Tagged: ‘NCAA Tournament’

posted by Mike Humes on April 3, 2013 1:33 PM

Rece Davis reflects on interview with injured Louisville guard Kevin Ware

A few days after suffering a gruesome season-ending leg injury in the NCAA Midwest Regional, Louisville Cardinals guard Kevin Ware gave ESPN’s Rece Davis his first on-camera interview Wednesday.

ESPN’s Rece Davis
(James Dockery/ESPN Images)

Ware, who is expected to be out at least a year but has been cleared to attend the Final Four in Atlanta this weekend, granted College GameDay host Davis the interview in Louisville.

Afterward, Davis gave Front Row some insight on the interview. continue reading…

Filed in: Behind The Scenes, ESPN College Basketball

posted by Ariel Bond on April 2, 2013 4:55 PM

From Ann Arbor to Bristol, a recent Michigan grad cheers from afar for her beloved Wolverines

Ariel Bond is a production assistant for ESPN Communications’ Multimedia Team. Here, she shares what it’s been like to enter the “real world” just as her alma mater reaches the Final Four.

547.

That’s the first thing that comes to mind when I think of Ann Arbor, Mich. It’s the number of air miles that separate me from the town where I used to study at the University of Michigan and cover the Wolverines as a photographer for the school paper. I started shooting on my 19th birthday in January 2009.

I know that number from my boarding pass from Bradley International Airport in Windsor Locks, Conn. to Detroit Metro Airport. In March, I was returning to the Michigan campus for the first time since starting at ESPN a month earlier to watch the team play against Michigan State. Lucky for me, they didn’t burn a couch this night. continue reading…

Filed in: Behind The Scenes

posted by David Scott on March 22, 2013 11:59 AM

NCAA Tournament live blog from ESPN’s war room

The viewing area – and fashion – has come a long way since this 1983 photo of Bob Ley and Dick Vitale watching the NCAA Tournament. And they surely didn’t have a live blog like we do today!

Spend Friday afternoon with ESPN’s college basketball experts as they watch all the NCAA Tournament action live from the Building 4 viewing room on ESPN’s Bristol, Conn. campus.

Communications Department members Mike Humes and David Scott bring you the action with special appearances from any number of ESPN’s college basketball experts. Join in the discussion, ask questions of our experts, participate in polls and generally goof off even more than you already are as you watch the early window Friday games. continue reading…

Filed in: Live Blog

posted by Mike Humes on February 5, 2013 1:31 PM

Dick Vitale will call NCAA Final Four games on ESPN International

As the face of ESPN’s college basketball for 34 years, legendary analyst Dick Vitale has had a front row seat to more than 2,000 college basketball telecasts, including many of the best and most memorable matchups.

The one event missing from his Hall of Fame resume is calling an NCAA Men’s Final Four game. That will all change this year. ESPN announced today that Vitale will work two Final Four games for ESPN International in 2013 — a semifinal and the National Championship.

ESPN hoops analyst Jay Bilas will work the other semifinal (not called by Vitale) while Brad Nessler will call play-by-play on all three telecasts. Front Row put together a video retrospective of highlights from Vitale’s career at ESPN.

Video produced by Ariel Bond

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Filed in: Announcements, Behind The Scenes, ESPN College Basketball

posted by Keri Potts on January 10, 2013 3:22 PM

Forward/Rewind: College Basketball/ESPN Deportes

ESPN
Deportes

Lino Garcia, General Manager, ESPN Deportes

Lino Garcia

#Hashtag of the year for 2012:
#Euro2012. The Euro 2012 Championship was a key driver to the successful year we had for ESPN Deportes; through the tournament we had more than 5 million people tuning into our live coverage. In 2012, we delivered our highest-rated event (Euro 2012), month (June) and quarter (April-June), and our most-watched fiscal year. We are very proud of the successful coverage across all of our platforms; it underscored the value of sports in the Hispanic market, and proved our commitment to serving fans with content they want to consume.

#Hashtag of the year for 2013:
#Baseball. ESPN Deportes will offer the most comprehensive Spanish-language coverage of baseball this year with important international tournaments prior to the MLB season as well as more MLB games through every week during the season.

