwestern — Big Ten Network (Eric Collins/Mike Kelley)
James Madison at Delaware — Comcast SportsNet (Houston/Mid-Atlantic/Philadelphia)/CSS (Mike Reghi/Brad Jackson)

8 p.m.
Wichita State at Illinois State — ESPNU (Mitch Holthus/Mark Adams)

10 p.m.
USC at Cal — Fox Sports Net-national (Steve Physioc/Corey Williams)

College Basketball Viewing Picks For 02/09 & 02/10/2013, All Times Eastern

Men’s Schedule Courtesy of Matt’s College Sports

Announcing Assignments Courtesy of Eye on Sky and Air Sports

Saturday, February 9

Pregame and Studio Shows
College GameDay live from South Bend, IN — ESPNU, 10 a.m./ESPN, 11 a.m.
75 Years of March Madness: Top 10 Coaches — CBS, 12:30 p.m.
Big Ten Tip-Off Show — Big Ten Network, 4 p.m.
Big Ten Game Break — Big Ten Network, 6:30 p.m.
College GameDay live from South Bend, IN — ESPN, 8 p.m.
Big Ten Finale ’12-’13 — Big Ten Network, 9 p.m.
Inside College Basketball — CBS Sports Network, midnight
College Basketball Live — ESPN2, midnight

11 a.m.
Temple at Dayton — ESPNU (Jason Benetti/Bob Valvano)

noon
Georgetown at Rutgers — Big East Network (Anish Shroff/Bob Wenzel)
Hofstra at North Carolina-Wilmington — Comcast SportsNet (Houston/Mid-Atlantic Plus/New England)/CSS/MSG Network/The Comcast Network (Mike Gleason/Charlie Woollum)
Michigan at Wisconsin — ESPN (Bob Wischusen/Dan Dakich)
Florida State at Wake Forest — ESPN2 (Carter Blackburn/Paul Biancardi)

Women’s: Nova Southeastern at Florida Southern — CBS Sports Network

1 p.m.
Mississippi at Missouri — CBS (Ian Eagle/Greg Anthony)
Akron at Miami (OH) — ESPNU (Adam Amin/Brooke Weisbrod)
Georgia Tech at Virginia Tech — Fox Sports Net-regional (Arizona/Carolinas/Detroit Plus/Florida/North Plus/Prime Ticket/San Diego/South/Tennessee/Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic/NESN) (Rich Waltz/Cory Alexander)
Southern Illinois-Edwardsville at Tennessee-Martin — Fox Sports Midwest/Fox Sports South (Darren Kinnard/Kelly Burke)

1:30 p.m.
Oklahoma State at Texas — Big 12 Network (Dave Armstrong/Reid Gettys)
Arkansas at Vanderbilt — SEC Network (Clay Matvick/Joe Dean)

2 p.m.
DePaul at Marquette — Big East Network (Quint Kessenich/John Celestand)
Delaware at George Mason — CBS Sports Network (Don Criqui/Marc Jackson)
Tulane at Houston — CSS/Comcast SportsNet (Bay Area/Houston/Northwest)/The Comcast Network (Brett Dolan/Tom Penders)
North Carolina at Miami (FL) — ESPN (Dave O’Brien/Doris Burke/Jeannine Edwards)
St. Joseph’s at UMass — ESPN2 (Marc Kestecher/Stephen Bardo)

3 p.m.
South Florida at Villanova — ESPNU (Beth Mowins/Tim Welsh)
Eastern Washington at Northern Arizona — Fox Sports Arizona Plus/Fox College Sports (Mitch Strohman/Dave Brown/Kara Hammer)

Women’s: Montana at North Dakota — Fox College Sports Central (Dan Hammer/Craig Stemen)
Women’s: West Virginia at Kansas — Fox Sports Net-national (Bob Licht/Brenda VanLengen)

4 p.m.
Texas Tech at Baylor — Big 12 Network (Brad Sham/Stephen Howard)
West Virginia at TCU — Big 12 Network (Mitch Holthus/Dan Hughes)
Memphis at Southern Mississippi — CBS Sports Network (Dave Ryan/Pete Gillen)
Northeastern at Old Dominion — Comcast SportsNet (Houston/Mid-Atlantic/New England)/CSS/The Comcast Network
Kansas at Oklahoma — ESPN (Jon Sciambi/Fran Fraschilla/Holly Rowe)
Valparaiso at Cleveland State — ESPN2 (Mike Crispino/Darrin Horn)
Auburn at Kentucky — SEC Network (Dave Baker/Kara Lawson)
Pepperdine at Portland — WCC Network (Barry Tompkins/Dan Belluomini)

4:30 p.m.
Northwestern at Iowa — Big Ten Network (Justin Kutcher/Shon Morris)

5 p.m.
Texas A&M at Georgia — ESPNU (Tom Hart/Matt Doherty)
Mississippi State at Florida — Fox Sports Net-regional (Arizona/Detroit Plus/Midwest/North Plus/Prime Ticket/San Diego/South/Southwest/Wisconsin/Sun Sports) (Dave Neal/Larry Conley)
South Dakota State at Oakland — Fox Sports Detroit/Fox Sports North/Fox College Sports Atlantic (John Keating/Mateen Cleaves)

6 p.m.
Fresno State at San Jose State — CBS Sports Network (Andrew Catalon/Andrew Lappas/Lauren Gardner)
Pittsburgh at Cincinnati — ESPN (Mike Patrick/Len Elmore)
Iowa State at Kansas State — ESPN2 (Mark Neely/Chris Piper)

Women’s: Cincinnati at Rutgers — Big East Network (Bob Picozzi/Steffi Sorenson)

7 p.m.
Xavier at Duquense — A-10 Network (Bob McElligott/Tony White)
Michigan State at Purdue — Big Ten Network (Eric Collins/Jim Jackson)
St. Bonaventure at URI — Cox Sports RI (Mike Mancuso/Chris DiSano)
Stanford at Arizona State — ESPNU (Dave Flemming/Sean Farnham)

7:30 p.m.
Missouri State at Wichita State — Comcast SportsNet Chicago/Fox Sports Midwest/Fox College Sports Central (Scott Warmann/Rich Zvosec)

8 p.m.
LSU at Alabama — ESPN2 (Mark Jones/Jimmy Dykes)
Utah at Oregon — Pac-12 Network (Jim Watson/Ernie Kent)

Women’s: San Diego State at Fresno State — CBS Sports Network (Rich Cellini/Tammy Blackburn)
Women’s: Baylor at Texas — Longhorn Network (Fran Harris/Debbie Antonelli/Kaylee Hartung)

9 p.m.
San Francisco at BYU — BYU TV (Dave McCann/Steve Cleveland/Robbie Bullough)
Louisville at Notre Dame — ESPN (Dan Shulman/Dick Vitale/Samantha Ponder)Penn State at Nebraska — ESPNU (Dan Gutowsky/Sean Harrington)
Seattle at New Mexico State — Fox College Sports Pacific (Jeff Matthews/Glenn Cerny)
New Mexico at UNLV — NBC Sports Network (Paul Burmeister/Stan Van Gundy)

10 p.m.
Illinois State at Creighton — ESPN2 (Rich Hollenberg/Mark Adams)
Washington State at UCLA — Pac-12 Network (Ted Robinson/Don MacLean)

11 p.m.
St. Mary’s at San Diego — ESPNU (Roxy Bernstein/Corey Williams)
Cal State-Fullerton at Cal-Riverside — Fox Sports Prime Ticket/Fox Sports San Diego/Fox College Sports Pacific (Just Alderson/Michael Cage/Kelli Tennant)

Sunday, February 10

11:30 a.m.
Women’s: North Carolina at Georgia Tech — ESPNU (Michele Smith/LaChina Robinson)

noon
UConn at Seton Hall — Big East Network (Eamon McAnaney/Bob Wenzel)

Women’s: Michigan at Purdue — Big Ten Network (Eric Collins/Stephanie White)

1 p.m.
North Carolina State at Clemson — ACC Network (Steve Martin/Mike Gminski)
Virginia at Maryland — ACC Network (Tim Brant/Dan Bonner)
Indiana at Ohio State — CBS (Kevin Harlan/Clark Kellogg)
Tennessee at South Carolina — Fox Sports Net-regional (Arizona Plus/Detroit/Midwest/North Plus/Prime Ticket/San Diego/South/Southwest/Sun Sports) (Dave Baker/Daymeon Fishback)

Women’s: Houston at Rice — Fox Sports Net-national/Fox College Sports Central (Bob Rathbun/Debbie Antonelli)

1:30 p.m.
Women’s: Georgia at LSU — ESPNU (Melissa Lee/Maria Taylor)

2 p.m.
Women’s: Minnesota at Illinois — Big Ten Network (Mike Wolf/Patricia Babcock-McGraw/Kara Lentz)
Women’s: Holy Cross at Lehigh — CBS Sports Network (Bob Socci/Amy Lawrence)
Women’s: Butler at George Washington — Comcast SportsNet (Mid-Atlantic)
Women’s: Florida State at Miami (FL) — CSS (Jason Solodkin/Robin Mueller)
Women’s: Michigan State at Penn State — ESPN2 (Adam Amin/Swin Cash)
Women’s: Mississippi State at Missouri — SEC Network (Cara Capuano/Nell Fortner)

3 p.m.
St. John’s at Syracuse — ESPN (Dave Pasch/Dan Dakich)

Women’s: Tulane at Tulsa — Fox Sports Net-national (Bob Licht/DanHughes)
Women’s: Oregon State at Utah — Pac-12 Network (Anne Marie Anderson/Tammy Blackburn)

3:30 p.m.
Women’s: DePaul at UConn — ESPNU (Bob Picozzi/Brooke Weisbrod)

4 p.m.
Women’s: Ohio State at Northwestern — Big Ten Network (DanKelley/Shelley Till)
Women’s: Kentucky at Vanderbilt — ESPN2 (Pam Ward/Rosalyn Gold-Onwude)

4:30 p.m.
Women’s: Old Dominion at Drexel — Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic (Al Koken/Jody Lavin Patrick)

5 p.m.
Women’s: Oklahoma State at Oklahoma — Fox Sports Net-national (Ron Thulin/Brenda VanLengen)
Women’s: Arizona State at Stanford — Pac-12 Network (Krista Blunk/Mary Murphy)

6 p.m.
Illinois at Minnesota — Big Ten Network (Kevin Kugler/Eddie Johnson)
Duke at Boston College — ESPNU (Carter Blackburn/Jay Williams/Allison Williams)

7 p.m.
James Madison at Drexel — Comcast SportsNet (California/Mid-Atlantic/Philadelphia)/CSS
Cal at Arizona — Pac-12 Network (Ted Robinson/Matt Muehlebach)

8 p.m.
Drake at Evansville — ESPNU (Mitch Holthus/Mark Adams)
Washington at USC — Fox Sports Net-national (Steve Physioc/Corey Williams)

10 p.m.
Colorado at Oregon — Pac-12 Network (JB Long/Lamar Hurd)

College Basketball Viewing Picks For 02/02 & 02/03/2013, All Times Eastern

Men’s Schedule courtesy of Matt’s College Sports

Announcing Assignments courtesy of Eye on Sky and Air Sports

Saturday, February 2

Pregame & Studio Shows
College GameDay live from Bloomington, IN — ESPNU, 10 a.m./ESPN, 11 a.m.
Big Ten Tip-Off Show — Big Ten Network, 6:30 p.m.
College GameDay live from Bloomington, IN — ESPN, 8 p.m.
College Basketball Live — ESPN2, midnight

11 a.m.
Cincinnati at Seton Hall — ESPNU (Beth Mowins/Tim Welsh/Paul Calcaterra)

noon
Clemson at Boston College — ACC Network (Tim Brando/Cory Alexander)
Virginia Tech at North Carolina — ACC Network (Tim Brandt/Dan Bonner)
Hofstra at William & Mary — Comcast SportsNet (California/Mid-Atlantic/New England/Philadelphia)/CSS/MSG Network (John Castleberry/Charlie Woolum)
Syracuse at Pittsburgh — ESPN (Mike Patrick/Len Elmore)
Purdue at Northwestern — ESPN2 (Bob Wischusen/Dan Dakich)

Women’s: Hartford at Boston University — NESN (Bill Schweizer/Billy Mecca/Jayme Parker)

12:30 p.m.
Women’s: Texas at TCU — Fox Sports Net-national (Bob Licht/Brenda VanLengen)

1 p.m.
Austin Peay at Murray State — ESPNU (Adam Amin/Brooke Weisbrod)

1:30 p.m.
West Virginia at Texas Tech — Big 12 Network (Mitch Holthus/Reid Gettys)
Auburn at Missouri — SEC Network (Dave Baker/Jon Sunvold)
Georgia at South Carolina — SEC Network (Dave Lamont/Kyle Macy)

2 p.m.
Tulsa at Memphis — CBS Sports Network (Dave Ryan/Pete Gillen/Gary Parrish)
Duke at Florida State — ESPN (Dave O’Brien/Doris Burke/Jeannine Edwards)
Notre Dame at DePaul — ESPN2 (John Saunders/LaPhonso Ellis)
Wake Forest at Maryland — Fox Sports Net-regional (Arizona Plus/Carolinas/Prime Ticket/San Diego/South/Tennessee/Sun Sports/Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic/NESN) (Rich Waltz/Mike Gminski)
Dayton at Saint Louis — NBC Sports Network (Dave Strader/Mike Kaplan)

Women’s: UConn at St. John’s — Big East Network (Bob Picozzi/LaChina Robinson)

2:30 p.m.
Colorado at Utah — Fox Sports Net-national (Steve Physioc/Corey Williams)

3 p.m.
Robert Morris at Long Island — ESPNU (Mike Corey/Bob Valvano)
Western Illinois at IUPUI — Fox College Sports Atlantic (Greg Rakestraw/Bob Lovell)

4 p.m.
Duquense at St. Bonaventure — A-10 Network (Kevin Sylvester/Brendan McDaniels)
Oklahoma State at Kansas — Big 12 Network (Dave Armstrong/Chris Piper)
Miami (FL) at North Carolina State — CBS (Spero Dedes/Bill Raftery)
St. John’s at Georgetown — CBS (Ian Eagle/Clark Kellogg)
URI at Butler — CBS Sports Network (Brad Johansen/John Griffin/Jon Rothstein)
George Mason at James Madison — Comcast SportsNet (Bay Area/Houston/Mid-Atlantic/Northwest/Philadelphia) (Al Koken/Junior Burrough)
Tennessee at Arkansas — ESPN (Brent Musburger/Bob Knight)
Wichita State at Northern Iowa — ESPN2 (Rich Hollenberg/Mark Adams)
Alabama at Vanderbilt — SEC Network (Clay Matvick/Joe Dean)

4:30 p.m.
Oregon at Cal — Fox Sports Net-national (Justin Kutcher/Marques Johnson/Laura McKeeman)

5 p.m.
Ohio at Akron — ESPNU (Dan Gutkowsky/Malcolm Huckaby)
Missouri-Kansas City at South Dakota State — Fox College Sports Atlantic (Tom Niemann/Brad Newitt)

5:30 p.m.
LSU at Mississippi State — Fox Sports Net-regional (Florida/Midwest Plus/North Plus/South/Southwest) (Dave Neal/Larry Conley)

6 p.m.
Temple at St. Joseph’s — CBS Sports Network (Tom McCarthy/Steve Lappas/Jeff Goodman)
Drexel at Northeastern — Comcast SportsNet (Bay Area/Mid-Atlantic/New England/Northwest)/CSS/The Comcast Network (Gary Tanguay/Jack Armstrong)
Kentucky at Texas A&M — ESPN (Mark Jones/Jimmy Dykes)
Kansas State at Oklahoma — ESPN2 (Jon Sciambi/Fran Fraschilla)
Columbia at Princeton — NBC Sports Network (Randy Moss/Dalen Cuff)

7 p.m.
Ohio State at Nebraska — Big Ten Network
Mississippi at Florida — ESPNU (Tom Hart/Matt Doherty)

7:30 p.m.
Indiana State at Drake — Comcast SportsNet Chicago/Fox Sports Midwest (Scott Warmann/Kevin Lehman)

