Experienced Core of Commentators & New Faces Enhance ESPN’s Women’s College Basketball Coverage

ESPN’s 2014-15 women’s college basketball regular-season schedule – featuring a record-high exclusive games across ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, ESPN3, SEC Network and Longhorn Network – will be supported by a field of experienced and dedicated commentators.

Highlights

·         Sue Bird, WNBA star and former All-American at UConn, has joined ESPN for the 2014-15 season and will call games on ESPN2, ESPNU and Longhorn Network this season.

·         The Final Four announcing team of Dave O’Brien and Doris Burke will reunite for marquee games throughout the season, beginning with the UConn-Stanford Tip-Off Marathon Presented by Dish telecast on Monday, Dec. 17, as well as the Jimmy V Women’s Classic Presented by Corona featuring top-ranked UConn at No. 3 Notre Dame on Saturday, Dec. 6.

·         Host Kevin Negandhi joins analysts Kara Lawson and Rebecca Lobo for numerous top regular-season games from ESPN’s Bristol, Conn., studios.

·         Veteran analyst Carolyn Peck and play-by-play commentator Pam Ward will be pulling double-duty this season, calling games across all ESPN networks, with the majority on ESPN2 and SEC Network.

·         SEC Network will air more than 60 games this season, and the network added former coaches Gail Goestenkors andCarol Ross to its lineup of analysts.

o    Also making appearances on the SEC Network will be analysts Debbie Antonelli, Nell Fortner andSteffi Sorenson, as well as play-by-play commentators Cara Capuano, Melissa Lee, Paul Sunderlandand Brenda VanLengen.

·         Beth Mowins, a multi-sport play-by-play voice, will team with Stephanie White for most of the Big Monday series, beginning in January 19.

·         Familiar names returning to the analyst chair are LaChina Robinson and Brooke Weisbrod.

·         Katie Smith, the most-decorated player in Ohio State women’s basketball history and former WNBA standout, will call games on ESPN2, ESPNU and Longhorn Network.

·         Longhorn legends Fran Harris and Nell Fortner, former coach at Auburn and ESPN analyst, will call LHN’s 14 exclusive women’s games.

espnW.com

Throughout the 2014-15 women’s college basketball season, Charlie Creme, Kate Fagan, Graham Hays, Rebecca Lobo, Michelle Smith and Mechelle Voepel will cover the top teams, players and storylines around the country with feature stories, commentary, analysis and original video.

espnW.com will present the women’s national player of the week every Monday of the season for the third consecutive year. Creme will continue to project Women’s Bracketology, a look at what the 64-team women’s NCAA Championship field will look like on Selection Monday, while Hays will produce a mid-major top-10 poll every other week throughout the season.

In addition, the three-episode series, espnW presents: The Geno Auriemma Project will air November 16, February 9 and April 10 on ESPN2. espnW.com will have exclusive related content, including 10, two- to four-minute features on Auriemma and the team, as well as 10, 30-second vignettes. Select vignettes will air during game and studio telecasts throughout the season. espnW.com writer Kate Fagan will have an oral history  that will accompany the series. Excerpts from each episode will also be available on espnW.com.

“3 to See” & “Need to Know”

ESPN will continue to promote the top players in the women’s game through it’s’ “3 to See” and “Need to Know” initiatives. The two brands will be present all season long on ESPN platforms with additional content on espnW.com.

·         Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis and Breanna Stewart (Connecticut) and Jewell Lloyd (Notre Dame) make up the “3 to See” brand.

·         “3 to See” will be integrated in games involving Mosqueda-Lewis, Stewart and Lloyd.

·         “Need to Know” players include: Nina Davis (Baylor); Brittany Boyd (Cal); Moriah Jefferson (UConn); Elizabeth Williams (Duke);            Lexi Brown (Maryland); Rachel Banham (Minnesota); Tiffany Mitchell (South Carolina); Aleighsa Welch (South Carolina); A’sa Wilson (South Carolina) and Isabelle Harrison (Tennessee).

·         The “Need to Know” brand will used throughout all women’s telecasts, and also include the “3 to See” players.

ESPN Non-Conference Commentator Assignments (subject to change)

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