I was going through this press release and one thing stuck out like a sore thumb. The fact that Mike Patrick is no longer calling the Women’s Final Four. I did a little research and noticed that Mike had called the NCAA Women’s Final Four either with Ann Myers or Doris Burke dating back to 1996. Last year was the last one he will have called as ESPN is going in another direction. I guess this is a phasing out of Mike as he did not call the ACC Tournament semifinals and finals this year. Mike will be involved in the NIT, but not in this year’s NCAA Women’s Tournament. Here are the schedule for the Tournament and the announcing assignments. Get ready to scroll for a while.
ESPN Networks’ NCAA Division I Women’s Basketball Tournament Schedule Features All 63 Games
Announcer Dave O’Brien Joins 2010 Final Four Commentator Lineup
ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, ESPN360.com and ESPN FULL COURT will once again present all 63 games from the NCAA Division I Women’s Basketball Tournament, for the eighth consecutive year. During the first and second rounds, ESPN and ESPN2 will present 48 games within 12 telecast windows, while ESPN FULL COURT, the out-of-market pay-per-view package, will offer complete game telecasts of all 48 games. The final 15 games from the regional semifinals, regional finals and Women’s Final Four will have national telecast windows on ESPN or ESPN2. In all, ESPN and ESPN2 will combine to present 63 NCAA Tournament games within 27 telecast windows.Also, NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament content will be featured across other ESPN entities, including SportsCenter, ESPN.com, ESPNEWS, ESPN Radio, ESPN International, ESPN Mobile and more.For the third year in a row, ESPN360.com, ESPN’s broadband digital sports network, will offer complete coverage of all 63 games, while ESPNU, the 24-hour college sports network, will provide supplemental coverage during the first and second rounds. ESPNU will offer six of the early-round matchups, all of which are also offered regionally and/or as part of whip-around coverage on ESPN or ESPN2.Starting with the regional semifinals, ESPN and ESPN2 will offer every game in high definition. In addition to the Women’s Final Four, all four regional sites and women’s basketball studio specials will be available on either ESPN HD or ESPN2 HD.Throughout the tourney, ESPNEWS will provide pregame and postgame news conferences, pregame and postgame live shots, and interviews with key players and coaches. ESPNEWS will also have live look-ins as compelling games unfold on the road to the Women’s Final Four in San Antonio.Continuing a popular trend started in 2009, former Connecticut standout and 1995 national champion Rebecca Lobo will provide behind-the-scenes insight into the world of women’s college basketball on Twitter through the NCAA Women’s Final Four in San Antonio. She’ll also share off-court thoughts about her day-to-day experiences and travels at http://twitter.com/RebeccaLobo.Trey Wingo will return for his fourth year to host ESPN’s studio coverage for the NCAA Women’s Tournament alongside analysts Kara Lawson and Carolyn Peck. On April 4 and 6, Wingo, Lawson and Peck will take their show on the road as they host the network’s two on-site studio programs from the site of the 2010 Women’s Final Four from the Alamodome in San Antonio. Dave O’Brien, Doris Burke, Lobo and Holly Rowe will serve as the game commentators in San Antonio. A complete roster of ESPN’s talent assignments for the NCAA Women’s Tournament is listed below.ESPN.com will provide comprehensive coverage throughout the tournament, including insight and analysis from Mechelle Voepel, Graham Hays and Charlie Creme, as well as recaps for every game and video highlights.ESPN International will provide coverage of the national semifinal games along with the national championship to fans on ESPN in Latin America, ESPN Africa, ESPN Middle East, ESPN Pac Rim, ESPN Australia HD, ESPN Brazil, ESPN Brazil HD, ESPN & ESPN 2 Caribbean and ESPN America (Europe).SportsCenter will present studio reports with Wingo, Lawson and