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 NightsESPN’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.