8 p.m.
Southern Mississippi at UAB — CSS/Comcast SportsNet (Houston/Northwest)/The Comcast Network (Matt Stewart/Brian Oliver)
Baylor at Iowa State — ESPN2 (Mark Neely/Rich Zvosec)
TCU at Texas — Longhorn Network (Kevin Dunn/Bruce Bowen)
Nevada at New Mexico — NBC Sports Network (Steve Schlanger/Blaine Fowler)

Women’s: Baylor at Oklahoma State — Fox Sports Southwest Plus/Fox Sports Detroit Plus/Fox Sports North (Mike Wolfe/Casey Kendrick)

8:30 p.m.
Southeastern Louisiana at Oral Roberts — Fox College Sports Atlantic (David Garrett/Mickey Michaelec)

9 p.m.
Santa Clara at BYU — BYU TV (Dave McCann/Steve Cleveland/Robbie Bullough)
Michigan at Indiana — ESPN/ESPN 3D (Dan Shulman/Dick Vitale/Shannon Spake)
Arizona State at Washington — ESPNU (Dave Flemming/Sean Farnham)

10 p.m.
Arizona at Washington State — Pac-12 Network (Kevin Calabro/Brevin Knight)

11 p.m.
Gonzaga at San Diego — ESPNU (Roxy Bernstein/Paul Biancardi/Paul Carcaterra)

Sunday, February 3

11 a.m.
Women’s: Dayton at Richmond — ESPNU (Melissa Lee/Christy Winters Scott)

noon
Providence at Villanova — Big East Network (Anish Shroff/Bob Wenzel)

1 p.m.
Iowa at Minnesota — Big Ten Network (Brian Anderson/Eddie Johnson)

Women’s: Duke at North Carolina — ESPNU (Ray Philpott/LaChina Robinson)
Women’s: Oklahoma at West Virginia — Fox Sports Net-national (Ron Thulin/Brenda VanLengen)
Women’s: Georgia Tech at Virginia — Fox Sports Net-regional (Arizona Plus/Carolinas/North Plus/San Diego/South/Tennessee/Sun Sports/Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic/NESN) (Mike Hogewood/Debbie Antonelli)
Women’s: Alabama at Florida — Fox Sports Florida Plus (Mick Hubert/Mark Wise)
Women’s: Washington at Arizona State — Pac-12 Network (Krista Blunk/Mary Murphy)

2 p.m.
South Florida at UConn — Big East Network (Eamon McAnaney/Ron Perry)
Marquette at Louisville — ESPN (Dan Shulman/Jay Bilas)

Women’s: Tennessee at Missouri — CSS  (Bernie Guenther/Robin Muller)
Women’s: Georgia at Kentucky — SEC Network (Cara Capuano/Nell Fortner)
Women’s: Miami (OH) at Northern Illinois — STO/Comcast SportsNet Chicago (Mike Cairns/Jackie Windon)

3 p.m.
Virginia at Georgia Tech — ESPNU (Carter Blackburn/Jay Williams/Allison Williams)
Oregon State at Stanford — Pac-12 Network (Jim Watson/Don MacLean)

Women’s: UNC-Wilmington at Old Dominion — Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic (Al Koken./Jody Lavin Patrick/Brian Jackson)
Women’s: Arkansas at Mississippi State — Fox Sports Net-national (Dave Neal/Maria Taylor)

3:30 p.m.
Wisconsin at Illinois — Big Ten Network (Eric Collins/Shon Morris)

4 p.m.
Women’s: Stanford at Oregon State — Pac-12 Network (Ann Schatz/Kyndra de St. Aubin)

College Basketball Viewing Picks For 01/26 & 01/27/2013, All Times Eastern

Men’s Schedule Courtesy of Matt’s College Sports

Saturday, January 26

Pregame & Studio Hosts
College GameDay live from Raleigh, NC — ESPNU, 10 a.m./ESPN, 11 a.m.
College GameDay — ESPN, 6 p.m.
College Basketball Live — ESPN2, midnight

11 a.m.
Syracuse at Villanova — ESPNU (Beth Mowins/Tim Walsh)

11:30 a.m.
Women’s: Delta State at Valdosta State — CBS Sports Network

noon
Notre Dame at South Florida — Big East Network (Anish Shroff/Bob Wenzel)
Louisville at Georgetown — ESPN (Mike Patrick/Len Elmore)
Ohio State at Penn State — ESPN2 (Bob Wischusen/Dan Dakich)
Farleigh Dickinson at Quinnipiac — Fox College Sports Atlantic

1 p.m.
Maryland at Duke — CBS (Ian Eagle/Clark Kellogg)
West Virginia at Oklahoma State — ESPNU (Brad Sham/Bob Valvano)
Boston College at Virginia — Fox Sports Net-regional (Detroit Plus/Florida/Prime Ticket/San Diego/South/Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic/NESN)
URI at Fordham — YES

1:30 p.m.
Kansas State at Iowa State — Big 12 Network (Mitch Holthus/Chris Piper)
Arkansas at South Carolina — SEC Network (Mike Morgan/Barry Booker)

2 p.m.
Providence at Marquette — Big East Network (Mike Couzens/Sean Kearney)
Minnesota at Wisconsin — Big Ten Network
Rice at Tulane — CSS/Comcast SportsNet (Bay Area/Houston/Northwest/Philadelphia)
Alabama at Tennessee — ESPN2 (Mark Jones/Jimmy Dykes)
Marshall at Memphis — Fox Sports Net-national/Fox College Sports Pacific
Dartmouth at Harvard — NBC Sports Network

3 p.m.
Wake Forest at Georgia Tech — ACC Network
Northwestern at Nebraska — Big Ten Network
North Dakota State at South Dakota State — Fox College Sports Atlantic

4 p.m.
Duquense at Dayton — A-10 Network
Saint Louis at St. Bonaventure — A-10 Network
DePaul at Pittsburgh — Big East Network (John Sanders/John Celestand)
Baylor at TCU — Big 12 Network (Dave Armstrong/Stephen Howard)
Bucknell at Holy Cross — CBS Sports Network (Bob Socci/Chris Spatola)
Old Dominion at James Madison — Comcast SportsNet (Mid-Atlantic/Northwest/Philadephia)/CSS
Oklahoma at Kansas — ESPN (Jon Sciambi/Fran Fraschilla)
Western Kentucky at Middle Tennessee — ESPN2 (Rich Hollenberg/Mark Adams)
UCLA at Arizona State — Fox Sports Net-national
New Mexico at San Diego State — NBC Sports Network
LSU at Kentucky — SEC Network (Clay Matvick/Joe Dean)

5 p.m.
Vanderbilt at Missouri — ESPNU (Tom Hart/Matt Doherty)
Western Illinois at Oakland — Fox Sports Detroit/Fox College Sports Atlantic
Washington State at Oregon State — Pac-12 Network (J.B. Long/Lamar Hurd)

6 p.m.
Xavier at St. Joseph’s — CBS Sports Network (Dave Ryan/Pete Gillen)
Temple at Butler — ESPN2 (Jim Barbar/Stephen Bardo)
Georgia at Texas A&M — Fox Sports Net-regional (Arizona Plus/Detroit Plus/South/Southwest/West/Wisconsin/Sun Sports)

7 p.m.
North Carolina at North Carolina State — ESPN/ESPN 3D (Dan Shulman/Dick Vitale/Shannon Spake)
USC at Arizona — ESPNU (Dave Flemming/Sean Farnham)
Washington at Oregon — Pac-12 Network (Ted Robinson/Ernie Kent)

8 p.m.
LaSalle at Virginia Commonwealth — CBS Sports Network (Brad Johansen/Steve Wolf)
Florida at Mississippi State — ESPN2 (Dave Lamont/Kara Lawson)
Mississippi at Auburn — Fox Sports Net-regional (Detroit/South/Southwest Plus/West/Sun Sports)

8:30 p.m.
McNeese State at Oral Roberts — Fox College Sports Pacific

10:30 p.m.
BYU at Portland — ESPN2 (Roxy Bernstein/Steve Cleveland)

Sunday, January 27

noon
Seton Hall at St. John’s — Big East Network (Eamon McAnaney/Jim Spanarkel)
Lafayette at Lehigh — CBS Sports Network (Bob Socci/Chris Spatola)

1 p.m.
Virginia Tech at Clemson — ACC Network
Michigan State at Indiana — CBS (Kevin Harlan/Greg Anthony)

Women’s: Penn State at Ohio State — Big Ten Network
Women’s: Florida at Georgia — CSS
Women’s: TCU at Texas Tech — Fox Sports Net-national
Women’s: Boston College at Duke — Fox Sports Net-regional (Arizona Plus/Carolina/Detroit Plus/Florida/Prime Ticket/San Diego/South/Tennessee/Sun Sports/Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic/NESN)

1:30 p.m.
Women’s: St. John’s at Louisville — ESPNU

2 p.m.
Rutgers at UConn — Big East Network (Kevin Connors/Tim Welsh)

Women’s: Xavier at Richmond — CBS Sports Network (John Sadak/Julianne Viani)
Women’s: North Carolina at Miami — ESPN2
Women’s: Vanderbilt at Alabama — SEC Network

3 p.m.
Women’s: LSU at Kentucky — CSS/Fox Sports Arizona Plus/Fox Sports Detroit Plus/Fox Sports Florida/Fox Sports Prime Ticket/SportSouth

3:30 p.m.
Iowa at Purdue — Big Ten Network
Cal at Colorado — Fox Sports Net-national

Women’s: Missouri at Texas A&M — ESPNU

4 p.m.
Women’s: Fresno State at Colorado State — CBS Sports Network (Rich Cellini/Tammy Blackburn)
Women’s: Purdue at Michigan State — ESPN2

5 p.m.
Women’s: Oregon at Washington — Pac-12 Network (Anne-Marie Anderson/Ros Gold-Unwude)

6 p.m.
Michigan at Illinois — Big Ten Network
Florida State at Miami (FL) — ESPNU (Carter Blackburn/Jay Williams/Allison Williams)

7 p.m.
Women’s: Colorado at Stanford — Pac-12 Network (Krista Blunk/Mary Murphy)

8 p.m.
George Mason at Northeastern — Comcast SportsNet (Mid-Atlantic/New England/Philadelphia)/CSS
Creighton at Southern Illinois — ESPNU (Mitch Holthus/Mark Adams)

9 p.m.
Stanford at Utah — Pac-12 Network (Ted Robinson/Ernie Kent)

College Basketball Viewing Picks For 01/19 & 01/20/2013, All Times Eastern

Men’s Schedule Courtesy of Matt’s College Sports

Saturday, January 19

Pregame & Studio Shows
College GameDay live from Indianapolis — ESPNU, 10 a.m./ESPN, 11 p.m.
College GameDay live from Indianapolis — ESPN, 8 p.m.

11 a.m.
Virginia Military Institute at Coastal Carolina — ESPNU (Adam Amin/Brooke Weisbrod)

noon
St. John’s at DePaul — Big East Network (Anish Shroff/Bob Wenzel)
Maryland at North Carolina — ESPN (Dave O’Brien/Doris Burke)
UConn at Pittsburgh — ESPN2 (John Saunders/Dereck Whittenburg)

12:30 p.m.
Harvard at Memphis — Fox Sports Net (national)/Fox College Sports Atlantic

1 p.m.
St. Bonaventure at Temple — CBS Sports Network
Nebraska at Penn State — ESPNU (Mike Crispino/Bob Valvano)

1:30 p.m.
Iowa State at TCU — Big 12 Network (Mitch Holthus/Reid Gettys)
Arkansas at Mississippi — SEC Network (Dave Baker/Barry Booker)
Vanderbilt at South Carolina — SEC Network (Dave Lamont/Kara Lawson)

2 p.m.
Wake Forest at Virginia Tech — ACC NetworkLaSalle at Xavier — A-10 Network
Kansas at Texas — CBS (Kevin Harlan/Clark Kellogg)
West Virginia at Purdue — CBS (Ian Eagle/Bill Raftery)
Drexel at William & Mary — Comcast SportsNet (Bay Area/Mid-Atlantic/Northwest)/The Comcast Network/CSS
Missouri at Florida — ESPN (Mark Jones/Jimmy Dykes)
Texas Tech at Oklahoma State — ESPN2 (Jon Sciambi/Fran Fraschilla)

Women’s: Seton Hall at Georgetown — Big East Network
Women’s: Boston University at New Hampshire — Fox College Sports Pacific

2:30 p.m.
Arizona at Arizona State — Fox Sports Net (national)
Eastern Kentucky at Jacksonville State — Fox Sports South

3 p.m.
Akron at Kent State — ESPNU (Dan Gutowsky/Darrin Horn)
Columbia at Cornell — NBC Sports Network (Randy Moss/Dalen Cuff)

Women’s: Texas at Oklahoma — Fox Sports Oklahoma

4 p.m.
Florida State at Virginia — ACC Network
Villanova at Providence — Big East Network (Don Orsillo/Ron Perry)
Oklahoma at Kansas State — Big 12 Network (Dave Armstrong/Rich Zvosec)
Oregon at UCLA — CBS (Spero Dedes/Doug Gottlieb)
SMU at UTEP — CSS/Comcast SportsNet (Bay Area/Houston/Mid-Atlantic/Northwest/Philadelphia)
Syracuse at Louisville — ESPN (Mike Patrick/Len Elmore)
Creighton at Wichita State — ESPN2 (Rich Hollenberg/Mark Adams)
Boston University at New Hampshire — Fox College Sports Pacific
Mississippi State at Tennessee — SEC Network (Clay Matvick/Joe Dean)

Women’s: Syracuse at UConn — SNY

4:30 p.m.
Cal at Stanford — Fox Sports Net (national)

5 p.m.
Penn at St. Joseph’s — ESPNU (Scott Graham/Carolyn Peck)
Hofstra at George Mason — NBC Sports Network (Mike Corey/Ron Thompson)

6 p.m.
Georgetown at South Florida — Big East Network (Jason Benetti/Mark Wise)
UAB at Southern Mississippi — CSS/Comcast SportsNet (Bay Area Plus/Houston/Northwest)
Ohio State at Michigan State — ESPN (Bob Wischusen/Dan Dakich)
Texas A&M at Alabama — Fox Sports Net-regional (Arizona Plus/Florida/North Plus/South/Southwest/Sun Sports)

7 p.m.
Marquette at Cincinnati — ESPNU (Beth Mowins/Tim Welsh)
UNLV at Colorado State — NBC Sports Network (Steve Schlanger/Blaine Fowler)

8 p.m.
Rutgers at Notre Dame — Big East Network (Lou Canellis/Sean Kearney)
Wisconsin at Iowa — Big Ten Network
LSU at Georgia — CSS/Bright House Sports/Comcast SportsNet (Houston/Northwest)/Cox Sports Television (Matt Stewart/Daymeon Fishback)
Oregon State at USC — Pac-12 Network

9 p.m.
San Diego at BYU — BYU TV
Gonzaga at Butler — ESPN/ESPN 3D (Dan Shulman/Dick Vitale/Shannon Spake)
Kentucky at Auburn — ESPNU (Tom Hart/Matt Doherty)

11 p.m.
Utah at Washington — ESPNU (Dave Flemming/Sean Farnham)
Colorado at Washington State — Pac-12 Network

Sunday, January 20

noon
Navy at Army — CBS Sports Network

Women’s: St. John’s at Notre Dame — ESPNU

1 p.m.
Indiana at Northwestern — Big Ten Network

Women’s: Iowa State at Oklahoma State — Fox Sports Net-national
Women’s: Wake Forest at Boston College — Fox Sports Net-regional (Arizona Plus/Detroit Plus/South/Sun Sports/Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic/NESN)
Women’s: South Carolina at Florida — Fox Sports Florida

2 p.m.
Women’s: Butler at LaSalle — CBS Sports Network
Women’s: Maryland at Georgia Tech — ESPN2
Women’s: Auburn at Kentucky — SEC Network

3 p.m.
Women’s: UAB at UTEP — Fox Sports Net-national
Women’s: Florida State at North Carolina State — Fox Sports Net-regional (Arizona Plus/Detroit Plus/South/Sun Sports/Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic/NESN)

3:30 p.m.
Women’s: UCLA at Cal — ESPNU

4 p.m.
Women’s: Purdue at Iowa — Big Ten Network
Women’s: Colorado State at UNLV — CBS Sports Network

5 p.m.
Women’s: Texas A&M at Georgia — ESPN2, 5 p.m.