Peck, with reporter Shelley Smith providing live reports from San Antonio.First and Second Rounds – Regionalization & Home Market ProtectionWhip-around Coverage: For the first two rounds, multiple games (as many as four) will begin within one telecast window on ESPN or ESPN2. Games will have staggered tip times so each window will start with one particular game. During those windows, the networks will “whip around” to the best action from different games for viewers across most of the nation (everywhere but the home markets of the competing teams). The networks plan frequent switches to and updates from other games, as the action dictates.Regionalization/Home Market Protection: In the home markets of the competing teams, ESPN or ESPN2 will primarily televise the game of local interest. While constant updates from the other games will be provided, the networks, for the most part, will generally not switch to another game during live action, thereby establishing home market protection in standard definition. ESPN HD and ESPN2 HD, however, will participate in the whip-around coverage.ESPNU: ESPNU will offer coverage of six early-round matchups, all of which are offered regionally and/or as part of whip-around coverage on ESPN and ESPN2. Four first-round games will be featured, while two second-round games will be televised.ESPN FULL COURT to Feature All Early-Round Action: Viewers who want all early-round games in their entirety can receive them through ESPN FULL COURT, the out-of-market pay-per-view package. ESPN FULL COURT, available
to cable and satellite customers, plans to showcase every first- and second-round game, a supplement to ESPN and ESPN2’s coverage (fans can order ESPN FULL COURT by calling local cable or satellite provider).ESPN & ESPN2’s NCAA Women’s Tournament Specials
Date Time (ET) Special Network Tue, Mar 16 3 p.m. ESPNU Coaches Spotlight ESPNU 7 p.m. 2010 NCAA Women’s Basketball Bracket Special ESPN / ESPN HD Sat, Mar 20 2 p.m. College Basketball Scoreboard ESPN2 / ESPN2 HD 4:30 p.m. College Basketball Scoreboard 10 p.m. College Basketball Scoreboard Sun, Mar 21 12:30 a.m. College Basketball Scoreboard 2 p.m. College Basketball Scoreboard 4:30 p.m. College Basketball Scoreboard ESPN / ESPN HD 9 p.m. College Basketball Scoreboard ESPN2 / ESPN2 HD 11:30 p.m. College Basketball Scoreboard Mon, Mar 22 9 p.m. College Basketball Scoreboard Tue, Mar 23 9 p.m. College Basketball Scoreboard 11:30 p.m. College Basketball Scoreboard Sat, Mar 27 2 p.m. College Basketball Scoreboard ESPN / ESPN HD 4:30 p.m. College Basketball Scoreboard ESPN / ESPN HD 11 p.m. NCAA Women’s Basketball Championship Special ESPN2 / ESPN2 HD Sun, Mar 28 2 p.m. NCAA Women’s Basketball Championship Special ESPN2 / ESPN2 HD 4:30 p.m. NCAA Women’s Basketball Championship Special ESPN2 / ESPN2 HD 9:30 p.m. College Basketball Scoreboard ESPN2 / ESPN2 HD Sun, Apr 4 6:30 p.m. 2010 NCAA Women’s Final Four Special ESPN / ESPN HD 9 p.m. College Basketball Scoreboard Tue, Apr 6 7:30 p.m. 2010 NCAA Women’s Championship Special
Date Time (ET) Matchup Network Sat, Mar 20 Noon First Round #10 Harford vs. #7 LSU (Durham, N.C.)
#11 Princeton vs. #6 St. John’s (Tallahassee, Fla.)
#16 Austin Peay vs. #1 Tennessee (Knoxville, Tenn.)
#12 Bowling Green vs. #5 Michigan St. (Louisville, Ky.)ESPN2 / ESPN360.com Approx 30 minutes after noon games #15 Hampton vs. #2 Duke (Durham) #14 Louisiana Tech vs. #3 Florida State (Tallahassee)
#9 TCU vs. #8 Dayton (Knoxville)
#13 Liberty vs. #4 Kentucky (Louisville)ESPN2 / ESPN360.com 8 p.m. #13 Chattanooga vs. #4 Oklahoma State (Tempe, Ariz.) #9 Rutgers vs. #8 Iowa (St
anford, Calif.)
#12 Marist vs. #5 Georgetown (Berkeley, Calif.)
#15 Portland State vs. #2 Texas A&M (Seattle)ESPN2 / ESPN360.com Approx 30 minutes after 8 p.m. games #12 Tulane vs. #5 Georgia (Tempe) #16 UC Riverside vs. #1 Stanford (Stanford)
#13 Fresno State vs. #4 Baylor (Berkeley)
#10 North Carolina vs. #7 Gonzaga (Seattle)ESPN2 / ESPN360.com Sun, Mar 21 Noon #11 DePaul vs. #6 Vanderbilt (Cincinnati) #16 Southern vs. #1 Connecticut (Norfolk, Va.)
#10 Vermont vs. #7 Wisconsin (Notre Dame, Ind.)