A big prediction for your property in 2013:
Hispanics continue to increase their consumption across digital platforms, so our big prediction in the coming year is that we’ll continue to push the limits in the mobile and online space by stimulating the growth of ESPN Deportes+, ESPN Deportes Mobile and our digital video offerings.
By Gabriela Nunez

FrontRowDesign_Final

Editor’s Note: With this multi-week series — the Front Row Forward/Rewind, 2013/2012 — ESPN’s Communications Department takes the pulse of content executives throughout ESPN for their views on what’s ahead across ESPN for 2013 and some of what transpired in 2012. The snapshots provide a look at where ESPN has been, where it’s going and how it plans on getting there.

College basketball

Jay Levy, ESPN Senior Coordinating Producer

Jay Levy

Best off camera moment:
Dick Vitale having his picture taken with Jay-Z for his Twitter account at the Legends Classic at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn. Dick’s energy and ability to feel comfortable in every setting never ceases to amaze me. You never know who he’ll be pictured with next on his Twitter feed (@DickieV).

Favorite segment or interview:
We had some great fun with our “Ask Bilas” segments on-site during the entire Georgia-Kentucky game last March. Jay Bilas has been able to really embrace Twitter (@JayBilas) to engage with fans and share his incredible depth of knowledge.

#Hashtag of the year for 2013: continue reading…

Filed in: Forward/Rewind 2012-13

posted by Andy Hall on March 15, 2012 12:15 PM

Upon further review, Daugherty picks UNC to win NCAA men’s tournament

Brad Daugherty picks his alma mater, UNC, as his 2012 national champion.

ESPN NASCAR analyst and former University of North Carolina basketball star Brad Daugherty is picking his old team to win the 2012 NCAA Men’s College Basketball Championship.

Before cries of “Tar Heel Homer” echo throughout the land, it should be noted that Daugherty originally picked Syracuse to beat UNC when asked to fill out a tournament bracket for Front Row.

When news broke Tuesday that Syracuse center Fab Melo had been ruled ineligible for the tournament, just hours after Daugherty made his initial picks, he changed his mind.

Daugherty chose the Tar Heels over the Wildcats in the National Championship

Daugherty, a first team All-America at UNC and the No. 1 pick in the 1986 NBA Draft (Cleveland), still believes Syracuse will make it to the Final Four in New Orleans, along with Kentucky, Michigan State and UNC. But he believes the absence of Melo will open the door for a Tar Heels’ semifinal win.

“He makes such a huge difference in that matchup zone they play,” said Daugherty. “It was going to be a big problem for Carolina with him in the game.”

Daugherty’s lifelong passion for NASCAR racing led to his current ESPN role, but he continues to follow college basketball closely.

“When I can, I watch five or six games a week,” he said. “I’m still fervently involved in keeping up with it and watching which teams are emerging.”

Daugherty will have his eye on several opening week games while working his regular schedule on NASCAR Countdown for ESPN’s telecast of the NASCAR Nationwide Series race at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway on Saturday, March 17 at 1 p.m. ET. continue reading…

Filed in: Uncategorized

posted by David Scott on March 12, 2012 2:07 PM

Katz calls Tournament coaches coast to coast before White House visit

This x-ray reveals a portion of Andy Katz's telephone bracket

You can’t possibly claim to know the Bracket until you examine the bones. Or, in this case, the “back”bones — the head coaches of the teams you will entrust with your sneaky Nos. 10-7 upset and your annual Nos. 12-5 “lock.”

Andy Katz

To hear from nearly all those coaches, get over to ESPNU and check out the College Basketball Live special with Insider Andy Katz as he does his annual phone tree to the field’s head men. From now through 6 p.m. ET, Andy plays the role of call-in host with the big men of campuses from Burlington, Vt. (John Becker, scheduled for 4:20 p.m. ET) to Long Beach, Calif. (Dan Monson, tabbed for 2:45). As we type this, the “Coaches Count” tote board is at 6!

Filed in: Behind The Scenes

posted by Sheldon Spencer on April 1, 2011 5:03 PM

Schwab’s collection: No. 3 seed

HOWIE SCHWAB’S MOST CHERISHED COLLEGE BASKETBALL MEMORABILIA

No. 3 seed: Authentic Toney Douglas Florida State jersey

This selection might be Schwab’s equivalent of the 2011 Final Four’s Virginia Commonwealth team. Even Florida State fans might be wondering how this jersey makes the cut. While current Knicks guard Douglas is making waves as a second-year NBA player, he had a relatively low-profile college career. Schwab cherishes the jersey because it came courtesy of a Florida State fan from out of the blue, he said. continue reading…

Filed in: Behind The Scenes, In The Studio