6 p.m.
Clemson at North Carolina State — ESPNU (Carter Blackburn/Jay Williams/Allison Williams)

Women’s: Nebraska at Minnesota — Big Ten Network

8 p.m.
Illinois State at Southern Illinois — ESPNU (Mitch Holthus/Mark Adams)

College Basketball Viewing Picks For 01/12 & 01/13/2013, All Times Eastern

Men’s schedule courtesy Matt’s College Sports

Saturday, January 12

Pregame & Studio Shows
College GameDay — ESPN2, 10 a.m.
College GameDay — ESPNU, 11 a.m.
Big Ten Tip-Off Show — Big Ten Network, 11:30 a.m.
Big Ten Game Break — Big Ten Network, 2 p.m.
The Fab Five — ESPN, 5:30 p.m.
Big Ten Finale ’12-’13 — Big Ten Network, 7 p.m.
Inside College Basketball — CBS Sports Network, 9 p.m.
College Basketball Live — ESPN2, 1:30 a.m. (Sunday)

11 a.m.
Georgetown at St. John’s — ESPN2 (Mike Patrick/Len Elmore)

noon
Virginia at Clemson — ACC Network
Villanova at Syracuse — Big East Network (Anish Shroff/Bob Wenzel)
Minnesota at Indiana — Big Ten Network
Anderson at Lincoln Memorial University — CBS Sports Network
Delaware at Georgia State — Comcast SportsNet (Bay Area/Mid-Atlantic/Northwest/Philadelphia)/CSS
Duke at North Carolina State — ESPN (Dan Shulman/Dick Vitale/Jeannine Edwards)
Marquette at Pittsburgh — ESPNU (Beth Mowins/Tim Welsh)

1 p.m.
Tennessee at Alabama — ESPN2 (Mark Jones/Jimmy Dykes)

1:30 p.m.
Kansas State at West Virginia — Big 12 Network (Mark Neely/Stephen Howard)
Auburn at South Carolina — SEC Network (Mike Morgan/Jon Sundvold)
Mississippi State at Georgia — SEC Network (Dave Lamont/Kara Lawson)

2 p.m.
UConn at Notre Dame — Big East Network (Lou Canellis/LaPhonso Ellis)
Holy Cross at Lehigh — CBS Sports Network
Charlotte at URI — Cox Sports RI
George Mason at North Carolina-Wilmington — Comcast SportsNet (California/Mid-Atlantic)/The Comcast Network
North Carolina at Florida State — ESPN (Dave O’Brien/Doris Burke)
Texas at Iowa State — ESPNU (Brad Sham/Bob Valvano)
Butler at Dayton — NBC Sports Network (Dave Strader/Stan Van Gundy)
UCLA at Colorado — Pac-12 Network (JB Long/Ernie Kent)

2:15 p.m.
Illinois at Wisconsin — Big Ten Network

2:30 p.m.
Virginia Tech at Georgia Tech — ACC Network

3 p.m.
Oklahoma State at Oklahoma — ESPN2 (Jon Sciambi/Fran Fraschilla)

4 p.m.
VCU at St. Bonaventure — A10 Network
South Florida at Louisville — Big East Network (Jim Barbar/Darrin Horn)
Kansas at Texas Tech — Big 12 Network (Dave Armstrong/Reid Gettys)
George Washington at Xavier — CBS Sports Network
Florida at LSU — ESPNU (Tom Hart/Matt Doherty)
Boston College at Wake Forest — Fox Sports Net-regional (North Plus/South/West/Sun Sports/Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic/NESN)
Drexel at James Madison — NBC Sports Network (Mike Corey/Ron Thompson)
Washington at Cal — Pac-12 Network (Roxy Bernstein/Dan Belluomini)

Women’s: West Virginia at Kansas State — Fox Sports Net-national
Women’s: UConn at Marquette — SNY, 4 p.m.

5 p.m.
Oakland at North Dakota State — Fox College Sports Central

6 p.m.
Saint Louis at Temple — ESPNU (Adam Amin/Brooke Weisbrod)
Vanderbilt at Arkansas — Fox Sports Net-regional (Midwest/North Plus/South/Southwest/West/Wisconsin)
TCU at Baylor — Fox Sports Southwest/Fox College Sports Central
Penn at Princeton — NBC Sports Network (Randy Moss/Dalen Cuff)
USC at Utah — Pac-12 Network (Kevin Calabro/Joe Cravens)

Women’s: Villanova at Pittsburgh — Big East Network (Bob Picozzi/LaChina Robinson)

8 p.m.
Cincinnati at Rutgers — Big East Network (Quint Kessenich/Jim Spanarkel)
Arizona at Oregon State — ESPNU (Dave Flemming/Sean Farnham)
Missouri at Mississippi — Fox Sports Net-regional (Florida/Midwest/South/Southwest)
Colorado State at San Diego State — NBC Sports Network (Steve Schlanger/Blaine Fowler)

Women’s: Texas Tech at Oklahoma — Fox Sports Oklahoma

8:30 p.m.
Women’s: Idaho at New Mexico State — Altitude 2
Women’s: Portland State at Northern Arizona — Fox Sports Arizona Plus

8:30 p.m.
Memphis at UAB — CSS/Comcast SportsNet (Bay Area/Chicago/Houston/Northwest)Stephen F. Austin at Oral Roberts — Fox College Sports Atlantic

11 p.m.
Washington at Stanford — Fox Sports Net-national/Fox College Sports Pacific

Sunday, January 13

11:30 a.m.
Women’s: Tennessee at Florida — ESPNU (Cara Capuano/Nell Fortner)

noon
Providence at Seton Hall — Big East Network (Quint Kessenich/John Celestand)
Penn State at Purdue — Big Ten Network

Women’s: Lafayette at Navy — CBS Sports Network

12:30 p.m.
Women’s: Oklahoma State at Texas — Fox Sports Net-national

1 p.m.
UMass at Fordham — YES

Women’s: Boston College at Clemson — Fox Sports Net-regional (Arizona Plus/Detroit Plus/Florida/North Plus/South/Prime Ticket/Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic/NESN)

1:30 p.m.
Michigan at Ohio State — CBS (Tim Brando/Clark Kellogg)

Women’s: Kentucky at Missouri — ESPNU (Melissa Lee/Maria Taylor)

2 p.m.
Women’s: Wisconsin at Michigan — Big Ten Network
Women’s: Fordham at Charlotte — CBS Sports Network
Women’s: Nebraska at Penn State — ESPN2 (Beth Mowins/LaChina Robinson)

2:30 p.m.
Women’s: Baylor at Kansas — Fox Sports Net-national
Women’s: Alabama at Mississippi — Fox Sports Net-regional (SportSouth/Sun Sports

3 p.m.
Women’s: Miami at Florida State — Fox Sports Net-regional (Detroit Plus/Florida/North Plus/South/Prime Ticket/Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic/NESN)
Women’s: Oregon State at Arizona State — Pac-12 Network (Anne Marie Anderson/Kyndra de St. Aubin)

3:30 p.m.
Women’s: Rutgers at Notre Dame — ESPNU (Jim Barbar/Krista Blunk)

4 p.m.
Women’s: Michigan State at Illinois — Big Ten Network
Women’s: San Diego State at Colorado State — CBS Sports Network
Women’s: Cal at Stanford — ESPN2 (Pam Ward/Mary Murphy)

4:30 p.m.
Women’s: Southern Mississippi at Memphis — Fox Sports Net-national

5 p.m.
Women’s: Colorado at Utah — Pac-12 Network (Ann Schatz/Rosalyn Gold-Onwude)

5:30 p.m.
Iowa at Northwestern — ESPNU (Dan Gutowaski/Tim McCormick)

6 p.m.
Nebraska at Michigan State — Big Ten Network

8 p.m.
Maryland at Miami (FL) — ESPNU (Carter Blackburn/Jay Williams/Allison Williams)

9 p.m.
Arizona at Oregon — Pac-12 Network (Paul Sunderland/Ernie Kent)

College Basketball Viewing Picks For 01/05 & 01/06/2013, All Times Eastern

Men’s Schedule courtesy of Matt’s College Sports

Saturday, January 5

11 a.m.
Pittsburgh at Rutgers — ESPN2

noon
Virginia Tech at Maryland — ACC Network
Seton Hall at Notre Dame — Big East Network
Purdue at Michigan State — Big Ten Network
Delaware at Old Dominion — Comcast SportsNet (Bay Area/Mid Atlantic/Philadelphia)/CSS
Wake Forest at Duke — ESPNU

12:30 p.m.
Women’s: Northwest Missouri State at Pittsburg State

1:30 p.m.
Oklahoma State at Kansas State — Big 12 Network
South Carolina State at South Carolina — Fox Sports Net-regional (Arizona/Detroit Plus/Midwest Plus/San Diego/South/Southwest/Sun Sports)

Women’s: Oklahoma at Texas — Fox Sports Net-national

2 p.m.Georgetown at Marquette — Big East Network
George Mason at William & Mary — Comcast SportsNet (Bay Area/Mid Atlantic/Philadelphia)/CSS
Texas at Baylor — ESPNU

Women’s: Purdue at Nebraska — CBS

2:15 p.m.
Ohio State at Illinois — Big Ten Network

2:30 p.m.
Miami (FL) at Georgia Tech — ACC Network

3 p.m.
Northwest Missouri State at Pittsburg State — CBS Sports Network
Stanford at UCLA — Pac-12 Network

4 p.m.
Oklahoma at West Virginia — Big 12 Network
Oakland at Alabama — CSS/Comcast SportsNet (Bay Area/Chicago/Houston/Northwest/Philadelphia)/Cox Sports Television
North Carolina at Boston College — ESPN2
St. John’s at Cincinnati — ESPNU
Florida State at Clemson — Fox Sports Net-regional (Arizona Plus/Detroit Plus/Florida/North Plus/San Diego/South/Prime Ticket/Wisconsin)/Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic/NESN
Bucknell at Missouri — Fox Sports Detroit/Fox Sports Midwest/Sun Sports
Long Island at Quinnipiac — SNY

Women’s: Notre Dame at UConn — CBS

5 p.m.
Southern Utah at Northern Arizona — Fox Sports Arizona/Fox College Sports PacificLehigh at VCU — NBC Sports Network
Utah at Arizona — Pac-12 Network

6 p.m.
Murray State at Southeast Missouri State — ESPNU
Texas Tech at TCU — Fox Sports Southwest/Fox Sports North Plus/Fox College Sports Central

Women’s: Louisville at DePaul — Big East Network

8 p.m.
DePaul at Providence — Big East Network

Women’s: Iowa State at Texas Tech — Fox College Sports Pacific

9 p.m.
Southern Illinois at Evansville — Comcast SportsNet Chicago/Fox Sports Midwest/Fox College Sports Atlantic

9:30 p.m.
Washington at Washington State — ESPNU

10 p.m.
BYU at San Francisco — BYU TV/Comcast SportsNet California Plus

11 p.m.
Cal at USC — Fox Sports Net-national

Sunday, January 6

11:30 a.m.
Women’s: St. John’s at Rutgers — ESPNU

noon
Syracuse at South Florida — Big East Network
Iowa at Michigan — Big Ten Network

1 p.m.
Women’s: Virginia at Miami — Fox Sports Net-regional (Arizona/Detroit Plus/North/South/Sun Sports/Wisconsin/Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic/NESN)
Women’s: Georgia at Tennessee — Fox Sports Net-regional (Arizona Plus/Detroit/Florida/North Plus/Prime Ticket/San Diego/Southwest/SportSouth)

1:30 p.m.
Women’s: Florida State at Maryland — ESPNU

2 p.m.
Women’s: LSU at Florida — SEC Network

2:15 p.m.
Women’s: Penn State at Michigan State — Big Ten Network

3 p.m.
Women’s: Texas A&M at Arkansas — Fox Sports Net-regional (Arizona/Detroit/North Plus/Prime Ticket/San Diego/Southwest/SportSouth/Sun Sports)

3:30 p.m.
Women’s: Vanderbilt at Mississippi — ESPNU

4:30 p.m.
Wisconsin at Nebraska — Big Ten Network
Temple at Kansas — CBS

5:30 p.m.
Wichita State at Bradley — ESPNU
Florida at Yale — NBC Sports Network

Women’s: Oklahoma State at Baylor — Fox Sports Net-national

7 p.m.
Northwestern at Minnesota — Big Ten Network

8 p.m.
Tulsa at SMU — Fox Sports Net-national/Fox College Sports Atlantic
Colorado at Arizona State — Pac-12 Network

10 p.m.
Oregon at Oregon State — Fox Sports Net-national/Fox College Sports Pacific

College Football Viewing Picks For Week 14, 12/01/2012, All Times Eastern

Schedule Courtesy of Matt’s College Sports

Pregame & Studio Shows
College GameDay live from the SEC Championship, Atlanta, GA — ESPNU, 9 a.m./ESPN, 10 a.m.
This Week in SEC Football — CBS Sports Network, 1 p.m.
College Football Countdown — ABC, 3 p.m.
College Football Championship Saturday — CBS, 3 p.m.
College Football Scoreboard — ESPN, 3 p.m.
College Football Today — CBS, 3:30 p.m.
Big Ten Football Championship Pregame — Big Ten Network, 6:30 p.m.
College Football Scoreboard — ESPN, 7 p.m.
SEC Tonight — CBS Sports Network, 7:30 p.m.
College Football Saturday — Fox, 7:30 p.m.
Big Ten Football Championship Game — Big Ten Network, 11:30 p.m.
Inside College Football: Championship Saturday Special — CBS Sports Network, midnight
College Football Final — ESPN2, midnight

ACC Championship, Charlotte, NC
Florida State vs. Georgia Tech — ESPN, 8 p.m. (Brent Musburger/Kirk Herbstreit/Heather Cox)

Big Ten Championship, Indianapolis, IN
Nebraska vs. Wisconsin — Fox, 8 p.m. (Gus Johnson/Charles Davis/Julie Alexandria/Petros Papadakis)

Conference USA Championship
Central Florida at Tulsa — ESPN2/ESPN 3D, noon (Dave Pasch/Brian Griese/Jenn Brown)

SEC Championship, Atlanta, GA
Alabama vs. Georgia — CBS, 4 p.m. (Verne Lundquist/Gary Danielson/Tracy Wolfson)

noon
Oklahoma at TCU — ESPN (Joe Tessitore/Matt Millen/Shannon Spake)

Oklahoma State at Baylor — FX (Craig Bolerjack/Joel Klatt/Darius Walker)

2:30 p.m.
Kansas at West Virginia — Fox Sports Net (national)/Root Sports (Northwest/Pittsburgh/Rocky Mountain)/WLVI/WMCN/KICU/Fox College Sports Central (Steve Physioc/Brian Baldinger/Jim Knox)

Nicholls State at Oregon State — Pac-12 Network (Kevin Calabro/Glenn Parker/Ryan Nece)

3:30 p.m.
Boise State at Nevada — ABC (Mike Patrick/Ed Cunningham/Jeannine Edwards)
Cincinnati at UConn — ABC (Bob Wischusen/Danny Kanell/Maria Taylor)

7 p.m.
Pittsburgh at South Florida — ESPN2 (Mark Jones/Brock Huard/Quint Kessenich)

8 p.m.
Texas at Kansas State — ABC (Brad Nessler/Todd Blackledge/Holly Rowe)

Fox Sports Media Group’s College Football Games For Week 14 Including Announcing Assignments

For the second straight year, Fox Sports has a double conference championship game weekend. And once again, Gus Johnson and Charles Davis will pull the double, calling the Pac-12 Championship Game on Friday in Palo Alto, CA and then taking the red eye east to Indianapolis for the Big Ten Championship Game to call that game on Saturday. Fox will use Julie Alexandria and Petros Papadakis on the sidelines for both games.

Fox also has two Big 12 games on FX and Fox Sports Net at noon and at 2 p.m. ET on Saturday.

We have the games that will be aired on the Fox Sports Media Group for the final week of college football before we get to the Bowl games.