#15 St. Francis (Pa.) vs. #2 Ohio State (Pittsburgh)ESPN2 / ESPN360.com 2:30 p.m. #14 East Tennessee St. vs. #3 Xavier (Cincinnati) #9 James Madison vs. #8 Temple (Norfolk)
#15 Cleveland State vs. #2 Notre Dame (Notre Dame)
#10 Middle Tenn. St. vs. #7 Mississippi St. (Pittsburgh)ESPN / ESPN360.com 7 p.m. #16 Northern Iowa vs. #1 Nebraska (Minneapolis) #12 Green Bay vs. #5 Virginia (Ames, Iowa)
#11 San Diego State vs. #6 Texas (Austin, Texas)
#11 Ark.-Little Rock vs. #6 Georgia Tech (Norman, Okla.)ESPN2 / ESPN360.com Approx 30 minutes after 7 p.m. games #9 North Carolina State vs. #8 UCLA (Minneapolis) #13 Lehigh vs. #4 Iowa State (Ames)
#14 Lamar vs. #3 West Virginia (Austin)
#14 South Dakota State vs. #3 Oklahoma (Norman)ESPN2 / ESPN360.com Mon, Mar 22 7 p.m. Second Round from Durham, Tallahassee, Knoxville, Louisville ESPN2 / ESPN360.com 9:30 p.m. Second Round from Tempe, Stanford, Berkeley, Seattle ESPN2 / ESPN360.com Tue, Mar 23 7 p.m. Second Round from Cincinnati, Norfolk, Notre Dame, Pittsburgh ESPN2 / ESPN360.com 9:30 p.m. Second Round from Minneapolis, Ames, Austin, Norman ESPN2 / ESPN360.com Sat, Mar 27 Noon Regional semifinal (Memphis, Tenn.) ESPN HD / ESPN360.com 2 p.m. Regional semifinal (Memphis) ESPN HD / ESPN360.com 9 p.m. Regional semifinal (Sacramento, Calif) ESPN HD / ESPN360.com 11:30 p.m. Regional semifinal (Sacramento) ESPN2 HD / ESPN360.com Sun, Mar 28 Noon Regional semifinal (Dayton, Ohio) ESPN HD / ESPN360.com 2:30 p.m. Regional semifinal (Dayton) ESPN2 HD / ESPN360.com 7:30 p.m. Regional semifinal (Kansas City, Mo.) ESPN2 HD / ESPN360.com 9:30 p.m. Regional semifinal (Kansas City) ESPN2 HD / ESPN360.com Mon, Mar 29 7 p.m. Regional final (Memphis) ESPN HD / ESPN360.com 9 p.m. Regional final (Sacramento) ESPN HD / ESPN360.com Tue, Mar 30 7 p.m. Regional final (Dayton) ESPN HD / ESPN360.com 9 p.m. Regional final (Kansas City) ESPN HD / ESPN360.com Sun, Apr 4 7 p.m. National semifinal: San Antonio, Alamodome ESPN HD / ESPN360.com 9 p.m. National semifinal: San Antonio, Alamodome ESPN HD / ESPN360.com Tue, Apr 6 8:30 p.m. National championship: San Antonio, Alamodome ESPN HD / ESPN360.com All 63 games available on ESPN360.comAll first- and second-round games available in their entirety on ESPN FULL COURT2010 Women’s NCAA Tournament CommentatorsFirst Round: March 20 & 22
Site Play-by-play Analyst Durham, N.C. Beth Mowins Stephanie Ready Knoxville, Tenn. Dave O’Brien Doris Burke Louisville Justin Kutcher Rebecca Lobo Tallahassee, Fla. Jon Sciambi Abby Waner Stanford, Calif. Terry Gannon Mary Murphy Berkeley, Calif. Cara Capuano Kayte Christensen Seattle Allen Hopkins Krista Blunk Tempe, Ariz. Dave Pasch Brenda VanLengen First Round: March 21 & 23
Site Play-by-play Analyst Ames, Iowa Bob Picozzi Jimmy Dykes Austin, Texas Carter Blackburn LaChina Robinson Cincinnati Bob Wischusen Stephanie White Minneapolis Clay Matvick Leslie Hill Norfolk, Va. Marc Kestecher Stephen Bardo Norman, Okla. Dan MacLaughlin Fran Fraschilla Notre Dame, Ind. Eric Collins Brooke Weisbrod Pittsburgh Pam Ward Deb Antonelli Regionals: March 27 & 29
Site Play-by-play Analyst Reporter Memphis, Tenn. Dave O’Brien Doris Burke Holly Rowe Sacramento, Calif. Dave Pasch Mary Murphy Cara Capuano Regionals: March 28 & 30
Site Play-by-play Analyst Reporter Dayton, Ohio Bob Wischusen Stephanie White Rebecca Lobo Kansas City, Mo. Pam Ward Deb Antonelli Beth Mowins Women’s Final Four: April 4 & 6
Site Play-by-play Analyst Reporters San Antonio Dave O’Brien Doris Burke Rebecca Lobo, Holly Rowe
Lots of into to digest. I’ll end this post and go on to the next one.
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