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 Presented by DIRECTV 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 Sears 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 Driven by State Farm.
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 | Shannon Spake |
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 |
ESPN’s 2012-13 men’s college basketball schedule on ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, ESPN3, ESPN Regional Television and ESPN FULL COURT will feature more than 1,450 games.
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