College Football on FOX Advance Programming Schedule
November 30-December 1
All times Eastern unless otherwise indicated

DATE	TIME	GAME	OUTLET	Play by Play	Analyst	Sideline
Friday, November 30	8:00 PM	Pac-12 Championship Game: UCLA at Stanford	FOX/FOX Deportes	Gus Johnson	Charles Davis	Julie Alexandria/Petros Papadakis
Saturday, December 1	8:00 PM	B1G Championships Game (from Lucas Oil Stadium): Wisconsin vs. Nebraska	FOX/FOX Deportes	Gus Johnson	Charles Davis	Julie Alexandria/Petros Papadakis
Saturday, December 1	12:00 PM	Oklahoma St. at Baylor	FX	Craig Bolerjack	Joel Klatt	Darius Walker
Saturday, December 1	2:30 PM	Kansas at West Virginia	FSN (National)	Steve Physioc	Brian Baldinger	Jim Knox

There you have it.

ESPN’s College Football Games For Week 14 Including Announcing Assignments

This week marks for all intents and purposes, the final week of conference play in college football. There are conference championships in the ACC, Big Ten, C-USA, MAC, Pac-12 and SEC. ESPN platforms will carry four of them either through TV or radio.

The ESPN family of networks also will air the regular season finales in conferences that don’t have championship games including the Big East, the Big 12 and Mountain West.

And with the Football Championship Subdivision in the midst of the second round of its playoffs, ESPN3 will be carrying games online from across the country.

We have the schedule for Week 14 across ESPN’s platforms.

Football Championship Week Highlighted by Games with Conference Championship & Bowl Bid Implications

ESPN’s college football “Championship Week” schedule will include games with conference championship and bowl bid implications, highlighted by five matchups in which the winning team will win the conference title.

• ESPN’s Thursday prime-time telecast on November 29 will pit Louisville at Rutgers in a BIG EAST matchup at 7:30 p.m. Rutgers will win the conference with a victory over Louisville. ABC will also televise Cincinnati at Connecticut on Saturday, Dec. 1, at 3:30 p.m. If Louisville and Cincinnati win and create a four-way tie for the championship, the higher-ranked team in the BCS Standings between Louisville and Rutgers will receive the conference’s BCS berth. The highest-ranked team in the BCS Standings between Louisville, Rutgers and Syracuse will receive the BCS bid with a Louisville and Connecticut victory.
• ESPN2 and ESPN Radio will each offer a conference championship game on Friday, Nov. 30:
  • ESPN2 will televise the MAC Football Championship, No. 21 Northern Illinois vs. No. 17 Kent State in a showdown of one-loss teams at 7 p.m. ET.
  • ESPN Radio will broadcast No. 16 UCLA at No. 8 Stanford in the Pac-12 Championship Game at 8 p.m.
• The lineup for Saturday, Dec. 1, will include ACC and Conference USA championship games and a matchup between the top two teams of the Sun Belt:
  • ESPN’s prime-time telecast will feature No. 13 Florida State vs. Georgia Tech in the ACC Championship Game at 8 p.m.
  • ESPN2 and ESPN 3D will televise Central Florida at Tulsa in a matchup of 9-3 teams in the Conference USA Championship Game at noon.
  • ESPN3 will carry Middle Tennessee at Arkansas State in a matchup for the Sun Belt Conference title at 3 p.m. Both teams have an 8-3 overall and 6-1 in conference record.
• Additional games with conference and bowl implications on Saturday, Dec. 1:
  • No. 6 Kansas State will host No. 18 Texas on the ABC Saturday Night Football broadcast at 8 p.m. One-loss Kansas State will clinch the Big 12 title and the conference’s automatic BCS berth with a win or a No. 11 Oklahoma loss. ESPN will televise Oklahoma at TCU Saturday, Dec. 1 at noon.
  • ABC will also broadcast No. 20 Boise State at Nevada at 3:30 p.m. Boise State can clinch a share of the Mountain West Conference title with a win.
• ESPN3 will carry eight games from the Football Championship Subdivision quarterfinals on Saturday, Dec. 1.

ESPN, ABC, ESPN2, ESPNU, ESPN3, ESPN 3D and ESPN Radio Schedule

Date	Time (ET)	Game / Commentators	Network
Thu, Nov 29	7:30 p.m.	Louisville at Rutgers Rece Davis, Jesse Palmer, David Pollack & Samantha Steele	ESPN
Fri, Nov 30	7 p.m.	MAC Football Championship: No. 21 Northern Illinois vs. No. 17 Kent State (from Detroit) Carter Blackburn, Rod Gilmore & Jemele Hill	ESPN2
	8 p.m.	Pac-12 Championship Game: No. 16 UCLA at No. 8 Stanford Bill Rosinski, David Norrie, Joe Schad	ESPN Radio
Sat, Dec 1	Noon	No. 11 Oklahoma at TCU Joe Tessitore, Matt Millen & Shannon Spake	ESPN
	Noon	Conference USA Championship Game: UCF at Tulsa Dave Pasch, Brian Griese & Jenn Brown	ESPN2 & ESPN 3D
	Noon	No. 23 Oklahoma State at Baylor Dave Lamont, Tom Ramsey, Ian Fitzsimmons	ESPN Radio
	2 p.m.	FCS Championship Second Round: New Hampshire at Wofford	ESPN3
	2 p.m.	FCS Championship Second Round: Coastal Carolina at Old Dominion	ESPN3
	2 p.m.	FCS Championship Second Round: Central Arkansas at Georgia Southern	ESPN3
	2 p.m.	FCS Championship Second Round: Illinois State at Appalachian State	ESPN3
	3 p.m.	Middle Tennessee at Arkansas State Brock Bowling & Cole Cubelic	ESPN3
	3:30 p.m.	No. 20 Boise State at Nevada Mike Patrick, Ed Cunningham & Jeannine Edwards	ABC & ESPN3 *
		Cincinnati at Connecticut Bob Wischusen, Danny Kanell & Maria Taylor	ABC & ESPN3 *
	4 p.m.	FCS Championship Second Round: South Dakota State at North Dakota State	ESPN3
	4 p.m.	FCS Championship Second Round: Cal Poly at Sam Houston State	ESPN3
	6 p.m.	FCS Championship Second Round: Wagner at Eastern Washington	ESPN3
	7 p.m.	Pittsburgh at South Florida Mark Jones, Brock Huard & Quint Kessenich	ESPN2
	7 p.m.	FCS Championship Second Round: Stony Brook at Montana State	ESPN3
	8 p.m.	No. 18 Texas at No. 6 Kansas State Brad Nessler, Todd Blackledge & Holly Rowe	ABC
	8 p.m.	ACC Championship Game: No. 13 Florida State vs. Georgia Tech (Charlotte) ESPN: Brent Musburger, Kirk Herbstreit & Heather Cox Radio: Bill Rosinski, David Norrie, Joe Schad	ESPN & ESPN Radio

* Local blackout may apply

And the Fox Sports Media Group’s college football games for Week 14 will be posted next.

Some Long Overdue Tuesday Sports Media Thoughts

I’ve been bottling up some sports media thoughts from the last time I wrote a similar post. You’re due for some more. Let’s provide you with some. They’re below in bullet form as always.

• We’re getting closer to seeing Fox Sports 1 coming to fruition. While Fox is not saying anything official, behind the scenes, it’s working very hard to show that it is very serious about making this a true alternative to ESPN. In this week’s Sports Business Journal (subscription required), John Ourand writes that Fox has already trademarked “Fox Sports 1,” purchased a dot-com to host a Fox Sports 1 website, developed a logo, and has showed a video to several professional league and college conference officials that displays what the network is all about.

  Ourand cites sources who have seen the video that Fox is looking to launch the network in August of 2013, rebranding the existing Speed channel, and then making a big platform launch during Super Bowl XVIII week in February 2014 which will air on the Fox mothership.

  While many sports media observers were watching NBC Sports Network to see if it was going to be the challenger to ESPN, Fox has quietly been working to sign long term contracts with existing partners MLB, NASCAR, UFC as well as the Big 12 and the Pac-12 to help establish programming on Fox Sports 1. When the network finally launches next summer, Fox Sports 1 will be in very good position and hit the ground running with some major sports programming, something that NBCSN has been unable to achieve.

  And with the NBA and English Premier League coming up for bid in 2015 and the Big Ten in 2016, Fox Sports 1 could make a very good destination for all three.

  We’ll be monitoring this story well into 2013.

• In a related note, Fox’s parent company, News Corp., made huge news last week with its purchase of 49% of the YES Network plus reportedly being close to retaining the rights to the Los Angeles Dodgers for a staggering $280 million annually.

  Through buying into YES and keeping the Dodgers, News Corp. would have the rights to three of the four MLB teams in the nation’s two largest markets. And with the option to increase its ownership of YES to 80% within three years, Fox is in a very good position to maintain its position in MLB through local rights.

  I would not be surprised if Fox goes after ownership stakes in NESN in Boston, co-owned by the Red Sox and Bruins, and Altitude in Denver, partners with the Avalanche and the Nuggets. I don’t think News Corp. is done with its spending spree. It will have a lot of cash to spend as it’s spinning off its publishing unit and focusing solely on television and movies.

  By positioning the Fox Sports Nets with long term contracts with several MLB, NBA and NHL teams, Fox ensures the survival of its regional sports networks for many years to come.

• ESPN’s 12 year contract to air the college football playoff plus the Orange, Rose and Sugar Bowls shows that the Alleged Worldwide Leader has faith in the sport and wants maintain its firm control of the postseason.

  We saw that when it placed all of the Bowl Championship Series on cable in 2010, that ESPN was very serious about controlling the postseason. And while ABC is given major college football games during the regular season, it carries just a few bowl games, most are aired on either ESPN or ESPN2.

  When your humble blogger went to ESPN last year to talk with Executive Senior Vice President of Studio and Event Production, Norby Williamson, he told me that ESPN was the perfect destination for the BCS as the network could provide fans with programming surrounding the games not just pre and post, but through coverage in the days leading up to the Championship Game. I’m sure his feeling has not changed now that ESPN has obtained the rights to the playoffs.

  While there’s no doubting that ESPN does college football well, its control of all of the BCS Automatic Qualifying conferences is disturbing. By guaranteeing control through long-term contracts that go well into the next decade, ESPN will continue airing games for the foreseeable future without interruption.

• Whenever I eat dinner at my parents’ house, one program they like to watch while dining is Inside Edition. While the show has its positive qualities, one huge negative is its coverage of celebrities, Lindsay Lohan in particular. It seems every move she makes is extensively covered, no matter how big, no matter how small. One night, as the show was in its 3,608th consecutive day of covering Lindsay Lohan, I said out loud, “This is like ESPN with Tim Tebow,” and it suddenly hit me that Inside Edition’s obsession with Lohan is just like ESPN’s with Tim Tebow.

  Now is this so far off? Inside Edition goes to court whenever Lohan violates her probation whether it be drunk driving or stealing a necklace (allegedly). ESPN went to New York Jets training camp to cover Tebow.

  Inside Edition went into battle mode when handlers called 9-1-1 when Lohan failed to wake up for a call on set of the Lifetime movie, “Liz and Dick”. ESPN made sure we all celebrated Tim Tebow’s birthday via SportsCenter.

  Inside Edition covered Lohan’s snub of ABC’s Barbara Walters. ESPN asked actor Liam Neeson about Tim Tebow even though he was hardly familiar with the QB.

  Inside Edition can’t seem to go one day without mentioning Lohan. Doug Gottlieb admitted to Dan Patrick that ESPN management told him to mention Tebow on his radio show.

  These are just a few instances, but again, I ask is this so far off to make the analogy that Lindsay Lohan is to Inside Edition as Tim Tebow is to ESPN?

  I’m sure I’ll hear from ESPN’s extensive public relations machine on this, but they can’t convince me that Tebow isn’t their Binky.

• I’ve seen all of season 3 of Downton Abbey except for the Christmas Special that will air on ITV in the UK on Christmas Day (naturally). While I won’t give any spoilers, I will give some news that has already been reported. Shirley MacLaine gives some great energy to the first few episodes playing Elizabeth “Cora Grantham” McGovern’s mother, visiting from the United States. The season begins in 1920 with Robert in financial difficulty and Downton’s future in doubt, Mr. Bates in jail and Matthew and Lady Mary engaged.

  What transpires next is the usual drama, comedy and plot twists that make the series great. There will be joy and there will be sadness, but you’ll have to see what happens when the third season premieres on PBS on January 6.

  I’m giving away nothing. If you want spoilers, buy me a few drinks and I’ll tell you.

We’re done. Enjoy your Tuesday.

ESPN Unveils Its College Basketball Announcing Teams For 2012-13 Season

Let’s take a look at the announcers ESPN will utilize for college basketball this season.

Dan Shulman and Dick Vitale remain the top team as they’ll major ACC and Saturday primetime games together. Dave O’Brien gets an upgrade as he’ll call ACC games with Vitale, Jay Bilas or Doris Burke.

Brent Musburger returns to call Big 12 games on Big Monday, but he’ll have a new partner in Fran Fraschilla who returns to calling Big Monday on ESPN.

Musburger’s partner of last year, Bob Knight will be assigned to SEC games on Thursday nights with Rece Davis.

With ESPN picking up Pac-12 games this season, Bill Walton returns to the Mothership to be the analyst on Wednesday and Thursday night games with Dave Pasch.

Returning teams include Sean McDonough, Jay Bilas and Bill Raftery on Big East games on Big Monday, Mike Patrick and Len Elmore move to the Big East on Saturdays after calling the ACC for years and Brad Nessler and Jimmy Dykes on the SEC.

Ok, here’s the ESPN press release.

ESPN 2012-13 Men’s College Basketball Commentators
Vitale, Bilas & More Return; Walton Joins; Fraschilla & Knight on New Nights

ESPN’s 2012-13 men’s college basketball telecasts – more than 1,450 games tipping off with 350 nonconference contests beginning Friday, Nov. 9 – will feature a deep bench of knowledgeable and experienced commentators.

Dick Vitale, in his 34th season with ESPN, will continue to provide analysis on top games throughout the season, primarily with Dan Shulman. During conference play, Shulman and Vitale will work the weekly Saturday Primetime series and select ACC Wednesday Night Hoops telecasts, including North Carolina at Duke on February 13.

Jay Bilas, entering his 18th season with ESPN, will also work top matchups throughout the season, beginning in Germany for ESPN’s telecast of Michigan State vs. Connecticut in the Armed Forces Classic from the Ramstein Air Base on Friday, Nov. 9, at 5:30 p.m. ET. During conference action, Bilas will again team with Sean McDonough and analyst Bill Raftery, who joined ESPN in 1980, on the weekly Big Monday BIG EAST package of games and work contests from various conferences.

Basketball Hall of Famer Bill Walton – a three-time NCAA Player of the Year (1972, 1973, 1974) at UCLA – will rejoin ESPN as a college basketball analyst, primarily working Wednesday and Thursday Pac-12 telecasts with commentator Dave Pasch. Walton, who guided UCLA to national titles in 1972 and 1973 and to an NCAA record 88-game winning streak, served as a key NBA analyst for ESPN from 2002 to 2009.

Top analysts Fran Fraschilla and Bob Knight will take on new assignments during conference play. Fraschilla will serve as the analyst on the Big Monday Big 12 series, partnering with Brent Musburger. Fraschilla previously worked Big Monday Big 12 games from 2004 through 2009. Knight will work Thursday Night Showcase SEC matchups with Rece Davis. Knight and Davis have worked several games together and shared the set on studio programming, including College GameDay.

Additional highlights:

• Brad Nessler and Jimmy Dykes will return to work SEC telecasts as part of ESPN’s Super Tuesday series and through the finals of the SEC Tournament. Mark Jones will call play-by-play with Dykes on Saturday SEC games.
• Mike Tirico, one of ESPN’s most versatile commentators and the voice of Monday Night Football, and ESPN analyst Dan Dakich will return for their second season together on the weekly Big Ten Super Tuesday game.
• The Thursday Night Showcase Big Ten telecasts will feature a new announcer team of Joe Tessitore and Sean Farnham.
• Dave O’Brien, who previously worked Big Ten games, will call Thursday and Saturday ACC games. Doris Burke will serve as the analyst with O’Brien on Saturday telecasts.

