Sports
ESPN Tips Off 2023-24 College Basketball Season with an Industry … – ESPN Press Room
ESPN’s extensive coverage of the 2023-24 college basketball season – which features a combined 7,000+ men’s and women’s games – tips off Monday, Nov. 6, with an industry-leading talent roster of analysts, hosts, reporters and other contributors – including several familiar faces who are expanding their roles this campaign.
Jay Bilas, now in his 28th season, reached a new multi-year extension and will continue to serve as ESPN’s lead men’s college basketball analyst. The nine-time Emmy nominee will continue to call ESPN’s top games with partner Dan Shulman in addition to his role on College GameDay Covered by State Farm. The former Duke standout has been a lead analyst on GameDay since the basketball show’s debut in 2005. Bilas was the recipient of the prestigious Curt Gowdy Media Award in 2016 from the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame and in 2022 he was selected for induction into the Southern California Basketball Hall of Fame.
In January, College GameDay will tip off its 20th season with familiar faces joining the team. While host Rece Davis, Bilas and veteran analyst and former coach Seth Greenberg return, analysts Andraya Carter and Jay Williams will join the weekly pregame as part of their new, expanded roles on men’s college basketball.
Carter, who has signed a new multi-year ESPN extension, will now be featured across ESPN’s men’s and women’s basketball coverage, as well as NBA and WNBA coverage for ESPN. A former Tennessee player, Carter joined ESPN in 2018 and has seen her profile rise ever since. In addition to joining men’s College GameDay, Carter is a leading analyst in ESPN’s women’s college basketball coverage (both games and studio), and she will also add NBA sideline reporter assignments, while continuing as a main-set analyst on the NBA Draft. Carter, a 2023 Sports Emmy nominee in the Emerging On-Air Talent category, begins her season Monday in Paris with No. 6 South Carolina versus No. 10 Notre Dame women’s game in the Aflac Oui Play event on ESPN (1 p.m. ET).
Williams, winner of the Wooden and Naismith College Player of the Year awards when he was at Duke, will return to men’s college basketball this season, rejoining College GameDay and calling weekly high-profile games across ESPN platforms as part of his new, multi-year agreement. The former point guard joined ESPN full-time in 2008 as a game and studio analyst and was previously part of GameDay from 2014-19. Williams has also contributed to NBA coverage and a variety of studio shows, hosted an ESPN Radio show and more.
Carolyn Peck has also signed a new multi-year deal with ESPN, expanding her analyst responsibilities to include men’s college basketball in addition to her high-profile role in the women’s game. One of the most accomplished figures in women’s basketball – as a Vanderbilt player, national championship coach at Purdue, and WNBA coach, Peck will call regular men’s and women’s games throughout the 2023-24 season.
Basketball great Bill Walton will continue his men’s college basketball analyst duties this season including joining Bilas with coverage at the Maui Invitational where ESPN’s coverage will highlight relief efforts and celebrate Maui. The Basketball Hall of Famer and former NBA MVP was the subject of this summer’s 30 for 30 installment, “The Luckiest Guy in the World,” telling the colorful story of a true sports original. Walton first joined ESPN in 2002 and returned in 2012.
Dick Vitale, one of the most beloved figures in college basketball and the sport’s biggest ambassador, returns for his 44th season this fall. He continues to recover from vocal cord cancer and is targeting the ACC/SEC Men’s Challenge game between Miami and Kentucky on Nov. 28 as the target date for his return. Vitale, who joined ESPN during the 1979-80 season – just after the original network launch in 1979, was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2008 and has been a part of virtually every college basketball milestone in ESPN’s history.
Notable voices who will be part of ESPN’s men’s college basketball coverage in 2023-24:
Play-by-play: Brian Custer, Dave O’Brien, Karl Ravech, Jon Sciambi
Analysts: Cory Alexander, Jimmy Dykes, Sean Farnham, Fran Fraschilla
Reporters: Angel Gray, Myron Medcalf
Contributors: Paul Biancardi, Joe Lunardi
In all, the 2023-24 men’s college basketball schedule will feature more than 4,200 games across ESPN platforms.
ESPN women’s college basketball primed to build on momentum of historic 2022-23 season
ESPN’s women’s college basketball team enters the 2023-24 campaign with great momentum. Last year’s historic season delivered the most-watched regular season since 2014-15 and a record-setting NCAA Women’s Championship game audience of 9.9 million viewers.
ESPN’s lead commentator team of Ryan Ruocco, analysts Rebecca Lobo and Andraya Carter, and reporter Holly Rowe returns. The foursome will open the new season with the first-ever regular season women’s college game played in Europe when No. 6 South Carolina matches up against No. 10 Notre Dame in the Aflac Oui Play in Paris, France on Monday, Nov. 6 (1 p.m. ET, ESPN).
Other top women’s basketball commentator teams for ESPN this season will include Beth Mowins and Debbie Antonelli, Courtney Lyle and Carolyn Peck, and Pam Ward and Stephanie White. Mowins and Antonelli – who will continue her expansive role calling both women’s and men’s college games – will open the season on Thursday, Nov. 9, with a blockbuster matchup of Women’s Final Four participants from last season as No. 3 Iowa, led by returning Wooden Award winner Caitlin Clark, and No. 8 Virginia Tech meet in the Ally Tipoff in Charlotte (8 p.m. on ESPN2). White, who returns to ESPN’s women’s college basketball coverage, was named the 2023 WNBA Coach of the Year after leading the Connecticut Sun to the Eastern Conference Finals in her first season as head coach.
Over 3,000 women’s college basketball games will be featured across ESPN platforms for the 2023-24 season including over 3,200 on ESPN+ alone.
ESPN’s Women’s College GameDay Covered by State Farm hosted by Elle Duncan also returns with even more shows this season. Full details will be announced at a later date with the first road show expected in January.
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