Twenty-one games, including four from the post-season tournament at the Anaheim Convention Center, will be featured in the 2007 Big West Conference basketball television package, announced today by Commissioner Dennis Farrell.

The package includes eight Saturday games on FSN PRIME TICKET and one regular season contest on both College Sports Television (CSTV) and ESPN. In addition, eight regular season mid-week games will be televised on over-the-air station KVMD in the Southern California market. The package tips off on KVMD on Thursday, January 11 when UC Irvine travels to Cal State Northridge.

“We have put together a schedule that will feature some exciting Big West matchups and rivalries from both our men's and women's basketball programs,” said Farrell. “All eight schools will make at least one appearance on the package with an opportunity for more exposure at the basketball tournament in March.”

Allowing for more flexibility with the schedule, the Big West and its television partners will select “wildcard” matchups from among a pool of games the final two weeks of the regular season. The selections are expected to be made no later than February 1.

“As the season heads down the home stretch, we feel it is important to have the ability to showcase the most intriguing games on television and add to the excitement surrounding March Madness,” added Farrell. “We have targeted a pool of games from which we can select the one to be televised on the final two Thursdays and Saturdays of the regular season, in consultation with KVMD and FSN PRIME TICKET.”

The 2007 television schedule also marks the return of the Big West to ESPN's “Big Monday.” The nationally televised February 26 showdown between Long Beach State and Pacific, a rematch of last season's Big West Tournament championship game, will tip off at 9:00 p.m. at the Spanos Center. It will be the Big West's first appearance on Big Monday since the 1995-96 season.

The opportunity for additional television exposure exists through the Big West's involvement with the ESPN Bracket Buster Saturday event on February 17. For the fifth consecutive year, the Big West will be affiliated with this event, with 2007 the second year in a row that all eight conference members will be included in the pool of candidates for the televised games.

Two regular season women's games will be televised in addition to the Big West Women's Basketball Tournament championship game. On Thursday, Feb. 15, defending tournament champion UC Riverside travels to Long Beach State for a game on KVMD. The UC Riverside at UC Irvine game follows on Saturday, Feb. 17 on FSN PRIME TICKET.

UC Irvine's trip to Pacific on Saturday, Jan. 13 will be televised on CSTV at 7:30 p.m, in a game featuring the top two teams in last year's final regular season standings.

The schedule of televised games will culminate March 8-10 at the 32nd Annual Big West Basketball Tournament at the Anaheim Convention Center. KVMD will televise the men's tournament's quarterfinal games, while FSN PRIME TICKET will carry the women's championship game and ESPN2 will air the men's title contest. The tip-off time for the men's championship game has been moved one hour back to 8:00 p.m. (PST).

 

2007 Big West Basketball Television Schedule

Day/Date	Contest	Tipoff	Carrier
Thu., Jan 11	UC Irvine at Cal State Northridge	7 p.m.	KVMD
Sat., Jan. 13	UC Irvine at Pacific	7:30 p.m.	CSTV
Thu., Jan. 18	Cal State Fullerton at Long Beach State	7 p.m.	KVMD
Sat., Jan. 20	Cal State Fullerton at UC Irvine	7 p.m.	FSN PRIME TICKET
Thu., Jan. 25	Long Beach State at UC Irvine	7 p.m.	KVMD
Sat., Jan. 27	Cal Poly at Cal State Northridge	7 p.m.	FSN PRIME TICKET
Thu., Feb. 1	Pacific at UC Irvine	7 p.m.	KVMD
Sat., Feb. 3	Pacific at Long Beach State	4:30 p.m.	FSN PRIME TICKET
Thu., Feb. 8	UC Riverside at Cal State Northridge	7 p.m.	KVMD
Sat., Feb. 10	Long Beach State at UC Santa Barbara	7 p.m.	FSN PRIME TICKET
Thu., Feb.15	UC Riverside at Long Beach State (Women)	7 p.m.	KVMD
Sat., Feb. 17	Bracket Buster Saturday	TBA	ESPN2, ESPNU, ESPN 360
	UC Riverside at UC Irvine (Women)	3 p.m.	FSN PRIME TICKET
Thu., Feb.22	Best Available Game (as selected by Feb. 1)	7 p.m.	KVMD
	Among:
	UC Santa Barbara at Cal State Fullerton
	Cal Poly at UC Riverside
Sat., Feb. 24	Best Available Game (as selected by Feb. 1)	1 p.m.	FSN PRIME TICKET
	Among:
	Cal Poly at Cal State Fullerton
	UC Santa Barbara at UC Riverside
	Pacific at Cal State Northridge
Mon.,Feb. 26	Long Beach State at Pacific	9 p.m.	ESPN
Thu., Mar. 1	Best Available Game (as selected by Feb. 1)	7 p.m.	KVMD
	Among:
	UC Irvine at Long Beach State
	Pacific at UC Santa Barbara
Thu., Mar. 1	Best Available Game (as selected by Feb. 1)	4 p.m.	FSN PRIME TICKET
	Among:
	Long Beach State at UC Riverside
	Cal State Northridge at UC Santa Barbara
Thu., Mar. 8	Big West Tournament Men’s QF Games 1 & 2	6 & 8:30 p.m.	KVMD
Sat., Mar. 10	Big West Tournament Women’s Championship	1 p.m.	FSN PRIME TICKET
	Big West Tournament Men’s Championship	8 p.m.	ESPN2