Commentators appearing in regular weekly ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPNU time slots plus Saturdays throughout the conference action (conference assignments can vary):

Various Days

Network	Conference	Play-by-play	Analyst
ESPN or ESPN2	Select Games	Dan Shulman	Dick Vitale

Big Monday

Network	Conference	Play-by-play	Analyst	Reporter
ESPN	BIG EAST	Sean McDonough	Jay Bilas and Bill Raftery
ESPN	Big 12	Brent Musburger	Fran Fraschilla	Holly Rowe

Super Tuesday

Network	Conference	Play-by-play	Analyst	Reporter
ESPN	Big Ten	Mike Tirico	Dan Dakich	Samantha Steele
ESPN	SEC	Brad Nessler	Jimmy Dykes	Shannon Spake
ESPNU	ACC	Tom Hart	Len Elmore
ESPNU	SEC	Dari Nowkhah	Dino Gaudio

Wednesday Night Hoops

Network	Conference	Play-by-play	Analyst
ESPN or ESPN2	ACC	Dan Shulman or Dave O’Brien	Dick Vitale, Jay Bilas or Doris Burke
ESPN or ESPN2	BIG EAST	Mike Patrick	LaPhonso Ellis
ESPN or ESPN2	Big 12	Bob Wischusen	Stephen Bardo
ESPN or ESPN2	Pac 12	Dave Pasch	Bill Walton
ESPNU	Big 12	Mitch Holthus	Matt Doherty
ESPNU	BIG EAST	Adam Amin	Tim Welsh

Thursday Night Showcase

Network	Conference	Play-by-play	Analyst	Reporter
ESPN or ESPN2	ACC	Dave O’Brien	Dick Vitale, Jay Bilas or Doris Burke	Jeannine Edwards
ESPN or ESPN2	Big Ten	Joe Tessitore	Sean Farnham
ESPN or ESPN2	SEC	Rece Davis	Bob Knight
ESPN or ESPN2	Pac 12	Dave Pasch	Bill Walton
ESPN or ESPN2	BIG EAST	John Saunders	Various analysts
ESPN2	West Coast	Dave Flemming	TBD
ESPNU	Pac-12	Roxy Bernstein	Miles Simon

Friday

Network	Conference	Play-by-play	Analyst
ESPNU	MAAC	Doug Sherman	Tim O’Toole
ESPNU	Horizon	Jim Barbar	Malcolm Huckaby

Saturday

Network	Conference	Play-by-play	Analyst	Reporters
ESPN	Saturday Primetime	Dan Shulman	Dick Vitale	Samantha Steele
ESPN	BIG EAST	Mike Patrick	Len Elmore
ESPN	Big Ten	Bob Wischusen	Dan Dakich
ESPN	Big 12	Jon Sciambi	Fran Fraschilla
ESPN	ACC	Dave O’Brien	Doris Burke
ESPN	SEC	Mark Jones	Jimmy Dykes
ESPNU	BIG EAST	Beth Mowins	Tim Welsh
ESPNU	SEC	Tom Hart	Matt Doherty
ESPNU	Pac-12	Dave Flemming	Sean Farnham

Sunday

Network	Conference	Play-by-play	Analyst	Reporter
ESPNU	ACC Sunday Night Basketball	Carter Blackburn	Jay Williams	Allison Williams
ESPNU	Missouri Valley	Mitch Holthus	Mark Adams

In addition to regular assignments on ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPNU, ESPN Regional Television will produce and syndicate an extensive schedule of games from the SEC, BIG EAST and Big 12:

SEC Network	Play-by-play	Analyst
Wednesday and Saturday	Clay Matvick, Dave Baker, Dave Neal or Dave Lamont	Joe Dean, Kara Lawson, Barry Booker, Jon Sundvold or Kyle Macy

Big 12 Network	Play-by-play	Analyst
Saturday and select weekdays	Dave Armstrong, Mitch Holthus or Brad Sham	Reid Gettys, Stephen Howard, Bryndon Manzer, Chris Piper or Rich Zvosec

BIG EAST Network	Play-by-play	Analyst
Saturday and select Sundays	Anish Shroff	Bob Wenzel

That is all.

The 2012-13 ESPN Family of Networks College Basketball Regular Season Schedule

Ready for some college hoops? ESPN is. It’s sent a 4,300-word press release which I edited down to 4,059 after taking out a few things.

Suffice to say that ESPN will present more than 1,450 games across its platforms, ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, ESPN3, Longhorn Network as well as ESPN Regional Television-produced games for the Big East, Big 12, SEC Network and other syndicated networks.

First, I’ll provide the text of what ESPN is saying about its extensive schedule and then I’ll post the games after a jump break. Probably best to do that as you’ll be scrolling for a while. So here’s ESPN’s preview of the schedule, then we’ll post the non-conference and then the conference schedules.

Men’s College Basketball Schedule Tips Off with 350 Non-Conference Games

Full Season of More than 1,450 Matchups Tips Off with First Regular-Season Game from Europe; Champions Classic Doubleheader Anchors Nov 13 24-Hour Marathon; ESPN3 Provides 125 Exclusive Non-Conference Games

ESPN’s extensive coverage of the 2012-13 men’s college basketball season – more than 1,450 games across ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, ESPN3 and Longhorn Network – will tip off with 350 regular-season nonconference games.

The season will begin with 12 games on Friday, Nov. 9 led by Michigan State vs. Connecticut in the Armed Forces Classic from the Ramstein Air Base in Kaiserslautern, Germany at 5:30 p.m. ET on ESPN. It will mark the first regular-season men’s college basketball game from Europe. ESPN will also televise Maryland vs. defending National Champion Kentucky in the Barclays Center Classic from Brooklyn, N.Y. at 8:30 p.m.

For the second straight year, ESPN will showcase four of the all-time winningest programs in the Champions Classic doubleheader as part of the College Hoops Tip-Off Marathon on Tuesday, Nov. 13. The matchups from Atlanta will pit Michigan State vs. Kansas at 7 p.m. and Duke vs. Kentucky at 9 p.m. Kentucky holds an 11-8 all-time series lead against Duke but lost the last meeting between the programs 95-92 in 2001. Michigan State has won five the nine games against Kansas, including two victories in 2009.

Season highlights:

• The schedule consists of approximately 125 exclusive contests on ESPN3, a record for the platform. Later in the season, ESPN3 will offer more than 100 exclusive conference games as well as simulcasts of syndicated matchups, providing fans with nearly 750 live games on the network.
• All live telecasts of college basketball games on ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU and ESPN Buzzer Beater as well as exclusive games on ESPN3 – ESPN’s live multi-screen sports network – will be available on computers at WatchESPN.com and on smartphones and tablets via the WatchESPN app.  WatchESPN is currently available in 40 million households nationwide to fans who receive their video subscription from Time Warner Cable, Bright House Networks, Verizon FiOS TV, Comcast Xfinity TV or Midcontinent Communications.
• For the fifth consecutive year, ESPN will celebrate the opening of the season with a marathon of coverage across ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPNU with the College Hoops Tip-off Marathon on Tuesday, Nov. 13. This year’s marathon will include 11 men’s games over 24 consecutive hours on ESPN – plus a schedule of matchups across ESPN2 and ESPNU – beginning at midnight with West Virginia at Gonzaga in the Old Spice Classic.
• ESPN will provide college basketball fans with live coverage of at least one game every day but five from November 9 to March 10 (December 7, 13, 14, 24 and 26).
• Multiple marquee early season non-conference events return, including the ACC/Big Ten Challenge, SEC/BIG EAST Challenge, Jimmy V Classic, Maui Invitational, CBE Hall of Fame Classic, Puerto Rico Tip-Off, NIT Season Tip-Off, Charleston Classic, Old Spice Classic, DIRECTV Classic, Diamond Head Classic, BracketBusters, 2K Sports Classic, Legends Classic, Basketball Hall of Fame Tip-Off and Las Vegas Invitational.
• In addition, ESPN networks will cover two new events from the new Barclays Center, home of the Brooklyn Nets, in Brooklyn, N.Y. The first annual Barclays Center Classic on Friday, Nov. 9: Morehead State vs. LIU Brooklyn at 5:45 p.m. on ESPN3 followed by Maryland vs. Kentucky at 8:30 p.m. on ESPN. The second event will pit West Virginia vs. Michigan in the Brooklyn Hoops Winter Festival on Saturday, Dec. 15, at 8 p.m. on ESPN.

Top nonconference games:

• Indiana vs. Georgia in the Legends Classic on Monday, Nov. 19, at 5:30 p.m. on ESPNU
• Mississippi State vs. North Carolina in the Maui Invitational on Monday, Nov. 19, at 6 p.m. on ESPN2
• Creighton vs. Wisconsin in the Las Vegas Invitational on Friday, Nov. 23, at 10 p.m. on ESPN2
• North Carolina at Indiana in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge on Tuesday, Nov. 27, at 9:30 p.m. on ESPN
• Ohio State at Duke in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge on Wednesday, Nov. 28, at 9:30 p.m. on ESPN
• Kentucky at Notre Dame in the SEC/BIG EAST Challenge on Thursday, Nov. 29, at 7 p.m. on ESPN2
• San Diego State vs. UCLA in the Wooden Classic from the Honda Center in Anaheim on Saturday, Dec. 1, at 10 p.m. on ESPNU
• Jimmy V Classic doubleheader on ESPN on Tuesday, Dec. 4: Texas vs. Georgetown at 7 p.m. and NC State vs. Connecticut at 9 p.m.
• Florida at Florida State on Wednesday, Dec. 5, at 7 p.m. on ESPN2
• UCLA vs. Texas in The Showcase from Reliant Stadium in Houston on Saturday, Dec. 9, at 5:15 p.m. on ESPN
• Florida at Arizona on Saturday, Dec. 15, at 10 p.m. on ESPN
• North Carolina at Texas on Wednesday, Dec. 19, at 9 p.m., on ESPN2
• Baylor at Gonzaga on Friday, Dec. 28, at 8 p.m. on ESPN2
• Missouri at UCLA on Friday, Dec. 28, at 10 p.m. on ESPN2

Next, a jump break and then the extensive ESPN Family of Networks non-conference college basketball schedule which includes holiday tournaments, the various non-conference challenges as well as other games.

(continue reading…)

What is Fox Sports 1? How Does It Affect You?

As we speed into the last quarter of 2012 and prepare for what’s ahead in 2013, there is one thing that is on the horizon for US sports fans and that is the expected appearance of a new all-sports cable channel. No, it’s not NBC Sports Network, although its trials and tribulations this fall will be the subject of a sports media thoughts post this week.

Sometime over the next two years, Fox Sports will announce that the sometimes all-motorsports, sometimes reality channel SPEED will be converted to an all-sports channel that will air MLB, Big 12 and Pac-12 sports, MMA, some NASCAR and anything else it can its hands on. You’re seeing a little bit of this through Fox’s increased sports programming on FX. Two Saturdays ago, FX had a college football doubleheader followed by a UFC on FX Fight Night.

Imagine that next year on the new SPEED which will in all likelihood be rebranded as Fox Sports 1. Why Fox Sports 1? Because it will be part of a company rebranding of Fox’s other sports channels, Fox Soccer and Fuel as Fox Sports 2 and Fox Sports 3, respectively. And there is precedence for this. Fox’s Australian channels are called Fox Sports 1, 2 and 3. Each channel serves to carry certain sports and big events like the Olympics or the Australian Open.

For American sports fans, expect the sports properties to line up as follows once the rebranding takes shape:

FOX SPORTS 1 (FORMERLY SPEED)

• College Basketball (Big 12 & Pac-12)
• College Football (Big 12 & Pac-12)
• English Premier League (Survival Sunday)
• Mixed Martial Arts (UFC)
• MLB
• NASCAR
• UEFA Champions League
• World Cup Soccer

FOX SPORTS 2/FOX SPORTS 2 PLUS (FORMERLY FOX SOCCER/FOX SOCCER PLUS)

• English Premier League
• Scottish Premier League
• UEFA Champions League
• UEFA Europa League
• Australian Rules Football
• Rugby

FOX SPORTS 3 (FORMERLY FUEL)

• Extreme Sports
• Australian Rules Football
• Mixed Martial Arts (UFC)

Fox has already signed for 40 MLB games on Fox Sports 1, taking 14 games away from its over the air package and another 13 away from TBS to form the new slate of games on cable. In addition, the new cable channel will air some League Division Series games starting in 2014.

Fox is about to announce a renewal of its NASCAR rights and expect part of its current schedule of 13 races in the early portion of the Sprint Cup calendar to migrate to Fox Sports 1. If Fox keeps the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, the races could be split among Fox Sports 1 and 3.

And if Fox manages to hold off Al Jazeera’s expected bid for the US rights to English Premier League games, perhaps Fox Sports 1 could gain a package of early Saturday or Sunday morning matches with the rest going to Fox Sports 2.

There are a lot of possibilities for the Fox Sports channels. It could also be in very good position to gain NBA games when the new set of packages go to bid in 2014. And let us not forget about a potential 8 game Thursday Night NFL package that could cover the first half of the regular beginning in 2014 that Fox would certainly be interested in.

It was thought that NBC was positioning itself to challenge ESPN’s supremacy, but with its acquiring of MLB, NASCAR and college sports plus the World Cup in 2015, Fox just might have leap frogged ahead of the Peacock as ESPN’s main opponent.

Fox Sports Goes Big 12 in Primetime

Fox Sports has announced its college football plans for the next couple of weeks. Its primetime games for this Saturday and next Saturday will be in the Big 12. And next Saturday, September 29 will mark its first visit to Stillwater, Oklahoma for the Texas-Oklahoma State game.

That follows this week’s Kansas State at Oklahoma game so Fox is embracing the Big 12 in a big way.

Here’s Fox’s schedule for the next couple of weekends on its various networks.

TEXAS/OKLAHOMA STATE BATTLE GOES PRIMETIME ON FOX

Longhorns & Cowboys Play Their Big 12 Conference Opener Sept. 29
Doubleheader on FX Action Includes No. 8 West Virginia Hosting Baylor

New York, NY – FOX Sports Media Group today unveiled the matchups slated for FOX, FX, FSN & FCS on Saturday, Sept. 29.

FOX Sports presents the Texas/Oklahoma State game in primetime from Stillwater, OK. The FOX COLLEGE SATURDAY pregame show, hosted by Erin Andrews with analysts Eddie George and Joey Harrington, begins coverage at 7:00 PM ET with kickoff slated for 7:50 PM ET. Texas is currently No. 12 in the latest AP poll and makes their first trip to Boone Pickens Stadium since 2009.

On FX, doubleheader coverage includes Baylor traveling to West Virginia at 12:00 PM ET. At 4:00 PM ET, Arizona State meets California in a Pac-12 matchup.

Below is the schedule for the next two weekends on the FSMG networks. The remainder of the schedule will be announced as the season progresses.

FSMG COLLEGE FOOTBALL SCHEDULE – UPDATED 9/17/12
ALL TIMES EASTERN

Saturday, September 22

12:00 PM — Maryland at West Virginia, Big 12, FX
12:00 PM — Ole Miss at Tulane, C-USA, FSN
4:00 PM — Colorado at Washington State, Pac-12, FX
7:30 PM — Kansas State at Oklahoma, Big 12, FOX/FOX Deportes

Saturday, September 29

12:00 PM — Missouri at UCF, C-USA, FSN
12:00 PM — Baylor at West Virginia, Big 12, FX
3:30 PM — Houston vs. Rice (from Reliant Stadium), C-USA, FSN
4:00 PM — Arizona State at California, Pac-12, FX
7:00 PM — TCU at SMU, C-USA, FSN
7:00 PM — Texas Tech at Iowa State, Big 12, FCS
7:30 PM — Texas at Oklahoma State, Big 12, FOX/FOX Deportes

That’s all.

The Big 12 Makes Its Debut on Fox on September 22

After a steady diet of Pac-12 games in primetime in the first three weeks of the college football season, Fox will finally be able to show a Big 12 game on September 22 as its new contract with the conference kicks in.

