BYU Basketball: Cougars to play at least eight games on ESPN channels

The West Coast Conference will have at least 36 basketball games on an ESPN network this season, and BYU Basketball will play eight of them.

BYU Basketball will be getting some good national television exposure…in the second half of the season.

On Tuesday ESPN and the West Coast Conference released a list of games that WCC schools will play on ESPN channels. It should come as no surprise that Gonzaga will get the lion’s share of the TV time, as they’ll appear in 14 ESPN games, with nine of their conference games on the network.

St. Mary’s will see nine games on one of ESPN’s channels (six in WCC play) and BYU will have eight (seven in WCC play).

Overall there will be at least 36 games featuring at least one WCC team, with 24 conference games televised.

Now this isn’t a complete list, as ESPN can still add more games as the offseason progresses and even into the season.

Here are BYU’s games that will be on an ESPN channel:

• Dec. 15   vs. UNLV (Neon Hoops Showcase) – ESPN or ESPN2 or ESPNU
• Jan. 3      at Pacific – ESPN2 or ESPNU
• Jan. 5      at St. Mary’s – ESPN2
• Jan. 17   at Pepperdine – ESPNU
• Jan. 24       St. Mary’s – ESPN2 or ESPNU
• Jan. 31       Gonzaga – ESPN2 or ESPNU
• Feb. 7    at Portland – ESPN2 or ESPNU
• Feb. 23  at Gonzaga – ESPN or ESPN2

In addition, ESPN2 will televise two of the WCC Tournament quarterfinal games on Saturday, March 9th, and both semifinal games on Monday, March 11th will be on either ESPN or ESPN2. The championship game a day later will air on ESPN.

By the time the season starts, nearly all BYU games will be televised in one form or another. Expect a handful of the Cougars’ top non-conference games (Nevada, Houston, Utah, San Diego State, Mississippi State) to be picked up nationally, and BYUtv will televise the rest of BYU’s home games – and maybe a few road ones – with the rest falling to regional networks.