Hoop lovers have their fill

Jim Williams, The Examiner
Nov 28, 2006 3:00 AM (4 hrs ago)
Current rank: # 2 of 9,317 articles

WASHINGTON - If there were any doubt Baltimore-based Mid-Atlantic Sports Network would be an entertaining year-round channel, let’s just put that rest once and for all.


MASN has begun to air what will be one of the most ambitious college basketball schedules ever offered to local fans.

How about 150 college games that will feature plenty of local schools like Georgetown, George Mason, Loyola, UMBC and Towson, with a nice compliment of women’s games in the mix?

The top conferences in the country will be featured in this package, including the Big East, Big Ten, Big 12, Colonial Athletic Association, and MAC.

The package’s showcase is the Big East, home to many a local players and one of the country’s premier conferences.

“We are delighted that MASN will be covering so many Big East contests,” said Big East Commissioner Mike Tranghese. “MASN is opening up a whole new channel of opportunity for sports fans who can now follow Big East basketball from wire to wire.”

Dave Sims, the voice of Big East hoops told me, “I know that the Baltimore-Washington area is one of the best in the country. Year in and year out that region produces some of the best college basketball players in the country and many of them play for schools in the Big East. But the best part is that the Georgetown-Maryland rivalry is back big time. They don’t face each other during the season but you can bet they track one another all season long with the hopes of meeting in the NCAA tournament.”

Terps fans will not be slighted. They will be on TV every week once the ACC schedule begins. Maryland fans can follow all the Terps games on CSN, Raycom and the ESPN family of networks.

There will be over 1,000 college games on TV between ESPN, CSTV, CN8, CBS, Raycom and Verses, plus more on broadband and that does not count radio, XM and SIRIUS.

Your best bet is to check your favorite team’s Web site. They will give you all the info needed to follow the bouncing ball.

Jim Williams is a seven-time Emmy Award-winning TV producer, director and writer.

Examiner