Fox Sports announced today that it will air Kansas State at Oklahoma at 7:50 p.m. on September 22. This Saturday, Fox will be in the Pac-12 showing the traditional USC at Stanford rivalry game.

Also this Saturday, FX has a Big 12/Pac-12 doubleheader with TCU-Kansas at noon ET followed by Portland State-Washington at 4.

Here are the other games that will be covered by the Fox Sports Media Group over the next two weeks.

BIG 12 FOOTBALL DEBUTS ON FOX WITH K-STATE/OKLAHOMA TOP 25 PRIMETIME SHOWDOWN

No. 15 Wildcats vs. No. 5 Sooners Marks First Big 12 Regular Season Matchup on the Broadcast Network
Maryland at West Virginia – Colorado at Washington State Doubleheader on FX

New York, NY – FOX Sports Media Group today unveiled the matchups slated for FOX and FX on Saturday, Sept. 22.

FOX Sports presents the University of Oklahoma/Kansas State game in primetime, the first ever Big 12 regular season game on the broadcast network. The FOX COLLEGE SATURDAY pregame show, hosted by Erin Andrews with analysts Eddie George and Joey Harrington, begins coverage at 7:00 PM ET with kickoff from Gaylord Family Oklahoma Memorial Stadium slated for 7:50 PM ET. Oklahoma is currently tied at No. 5 in the latest AP poll. Kansas State is ranked No. 15 and faces North Texas on Saturday, Sept. 15 before heading to Norman.

On FX, doubleheader coverage includes West Virginia welcoming the Maryland Terrapins to Morgantown at 12:00 PM ET and at 4:00 PM, Colorado visits Mike Leach’s Washington State team in a Pac-12 matchup.

Below is the schedule for the next two weekends on the FSMG networks. The remainder of the schedule will be announced as the season progresses.

ALL TIMES EASTERN

Saturday, September 15
12:00 PM — TCU at Kansas, Big 12/FX
12:00 PM — Louisiana-Lafayette at Oklahoma St, Big 12/FSN
3:30 PM — Texas A&M at SMU, C-USA/FSN
4:00 PM — Portland St. at Washington, Pac-12/FX
7:00 PM — North Texas at Kansas State, Big 12/FSN
7:00 PM — New Mexico at Texas Tech, Big 12/FCS
7:00 PM — Sam Houston St. at Baylor, Big 12/FCS
7:30 PM — USC at Stanford, Pac-12/FOX / FOX Deportes 

Saturday, September 22
12:00 PM — Maryland at West Virginia, Big 12/FX
12:00 PM — Ole Miss at Tulane, C-USA/FSN
4:00 PM — Colorado at Washington St, Pac-12/FX
7:30 PM — Kansas State at Oklahoma, Big 12/FOX / FOX Deportes

That’s it for this post.

Some Quick Monday Afternoon Linkage

Was out for a bit today so I’m behind in what I want to get done here. I’ll do some links for you to tie you over.

I’ll start with a couple of stories from Sports Business Daily which looks at some record overnight ratings for Fox and NBC for the first Sunday of the NFL regular season.

John Ourand at SBD notes that ESPN has officially scrapped the musical opens for Monday Night Football for good.

From NFL UK, Nicholas Pike writes that viewers can watch Monday Night Football through BBC’s red button or through its website.

Sam Laird at Mashable says NBC’s Michele Tafoya has been sending video tweets from the sidelines during the NFL Kickoff Game and on Sunday Night Football.

Michael O’Connell at the Hollywood Reporter says NBC is really crowing about its Sunday Night Football overnights.

Tim Baysinger of Broadcasting & Cable reports that NFL Network has hired a former DirecTV executive to join its NFL Total Access show.

Christopher Heine of Adweek says the New York Giants are on the forefront of social media.

Adweek’s Emma Bazilian discovers that CNN Situation Room host Wolf Blitzer loves watching ESPN’s SportsCenter.

Media Life Magazine reports that CBS has almost sold out its Super Bowl ad inventory.

Merrill Knox at TV Spy says Friend of Fang’s Bites Courtney Fallon has taken her talents to South Beach from Providence.

ESPN’s Darren Rovell writes that Gillette Stadium in Foxboro, MA becomes the latest NFL facility to offer free Wi-Fi to its fans.

Ed Sherman of The Sherman Report looks at what’s in store this season on ESPN’s Monday Night Fotoball.

Ed says the NFL can’t be pleased over the length of some of Sunday’s games due to replacement refs.

Rob Tobias from the ESPN Front Row PR blog talks to the man who composed the iconic SportsCenter theme.

Also from the Front Row blog, Allison Stoneberg writes about ESPN’s Monday Night Football production truck.

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union notes that NBC Sports Network will air World Team Tennis this weekend.

Pete says the Baseball Hall of Fame has narrowed the field for the Ford C. Frick broadcasters award.

Pete writes that the local CBS affiliate has opted not to show the US Open men’s final today. The same here in Providence. It’s been pushed to its co-owned Fox affiliate’s secondary digital channel. Ouch.

At the Baltimore Sun, David Zurawik talks with new Monday Night Football reporter Lisa Salters who got her start in TV news in the Charm City.

Rich Shopes of the Tampa Bay Times says the local blackout of the Buccaneers home opener is killing local sports bars.

David Barron from the Houston Chronicle says a nice day plus a blowout lowered the Texans’ TV ratings.

John Kiesewetter of the Cincinnati Enquirer writes that the Reds’ radio ratings are truly amazing.

Bob Wolfley at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel says Fox’s Joe Buck and Troy Aikman took note of the replacement referees during yesterday’s San Francisco-Green Bay game.

Dusty Saunders of the Denver Post talks with NBC’s Al Michaels.

The Arizona Republic’s Paola Boivin doesn’t have good news in the DirecTV-Pac 12 Networks talks.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News has five things he learned over the weekend.

Tom has your sports calendar for the week.

Bruce Dowbiggin of the Toronto Globe and Mail downplays CBC’s acquisition of the 2015 Pan Am Games.

Matt Sarzyniak of Matt’s College Sports has a couple of notes on the ESPN/Fox Big 12 deal.

Picking Out Some Sunday Links For You

Let’s do some Sunday linkage on this first NFL regular season Sunday of 2012.

We’ll begin with Pat Eaton-Robb of the Associated Press with an interesting story on how Connecticut is fast becoming home of major sports media companies.

Candace Jackson of the Wall Street talks about her visit to Rich Eisen and his wife, Suzy Shuster’s home in beautiful Beverly Hills.

Jon Gold from CBSSports.com has statements from Pac-12 Commissioner Larry Scott on getting the conference’s networks on Dish Network.

Also from CBSSports.com, Dennis Dodd says the SEC expects to have new TV deals in place including the super secret SEC Network, not the one run by ESPN.

Media Rantz solves the mystery of what happened to NFL Network’s Kara Henderson.

Liana Baker of Reuters reports that an NHL lockout could hurt ratings momentum for NBC Sports Network.

John Gaudiosi of Forbes.com tells us that Sony Playstation 3 gamers get a discounted price for  DirecTV’s NFL Sunday Ticket.

Mike Reynolds of Multichannel says Dish Network has beaten DirecTV to the punch and made a deal with Pac 12 Networks in time for yesterday’s college football games.

Georg Szalai of the Hollywood Reporter writes that movie director James Cameron will be assisting UK’s Sky Sports in producing a 3-D production of this month’s Ryder Cup.

Tim Nudd of Adweek looks at ESPN’s very funny SportsCenter promo featuring John Clayton that has already gone viral.

Anthony Crupi from Adweek notes that NBC broke even on the 2012 Olympics.

Sports Illustrated’s Richard Deitsch has your NFL Broadcasting Guide for the 2012 season.

Eric Deggans of the Tampa Bay Times, writing for the Indiana University National Sports Journalism Center has a theory as to why some NFL teams fail to sell out their games.

Ed Sherman of The Sherman Report has former ESPN’er Charley Steiner recalling two of the funniest “This is SportsCenter” ads ever.

Ed also has some videos from the early days of Monday Night Football. Make that very early days.

ESPN’s Darren Rovell wonders if CBS is selling Super Bowl ads on the cheap.

Evan Weiner of Examiner.com says the late Art Modell deserves better from Cleveland fans. I hate to tell you, Evan, but as a Browns fan, Modell made his bed and has to lie in it.

On the other hand, Newsday’s Bob Glauber says he can’t reconcile Modell’s pulling the Browns from Cleveland with the other parts of his legacy.

Rachel Margolis at ESPN’s Front Row PR blog says College GameDay heads to Tennessee for Week 3.

Drew Drawbaugh of Engadget reports that Google Fiber subscribers will get access to NFL Network and NFL RedZone starting tomorrow.

Chad Finn of the Boston Globe says former Celtic and Chicago Bull Brian Scalabrine will join Comcast SportsNet New England as an analyst.

Richard Sandomir of the New York Times says two former American Basketball Association team owners who get to collect part of the NBA’s TV revenue in perpetuity, want even more and are suing to get it.

Tanzina Vega of the Times says ESPN Deportes Radio NY will be broadcasting Jets games in Spanish this season.

The Albany Times Union’s Pete Dougherty has NFL Commish Roger Goodell disappointed that the league doesn’t have a deal with Time Warner Cable to carry NFL Network.

David Zurawik from the Baltimore Sun says ratings for the Grand Prix of Baltimore fell by almost 60% from the year before. However, last year’s race was on ABC while this year’s edition was on NBC Sports Network.

David speaks with Amber Theoharis who has left MASN for NFL Network and will replace the aforementioned Kara Henderson.

Jim Williams of the Washington Examiner talks with Fox Sports college football analyst Charles Davis.

Coley Harvey at the Orlando Sentinel asks if ESPN’s College GameDay will pay a visit to Tallahassee later this month.

Jimmy Burch in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram writes that the new Big 12 deal with ESPN and Fox will allow for more national broadcasts.

David Barron of the Houston Chronicle has the college football media guide for this season.

Mel Bracht in The Oklahoman says yesterday’s PPV production of the Florida A&M-Oklahoma game was network quality.

Tim Feran of the Columbus (OH) Dispatch says NFL Network and Time Warner Cable are no closer to an agreement than when the channel debuted.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News wonders how long DirecTV can hold out not carrying the Pac 12 Networks.

Tom says Fox tapped the right man to lead its World Cup coverage.

Sports Media Watch notes that last week’s PGA Deutsche Bank Championship hit a five year ratings high.

Dann Stupp and John Morgan of MMA Junkie write that NBC Sports Network will hire some familiar names for an upcoming World Series of Fighting telecast.

And that will do it. The NFL pregame show quotage is coming up next.

Fox Sports Announces New Agreement With Big 12 Conference

Earlier today, ESPN announced its deal with the Big 12 Conference. Now it’s Fox’s turn to announce its half of the rights deal. As with ESPN’s half of the Big 12 contract, this is a 13 year agreement that runs through the 2024-25 season.

ESPN and Fox will share football rights. It allows Fox to air at least six games on network TV. there will be a total of 25 Big 12 national games between ABC, ESPN, Fox and FX.

And both groups are allowed to stream their games.

ESPN will hold a majority of basketball rights including the Big 12 Tournament.

Here’s the press release from Fox Sports. Check it out.

FOX SPORTS MEDIA GROUP AND BIG 12 SIGN NEW MEDIA RIGHTS AGREEMENT

The Big 12 Conference announced it has reached agreement with FOX Sports Media Group and ESPN that extends and expands its partnerships with both media enterprises.

As part of the agreement, both companies will jointly share the Conference’s football over-the-air and cable rights. ESPN continues as the primary rights holder of Big 12 men’s basketball, including the Big 12 Men’s Basketball Championship.

The new 13-year deal with ESPN begins with the upcoming 2012-13 season and runs through 2024-25, replacing the previous eight-year agreement that was scheduled to run through 2015-16. The new Big 12/ESPN contract now runs concurrently with the 13-year agreement between the Conference and FOX. That agreement, announced last spring, has been augmented to reflect the expansion of rights and platforms.

“The stability of the Big 12 Conference is cemented,” said Commissioner Bob Bowlsby. “We are positioned with one of the best media rights arrangements in collegiate sports, providing the Conference and its members unprecedented revenue growth, and sports programming over two networks.”

Highlights of the joint agreement include:

• An increase in the number of guaranteed full national football telecasts to a minimum of 25 per season on a combination of FOX, FX, ABC and ESPN.
• Allows FOX over-the-air access to Big 12 football with a minimum of six games annually on broadcast television.
• Provides FOX with enhanced selections through 2015. ESPN and FOX share rotating game selections beginning in 2016.
• All media, “TV everywhere” rights to FOX and ESPN.

“The Big 12 will generate per member television revenue at the highest level of college athletics, while increasing exposure for our programs, and continuing to provide for comprehensive institutional rights,” commented Oklahoma State University president and Big 12 Conference board of directors chairman Burns Hargis. “The Conference is excited to build upon its long-standing relationships with both ESPN and FOX. I would also like to acknowledge the Board’s executive committee for its fine work during this process.”

Beginning this season, every Big 12 home football game will be carried on a combination of ESPN, FOX or institutional platforms. Big 12 schools will have the option to retain rights to one conference-controlled football game per season for distribution via permitted member institution outlets and third-party licensees, or can return the retained game back to FOX for broadcast. Institutions will also be permitted to retain a minimum of four men’s basketball games a season. In all other sports, institutions will retain rights to all home contests not selected for air by ESPN or FOX.

“Today’s announcement, coupled with the hiring of Bob Bowlsby as our league’s new commissioner, is a great example of how well the Big 12 is positioned for the future,” added University of Texas athletics director and chairman of the Big 12 Athletics Directors, DeLoss Dodds. “This contract ensures the Big 12 Conference will continue to be one of the premier conferences in the country.”

“We’re very pleased to continue our long-running relationship with the Big 12, clearly one of the most successful and esteemed collegiate athletic conferences in America,” said Randy Freer, Co-President & COO, FOX Sports Media Group. “This expanded partnership gives FSMG several Big 12 football games to showcase as part of our first-ever over-the air schedule on FOX, while also providing a substantial number of games for our other platforms. It’s a win-win for everyone concerned.”

Financial terms were not disclosed.

That is all.

ESPN Announces 13 Year Agreement with the Big 12 Conference

Just announced by ESPN, a new long-term agreement that increases the Family of Networks’ commitment to the Big 12 Conference. Starting with this season and lasting until the 2024-25 season, ESPN will have plenty of football and men’s basketball games. This also includes the Big 12 Tournament which ESPN has televised exclusively either through its Big 12 Network or ESPN.

It also allows more Big 12 games to be shown. Under its last contract, ESPN could show football games on ABC and had to subcontract others from Fox Sports Net. Now, ESPN has ownership of 19 conference games through the 2015 season that can be shown on its Family of Networks. In 2016, that commitment will increase to 23 games.

As far as basketball is concerned, ESPN has rights to as many as 105 games with 43 targeted for either ESPN or ESPN2. Another 40 will be aired on ESPNU and six will be relegated to ESPN3.

The contract also gives the Longhorn Network rights to Texas games only.

Fox Sports will also have a portion of games and an announcement is expected soon.

We have the announcement below.

ESPN and Big 12 Sign New Rights Agreement through 2024-25

More Football and Men’s Basketball Games on More ESPN Platforms; TCU/Texas on ESPN Thanksgiving Night

ESPN and the Big 12 Conference have reached a new, 13-year rights agreement through 2024-25 it was announced today by Big 12 Commissioner Bob Bowlsby and ESPN President John Skipper. The comprehensive deal will provide more football games and basketball games across more ESPN platforms than ever before including ESPN on ABC, ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, Longhorn Network (LHN), ESPN 3D, ESPN International, ESPN GamePlan, ESPN FULL COURT, ESPN Goal Line, ESPN Buzzer Beater, ESPN Classic, ESPN Deportes, ESPN3 and WatchESPN.

Several aspects of the new deal begin with the 2012-13 season including for the first time distribution on multiple ESPN networks for football games, and more men’s basketball games, with additional terms activating in 2015-16. As part of the agreement, Fox Sports will offer additional Big 12 content on its networks.

Through the 2015 season, up to 19 conference-controlled football games will be televised on ESPN networks and platforms, including ESPN on ABC, ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU and LHN (for Texas games only). As a result of this increased flexibility, this year’s TCU at Texas matchup will take place on Thanksgiving at 8 p.m. ET on ESPN.

Beginning in 2016, ESPN networks can distribute up to 23 conference-controlled football games, for an increase of four games per year.

For men’s basketball, ESPN networks will televise up to 105 games – an increase of 10 per year – with 43 contests set for ESPN or ESPN2 including a minimum of 30 intra-conference games. Up to 40 games will be televised on ESPNU and up to six contests will originate live on ESPN3. In addition, ESPN retains exclusive rights to the entire Big 12 Men’s Basketball Championship, while ESPN Regional Television will continue to syndicate the Big 12 Network via local over-the-air stations throughout the country.  The Conference also retains its position in ESPN’s Big Monday lineup.

Skipper said, “The Big 12 combines institutions known for excellence with passionate fan bases and rich traditions. This agreement gives us long-term stability, more games and more flexibility for when and how fans can see their favorite teams.”

Bowlsby said, “The stability of the Big 12 Conference is cemented. We are positioned with one of the best media rights arrangements in collegiate sports, providing the Conference and its members unprecedented revenue growth and sports programming over two networks.”

Additional rights

ESPN will retain rights to televise a select group of exclusive games from the league’s 23 sports teams including women’s basketball per season.  In addition, ESPN Regional Television will manage and administer the exclusive rights to the Big 12 Corporate Sales and Sponsorship partner program.

There you have it.

ESPN Announces 2013 Big 12 Big Monday College Basketball Schedule

ESPN has unveiled the Big 12 portion of the Big Monday college basketball schedule. As usual, the Big 12 will be the nightcap of the Big East/Big 12 doubleheader. Overall, there will be 9 Big 12 games including a doubleheader at 5:30 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day on January 21. Baylor, Kansas, Texas and new Big 12 conference member West Virginia will appear three times each. Kansas State is next with two appearances.

Let’s take a look at what’s in store for the Big 12 on Big Monday on ESPN.

ESPN Men’s College Basketball Big Monday Big 12 Schedule for 2013 Season

ESPN and the Big 12 Conference have announced ESPN’s Big Monday Big 12 men’s college basketball schedule for the 2013 season. The popular weekly series – doubleheaders with the BIG EAST Conference — will air every Monday during conference play at 9 p.m. from January 14 to March 4 with the nation’s top teams in action.

For the third straight year, the schedule will include two telecasts on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day Monday, Jan. 21: Oklahoma State at Baylor at 5:30 p.m. ET and Texas at Oklahoma at 9:30 p.m.

Big Monday Big 12 schedule highlights:

• Newest conference member West Virginia will play three Big Monday games, including at home in consecutive weeks against Kansas (January 28) and Texas (February 4). They will also play at Kansas State on February 18.
• West Virginia’s game against Kansas will mark the first meeting between the schools while Texas has won two of its three matchups against the Mountaineers.
• West Virginia head coach Bob Huggins will return to Kansas State, where he coached the 2006-07 season, on February 18.
• National runner up Kansas will play four Big Monday games. In addition to West Virginia and Baylor, Kansas will host in-state rival Kansas State on February 11 and travel to Iowa State on February 25.
• Iowa State, which will host its first Big Monday game since January 9, 2006, defeated Kansas 72-64 in Ames last season.
• The Big Monday schedule will conclude with Baylor at Texas on March 4. Texas holds a 27-9 record against Baylor in conference games despite losing five of the past six against the Bears.

Overall, ESPN outlets will offer more than 100 Big 12 Conference games during the 2012-13 season. A full conference schedule will be released in the coming weeks.

ESPN’s 2013 Big Monday Big 12 Men’s Basketball Schedule
Note: All games Televised on ESPN

Date	Time (ET)	Game
January 14	9 p.m.	Baylor at Kansas
January 21	5:30 p.m.	Oklahoma State at Baylor
	9:30 p.m.	Texas at Oklahoma
January 28	9 p.m.	Kansas at West Virginia
February 4	9 p.m.	Texas at West Virginia
February 11	9 p.m.	Kansas State at Kansas
February 18	9 p.m.	West Virginia at Kansas State
February 25	9 p.m.	Kansas at Iowa State
March 4	9 p.m.	Baylor at Texas

And we’re done until tomorrow.

Doing Some Monday Linkage

Let’s bring out some Monday links today.

Starting with Michael Hiestand of USA Today, he talks with Fox’s Erin Andrews (weird to write that) about her decision to leave ESPN.

A.J. Perez of Fox Sports has Erin’s reaction to joining the network.

Jane Kellogg and Alex Ben Block of the Hollywood Reporter write about Erin Andrews leaving ESPN for Fox.

As for replacing Erin at ESPN, Jason McIntyre of The Big Lead seems to be in Samantha Steele’s corner.

Back to Hiestand at USA Today, he notes that the U.S. Olympic Trials scored for NBC this past weekend.

Michael says the CBS Sports golf crew did as best as they could in a difficult situation when heavy storms ravaged the Washington, DC area and affected the AT&T National PGA Tour stop.

John Ourand at Sports Business Daily talks with NBCUniversal’s CEO on how important the Olympics are important to the company.

Ryan Wilson at CBS Sports notes that the NFL has changed its blackout policy, reducing the requirements for local teams to ensure games will be seen in local markets.

Also at CBS Sports, Dennis Dodd writes that the Big 12′s TV contract has still yet to gain approval from the league’s presidents.

To Ed Sherman at The Sherman Report and he remembers the passing of Jack Buck ten years later.

Ed also looks at Erin Andrews leaving ESPN for Fox.

Scott Roxborough of the Hollywood Reporter notes that the EURO 2012 Final racked up the ratings in Europe.

Mike Reynolds at Multichannel News writes that Comcast SportsNet Chicago has entered the game show arena.

Anthony Crupi of Adweek says the broadcast networks are looking to sports and reality to attract viewers during the dead summer season.

Bill Cromwell of Media Life notes NBC’s plans for the London Olympics later this month.

Wayne Friedman of MediaPost writes that NBC is mostly sold for the Tour de France.

Kevin Iole at Yahoo’s Boxing Experts Blog writes about NBC Sports expanding its boxing portfolio.

Evan Weiner of Examiner.com says no matter how you look at it, the NFL is a monopoly.

Jason Dachman from Sports Video Group notes the amount of cameras ESPN is using at the X Games.

Phil Mushnick of the New York Post goes after college athletics once again.

Ken Schott at the Schenectady Gazette says a local minor league hockey announcer is moving on.

Ken McMillan from the Middletown (NY) Times-Herald Record talks with some area sports radio personalities about WFAN’s 25th anniversary.

The Scranton (PA) Times-Tribune notes that an announcer with local ties will be part of NBC’s Olympic broadcast team.

Dan Steinberg of the Washington Post’s DC Sports Bog notes that Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic’s Chick Hernandez was hit by a Tiger Woods drive this weekend.

Tom Jones of the Tampa Bay Times still yearns for the faulty BCS.

Gary Brown of the Canton (OH) Repository notes that a Golf Channel crew was in town to do a story on a local golf pro.

At the Denver Post, Dusty Saunders says the U.S. Olympic Trials serve as an appetizer for the main course later this month.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News has the sports calendar for this week.

In the Toronto Globe and Mail, Bruce Dowbiggin pays tribute to a colleague who’s retiring this month.

Matt Yoder at Awful Announcing looks at the free agent frenzy among the TV networks over the last year.

Timothy Burke at Deadspin has the video of gymnast Nastia Liukin doing a horrific faceplant off the uneven bars during last night’s US Gymnastic Olympic Trials.

Paul M. Banks at the Sports Bank says a popular Comcast SportsNet Chicago reporter picked up a lot of Twitter love when she joined the service a few days ago.

MediaRantz notes that WFAN’s Boomer and Carton could be nationally syndicated on CBS Sports Radio in January.

Joe Favorito talks about the growth of American soccer.

And those are all of the links I could squeeze out today.

A Few Sports Media Bullet Points

Ok, as we’re all in denial over the Miami Heat winning the NBA Championship, it’s time for a few sports media thoughts. Too many things to go over, but I’ll do my best to cover as many things as I can.

As always, we do them in bullet form. And to drown out the thoughts of LeBron James celebrating, I’m listening to Korn on my iPad at the highest volume.

• Over 24 hours since first learning about Darren Rovell’s decision to leave CNBC for ESPN and I’m still baffled. Now, over all the sports media free agents I’ve mentioned or heard about for 2012, Darren’s name never came up. Darren who started his career at ESPN and left for CNBC in 2006 seemed to be happy with the NBCUniversal, having his own show on NBC Sports Network, his own CNBC site, and occasional appearances on NBC Sports events.

  But when the Worldwide Leader comes a’calling, you have to listen. Deadspin reported Thursday that Disney will pay Rovell $500,000 to file reports for both ABC News and ESPN.

  I don’t know if he’ll have his own show as he did with NBC Sports Network, I tend to doubt it. But the timing is rather interesting. Just after getting the sports business show that he had been clamoring, Darren leaves.

  ESPN has made a few recent sports business hires including Kristi Dosh and Michelle Steele. I wonder if ESPN is making a concerted effort to cover sports business again.

  And as we know, Darren is a prolific tweeter. Will his penchant for Twitter be controlled under ESPN’s social media policy? I’m sure this will all be addressed down the line.

• CBS Radio’s announcement that it was launching a sports radio network came as a surprise. The timing came just ten days after NBC announced it was launching a radio network of its own.

  This makes an already crowded radio scene even more so. Considering you have ESPN which has been firmly established since the 1990′s, Fox Sports Radio, Yahoo and even the Sports USA Radio Network, one wonders if there’s enough room for one more national radio net let alone two.

  Personally, I love to see more networks because competition can only lead to better programming, however, economic realities tell you that one of these fledgling entities may not make it.

  The eyeball test from the outset shows that CBS has the best infrastructure having already established sports stations in several major markets that will be part of CBS Sports Radio. Plus teaming with Cumulus Media’s 67 stations cross the country helps the reach.

  As for NBC, it’s just getting back into the radio business after General Electric had sold the Radio Network to Westwood One and its entire radio station group to various owners. It will partner with the former Westwood One now known as Dial Global.

  The question is whether this will lead to a bidding war for sports properties. ESPN Radio has the BCS, MLB and the NBA while Dial Global has the NFL, NCAA Championships and The Masters.

  Suddenly radio is red hot once again and I like it. And as SportsbyBrooks pointed out, it could lead to more poaching of ESPN talent by CBS and NBC to fill programming slots.

• I was disappointed to learn that Radio Wimbledon will not be handling the worldwide audio play-by-play of the Championships Wimbledon starting next week.

  Last October, Wimbledon’s parent, the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club accepted a bid from IMG to take over the radio rights to call the matches. The new entity called Live@Wimbledon will be using some, but not all of Radio Wimbledon’s team. Over the years, Radio Wimbledon had been the only link to live tennis when NBC was pulling its tape delay shenanigans. Unfortunately, despite Radio Wimby attracting 2.7 million listeners in 2011, the AELTC decided to take IMG’s money and ruin a very good service for the fortnight.

  Radio Wimbledon will be missed.

• As Sports Business Journal reported this week, Fox Sports has begun talks with NASCAR in hopes of extending its current contract. It expires in 2014.

  As Fox has been successful in obtaining rights to the FIFA World Cup, Big 12 and Pac-12, the thinking behind many of these acquisitions has been to play keep away from NBC Sports Group. You know that with NASCAR rights in play, NBC Sports would love nothing more than to add inventory to NBCSN.

  If Fox is successful, it leaves only TNT’s mid-season Sprint Cup races and ESPN’s Chase for the Cup races being up for grabs. And both Turner and ESPN want to prevent NBC from grabbing their packages.

  With MLB, NASCAR, the Big East and the NBA negotiations all unsettled thus far, NBC still has a chance to lure one if not all to its war chest.

• Lastly, the aforementioned SportsbyBrooks tweeted that Chris Berman will call the late game for Monday Night Football’s season opening doubleheader on September 10. And in addition, he’ll call one preseason game as practice. If you thought the venom towards Berman is bad when he calls the U.S. Open or the All-Star Home Run Derby, just wait until he does the NFL. It’s probably best that ESPN public relations stay off social media on the nights Berman calls the NFL.

And that will conclude the thoughts. Enjoy your Friday.

Fox Sports Announces 2012-13 College Football Schedule

Over the last hour or so, it’s been all-Pac-12, all the time. Let’s break that up with this post on the complete Fox Sports college football schedule for 2012-13. It will be filled with national matchups featuring the Big 12, Conference USA and Pac-12 including regional games on the Fox Sports Net affiliates from the ACC, Big East, Big Sky, SEC, Southland and WAC. Also, the Fox Sports-run Big Ten Network will air games involving teams from the Big Ten Conference.

Overall, the Fox Sports Media Group will carry 135 games across its various platforms, Fox Sports, FX, Fox Sports Net and the Big Ten Network.

This marks the first year of Fox Sports airing games across the Fox network in primetime on Saturday nights. Most of its schedule will involve the Pac-12. Let’s go to the Fox press release. And there will be a jump break to provide the entire schedule.

FOX SPORTS MEDIA GROUP TO TELEVISE OVER 165 COLLEGE FOOTBALL GAMES IN 2012

Hawai’i at USC Kicks-Off FOX Sports’ Inaugural College Football
Broadcast Schedule on Sept. 1 in Primetime
Pac-12, Big Ten and Cotton Bowl Classic Titles Settled on FOX

New York, NY – FOX Sports Media Group’s college football coverage kicks into high gear with more than 165 games airing nationally across FOX, FX, FOX Sports Networks (FSN), Big Ten Network (BTN) and FOX College Sports. The master schedule features teams from the Pac-12, Big 12,  Conference USA and Big Ten (on BTN), as well as regional match-ups from the ACC, SEC, Big East, Big Sky, WAC and Southland Conferences.

Week 1 action begins Saturday, Sept. 1 with seven exciting match-ups highlighted by the debut of FOX Sports’ first-ever regular-season over-the-air college football package. The schedule culminates with coverage of the Pac-12 Football Championship Game, Big Ten Football Championship Game and Cotton Bowl Classic all airing in primetime on FOX.

All eyes will be on Los Angeles Saturday, Sept. 1 (7:30 PM ET) as FOX Sports kicks off 13 consecutive weeks of regular-season action, including 12 prime time games and seven doubleheaders.  Expected Heisman Trophy candidate Matt Barkley begins his quest to lead potential preseason #1 USC to a national title when the Trojans host Hawai’i in the Coliseum. First-year head coach Jim Mora takes the field Saturday, Sept. 8 (7:30 PM ET) when his UCLA Bruins host top 25 contender Nebraska Cornhuskers from the storied Rose Bowl in Pasadena, CA. Barkley & Co. are back on FOX Week 3 when the Trojans travel to Stanford on Saturday, Sept. 15 (7:30 PM ET) to take on the nationally-ranked Cardinal.

Bob Stoops and his perennial top 10 Oklahoma Sooners are also featured Week 1 when they head to El Paso, TX for a Saturday, Sept. 1 (10:30 PM ET) showdown with UTEP on FSN. Other exciting match-ups include the battle of Colorado when Colorado St. takes on the Buffaloes from Sports Authority Field at Mile High on Saturday, Sept. 1 (4:00 PM ET) and the Wisconsin Badgers look to build on last year’s Rose Bowl season when they travel to Oregon St. on Saturday, Sept. 8 (4:00 PM ET) for a match-up against the Beavers on FX. These games headline doubleheader coverage on FX for the first five weeks of the season.

Coming off its most successful season yet, with record ratings and 16 games featuring a top 25-ranked team, BTN airs 15 Big Ten games during the first three weekends of the 2012 season, including the debut of the Urban Meyer era at Ohio State and the return of defending Big Ten champion Wisconsin Badgers. Overall, BTN televises over 40 football games this fall, again ensuring that all Big Ten home football games are televised nationally.

Additionally, FOX Sports boasts exclusive coverage of college football’s Pac-12 Conference Football Championship Game on Friday, November 30 (8:00 PM ET) followed by the Big Ten Conference Football Championship Game on Saturday, Dec. 1 (8:00 PM ET) from Indianapolis.  FOX Sports wraps up its 2012-13 campaign with an exciting Big 12/SEC match-up in the Cotton Bowl Classic live from Cowboys Stadium on Friday, Jan. 4 (8:00 PM ET).

And after this jump break, the entire Fox Sports Media Group college football schedule. Look out.

(continue reading…)

Bringing Out The Thursday Linkage

Here to provide some links for you today. Looks like I’ll be out on Friday so posting may be scarce, but we’ll cross that bridge when we get to it.

In the meantime, I have some links for you now.

This week, CBSSports.com Deputy Managing Editor Craig Stanke passed away at the age of 56. He joined the site as a deputy editor when it was known as SportslineUSA.com. During his time, he helped to attract a number of writers and build CBSSports.com’s stable to a point where it challenges the best sports news websites. Stanke worked at a number of newspapers including the Los Angeles Times, the Palm Beach Post among others.

We have a number of links.

First, CBSSports.com’s Mark Swanson writes Stanke’s obituary.

Scott Miller, CBS Sports’ Senior Baseball Columnist mourns Stanke’s passing.

CBS Sports’ national columnist Gregg Doyel says Stanke continued to teach him even after his death.

Stanke’s good friend, T.J. Simers at the Los Angeles Times, the man who hired Stanke for his first job, says he can’t believe his friend is gone.

To other stories now.

Dennis Dodd of CBSSports.com notes that no matter how much the Big 12 expands, the TV payout money will remain the same. And Dodd tells us that the league’s TV deal with ESPN and Fox will be announced any day now.

Brian Steinberg at Advertising Age reports that CBS is 50% sold for Super Bowl XLVII and could reach 80% soon.

Michael Hiestand of USA Today says despite CBS/Showtime dropping Warren Sapp from Inside the NFL this season, NFL Network has signed the controversial snitch for another year.

Reid Cherner at USA Today writes that many feel last night’s NBA Draft Lottery on ESPN was fixed in New Orleans’ favor.

Patrick Burns of Deadspin notes that almost a quarter of all of SportsCenter’s editions last week was devoted to the Miami Heat.

Richard Deitsch from Sports Illustrated has his monthly Media Power List.

Mike Reynolds at Multichannel News says the 2012 NHL postseason has had the most viewers in ten years.

Steve Lepore of Puck The Media has the viewership of all of the completed 2012 Stanley Cup Playoffs to date.

Steve tweets the overnight ratings for Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final were down significantly from last year.

And Steve has a story on the overnights at Puck The Media.

Tim Nudd of Adweek reviews the NHL’s newest Stanley Cup spot. It’s a winner, but still doesn’t hold up to last year’s “No Words” promo.

Michael Bradley at the Indiana University National Sports Journalism Center writes that newspapers are dropping the printed word for digital content.

Eric Goldschein of SportsGrid has the video of Chicago White Sox announcer Hawk Harrelson going nuts.

In the Sherman Report, Ed Sherman talks about Hawk’s homerism and his love of all things White Sox.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell says talk about concussions may affect youth football participation.

Mike Florio at Pro Football Talk writes that the Miami Dolphins were the first pick of NFL Films for this year’s Hard Knocks and if you believe that, I have a bridge to sell you in Brooklyn.

Pete Dougherty at the Albany Times Union tells us that Sunday’s motorsports races finished in a ratings dead heat.

Ken McMillan of the Middletown (NY) Times Herald-Record writes that the Anaheim Angels Radio Network is now being nationally syndicated.

Dan Steinberg of the Washington Post’s DC Sports Bog notes that a colleague, Tarik El-Bashir, is leaving the paper to join Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic.

At the Miami Herald, David J. Neal says NFL Films won’t have a problem finding story lines for Hard Knocks with the Miami Dolphins.

Mel Bracht of The Oklahoman talks with ESPN softball analyst Michele Smith about the Women’s College World Series which starts today.

Daniel Dorfman at Chicago Side Sports talks with unabashed White Sox homer Hawk Harrelson.

Brent Schrotenboer of the San Diego Union-Tribune writes that San Diego State stands to get more TV money when it enters the Big East than from the Mountain West.

The Toronto Star’s Cathal Kelly rips CBC’s online attempt at satire of last night’s Stanley Cup Final Game 1.

To the Canadian Sports Media Blog which notes that Sportsnet has signed a deal to remain the home of the NFL Network’s Thursday Night Football package which even includes NBC’s Thanksgiving Night game.

Sports Media Watch notes that ESPN received a good overnight number for Game 2 of the Celtics-Heat NBA Eastern Conference Finals.

I Am A GM notes that 10 NBA players are crying conspiracy over last night’s Draft Lottery.

At Awful Announcing, the Brothers Yoder list their favorite NBA announcers.

And that’s going to do it.

A Tuesday Sports Media Thoughts Trifecta

Let’s provide you with three thoughts on this Tuesday. You know the drill.

• After learning that her contract was expiring, leading to speculation that she was about to leave, seemingly leaving, then indeed she was leaving, we finally got the official wordfrom NBCUniversal that Michelle Beadle was joining the company.It’s a good move for her. She’ll still have a hand in sports with a show on NBC Sports Network and appear on big events like the Olympics, NFL Kickoff, the Triple Crown and down the road, the Super Bowl. In addition, Michelle will be the New York-based correspondent for Access Hollywood. If you read the NBC press release, you’ll notice that there was plenty of mentions of her past entertainment work as well as her sports resumé.I know I said sports wasn’t in Beadle’s future and I was partly right in my thoughts. It will be interesting to see if her NBC Sports Network show will be weekly or monthly. I think the show won’t be a daily series, but you never know. Michelle will be a guest on an upcoming edition of Sports Media Weekly with Keith Thibault and I and we’ll be asking her what her role at NBC Sports will be. And I’m sure she’ll continue to be a Friend of Fang’s Bites.
• Before NBC’s Beadle announcement, the big news on Monday was the surprising development that ESPN had removed Pam Wardfrom its college football coverage. Since 2000, Ward had a weekly assignment starting with noon ET Big Ten games on ESPN2. While there’s no arguing that she was a trailblazer, becoming the first woman to regularly call football on a major television network, there was certainly no argument that she was polarizing among viewers.The original Awful Announcing site under original editor, Brian Powell named its Worst College Football Announcing Awards, The Pammies, after Ward. While some media writers like Aaron Barnhart of the Kansas City Star were squarely in her corner, your humble blogger found Ward’s play calling to be sorely lacking. For four years running, she was the “winner” of Worst Play-by-Play in my annual College Football TV Awards and had it named after her last year. Even with her not calling college football this year, the award will still be named in her dishonor.

  Beth Mowins is the lone female on ESPN still calling college football and I think she’s much better than Ward.

• And another Monday development, CBS announced that it was sublicensinga package of ACC, Big 12 and Pac-12 basketball games from ESPN. It’s something CBS had to do to continue airing marquee conference matchups during the regular season. While CBS dominates the college basketball postseason, it’s ESPN that carries the load of the regular with new contracts in tow with the three aforementioned conferences. It’s kind of like doing business with the Devil, but knowing you have to do it in order to survive. While that analogy is certainly a stretch, it’s not too far off as ESPN is the 800 lb. gorilla that has most, if not all the bananas in its possession.Let’s not cry for CBS here, it has contracts of its own with the Big East, Big Ten and SEC, but it needed a sublicense agreement with the Alleged Worldwide Leader to continue to air a diversified college basketball portfolio. I wonder if we’ll see similar arrangements for other sports with ESPN down the line.

We’re done for now.

CBS To Sublicense ACC, Big 12 & Pac-12 Basketball Games From ESPN

Reported earlier today by USA Today’s Michael Hiestand, CBS Sports has signed a four year deal with ESPN to get a package of college basketball games consisting from the ACC, Big 12 and Pac-12 conferences. While CBS won’t be airing Duke-North Carolina anymore, rest assured that the network will still get some decent matchups.

The deal calls for 26 appearances by conference teams per year except in the 2012-13 season when the contract will provide 20 appearances.

No financial terms were disclosed. Overall, it provides CBS with some top-tier regular season games leading to the NCAA Tournament in March.

We have the announcement from CBS Sports.

CBS SPORTS REACHES MULTI-YEAR AGREEMENT WITH ESPN TO BROADCAST MEN’S BASKETBALL GAMES FROM THE ACC, BIG 12 AND PAC-12 CONFERENCES

CBS Sports, college basketball’s leading network broadcaster, has acquired the rights to broadcast men’s college basketball games from the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC), Big 12 and Pac-12 Conferences through an agreement with ESPN. The multi-year agreement begins with the 2012-13 college basketball season.

The deal provides for 26 appearances per year, except for the first year which calls for 20 appearances, from top tier teams across the various Conferences, including six ACC appearances during the first-year of the deal and then 12 ACC appearances through the remainder of the agreement. In addition, CBS Sports will broadcast the Missouri Valley Conference Championship game for the length of the agreement and the Atlantic 10 Conference Championship game in 2013.

CBS Sports broadcasts an extensive regular-season schedule of college basketball, including conference championships from the Big Ten, and Conference USA. CBS Sports and Turner Sports combine for exclusive coverage of the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Championship, providing live, full national coverage of the tournament’s 67 games across four national television networks – TBS, CBS, TNT and truTV.

That will do it.

A Few More Overdue Sports Media Thoughts

I’ll do a common theme in this particular sports media thoughts post. This will deal with college sports. The thoughts will be in bullet forms, of course.

• With the Big 12 about to sign the next Mega Millions TV deal, it leaves just the Big East’s media rights in doubt. We know the ACC will extend its current deal with ESPN with the expansion of two more teams. The fact that ESPN and Fox have locked up long term deals with most of the BCS conferences leaves other mpnetworks fighting for scraps.

  NBC signed with the Colonial Athletic Association and Ivy League. CBS Sports Network inked a deal with the Mountain West.

  The Big East is still in play and NBC has been targeting the conference since last summer when it left a big deal from ESPN on the table causing major upheaval with Syracuse and Pittsburgh fleeing for the ACC and West Virginia packing its bags for Big 12.

  ESPN has long-term deals with the Big Ten, Pac-12, SEC and can pretty much cherry pick its football and basketball schedules to its liking.

  And with many deals not expiring until well into the next decade, any rival network will have a long wait to get into the major college sports game.

• The resignation of Big East Commissioner John Marinatto hardly comes as a surprise. As mentioned, the league is in a state of flux as the football and basketball schools are wondering which side has more power. And as a new media rights deal is on the horizon, it remains to be seen if the conference can ever match the glory years of the 1980′s in both influence and money.
• The Pac-12 Networks announce the first three members of the on-air team later today. We know former UCLA coach Rick Neuheisel will be an analyst, but any other names are just speculation. It will be interesting to see who joins from here on end.

That’s all.

Some Sunday Morning Media Thoughts

I haven’t done a sports media thoughts post in a while and there has been so much that has transpired since the last time I wrote one. As always, they’re in bullet form. Let’s do this.

• Just four days into the NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs and I like how the networks of NBC are handling the games. With CNBC, NHL Network and NBC Sports Network airing the games, fans can now choose which contest he or she wants to watch. My only pet peeves, there should be more updates on games on other networks. At least give us a drop down menu from the scoreboard bug to update us. Also, I wish NBC Sports Network and CNBC would not rely on simulcasts from CBC, TSN or Comcast SportsNet affiliates. Versus under the old Comcast ownership could get away with it, but not NBC. NHL Network can pull off the simulcasts because its talent is focused on the studio, but not on NBC Sports Network or CNBC. I know there are a lot of games in the first round, but at least try to produce what’s on your network instead of depending on others to do the work for you, especially for games played in the United States.

• To ESPN’s free agent crop and we know that former First Take co-host Dana Jacobsen has already left the Alleged Worldwide Leader. Michelle Beadle could be the next to go. Her representatives are now free to talk with other networks after her exclusive negotiating period with ESPN lapsed on Friday. I think she’s leaving, but exactly where is the $64,000 question. Based on her interview with The Big Lead, one could intelligently wager that one of her potential targets is a morning show like Today or Good Morning America. I honestly don’t think sports is in her long-term plans, although one never knows.

  As far as the other free agents Erin Andrews and Scott Van Pelt, I tend to think both will remain at ESPN. For Erin, her best chance to leave was two years ago. Her options are a bit more limited now. Scott Van Pelt enjoys doing radio and I think he’ll remain at ESPN as CBS’ radio options are not national and NBC doesn’t have radio resources.

• If Fox Sports gets its rumored cable sports network off the ground, it’ll be welcomed by your humble blogger. It would have plenty of inventory with Big 12 and Pac-12 college sports. In addition, if Fox expands its NASCAR inventory, it could place Sprint Cup races on the network. UFC events could go there as well. And there’s always the big wild card that’s up for bid this year, MLB and if the NFL decides to ever put a Thursday night package up for bid, Fox certainly has deep pockets to possibly make a go at ESPN. And there’s the Big East Conference whose rights are up this year as well.

  And in a related note, the announcement by Fox to give a majority of Saturday night primetime hours to sports is a smart move. Saturday nights are a dead night for the networks, although Fox did pretty well with Cops and America’s Most Wanted. Still, getting the coveted 18-49 demographic to watch MLB, NASCAR, UFC, college football and the MLB Postseason on a Saturday night is a very good move. Could this be a harbinger for Fox’s all-sports cable network? Perhaps. But if this does very well, I could see Fox potentially making this move permanent on Saturday nights. It only makes sense.

  And if Fox does really well, could other networks follow? ESPN already programs ABC during college football season. Would NBA games make a move to Saturday night? What about NBC placing the NHL during Saturday primetime to possibly market the game even further? Would CBS be interested in airing college basketball during the winter as a lead-in to “48 Hours”? In 2011, CBS aired North Carolina-Duke in primetime to great success. Would the Tiffany Network want to move games to primetime in advance of the NCAA Tournament? Fox’s move to sports in primetime is not only a Great Experiment, but also a potential for other networks to bring their inventories to a new timeslot.

• I may be one of the few who’s watching, but count me as one who enjoys viewing the NBC Sports Network’s CNBC Sports Biz: Game On! with Darren Rovell and Erin Sharoni. While Darren has alienated some with his Super Bowl party rant on Playboy Playmates and at Jaime Edmondson plus creating social media accounts for his newborn daughter and we can’t forget his Twitter feuds with Richard Deitsch, Richard Sandomir and Bomani Jones, I can look past them and enjoy his sport business show. Darren knows his stuff and has helped to make sports business a viable news beat. I’ve enjoyed the pace of Game On! and it’s obvious that Darren knows what he’s taking about. The show’s ratings could be better, but it appears NBC is committed to airing it through this year. And it’s hit its stride as the show has explored the price of tickets to the economics of the NFL and college sports.

That’s all. Enjoy your Easter Sunday.

Fox Sports Taking Over Saturday Primetime For Most of 2012

This coming in from Josef Adalian at Vulture, Fox Sports will be taking over Saturday primetime as the main network cuts back on its order of the long-running series, Cops. Saturday nights had been known as a law enforcement night with Cops filling the 8 p.m. ET hour and America’s Most Wanted at 9 p.m. But starting last season, Fox for all essential purposes canceled AMW, allowing it to go to Lifetime where it’s doing well on Friday nights.

Now, Adalian reports that Fox Sports will occupy Saturday primetime from April 14 through December 8 with a four week break interspersed. If you’re counting, that’s 28 out of 32 weeks that will be filled with sports programming. The timeslots will be filled with NASCAR, MLB and college football (Big 12/Pac-12).

And for the entire year, it means that only nine weeks will have non-sports programming for Fox. Cops could return with new shows in the first quarter of 2013, but its future on the network beyond that is uncertain.

This follows ABC’s use of Saturday primetime for college football. CBS has also used Saturday nights for primetime for the NCAA Tournament, the U.S. Open and SEC football.

However, this is the first real commitment from a network handing over the bulk of its year-long primetime schedule to sports. Fox will not compete with the London Olympics in late July/early August and after December 8 following college football, the network will most likely fill the holes with repeats and holiday specials.

We’ll see if the sports strategy continues in 2013.