Kansas hoops to bask in glow of TV

By Gary Bedore     Aug 27, 2015

Mike Yoder
KU fans participate in the ESPN College Game Day show in this photo from February 16, 2013, in Allen Fieldhouse.

Kansas University’s basketball team will play 25 games on the ESPN family of networks and one apiece on CBS and the CBS Sports Network, KU’s athletic department announced Wednesday.

This marks the 24th consecutive season, dating to 1992-93, that every KU game will be televised.

Up to 22 games will be televised on ESPN, ESPN2 or ESPNU. KU will play Baylor on Jan. 2 on CBS and San Diego State on Dec. 22 on CBS Sports Network.

For the third-straight season, Time Warner Cable will air approximately 50 KU athletics contests – including two exhibition and four nonconference basketball games — exclusively on Time Warner Cable SportsChannel in Kansas City and across Kansas on the Jayhawk TV Network.

ESPN3 will air those events nationally outside that territory. In addition to the Nov. 4 KU-Pittsburg State and Nov. 10 KU-Fort Hays State exhibitions, the other Jayhawk TV games are: Nov. 13 vs. Northern Colorado, Dec. 1 vs. Loyola, Dec. 9 vs. Holy Cross and Dec. 19 vs. Montana. Five of the six Jayhawk TV contests will start at 7 p.m.; the Montana game will begin at 1 p.m.

Big 12/SEC Challenge: The Big 12 on Wednesday announced more details for the Jan. 30 Big 12/SEC Challenge slate of games.

KU’s game against Kentucky will be shown on ESPN. It will start no earlier than 1 p.m. and no later than 6 p.m. Central time. Other games with similar undecided time slots on ESPN are Oklahoma at LSU and Iowa State at Texas A&M. Game times will be announced the week of Jan. 4, 2016.

Game times have been set for the other games: Vanderbilt at Texas, 11 a.m., ESPN or ESPN2; West Virginia at Florida, 11 a.m., ESPN or ESPN2; Tennessee at TCU, 1 p.m., ESPN2; Mississippi at Kansas State, 1 p.m., ESPNU; Texas Tech at Arkansas, 3 p.m., ESPNU; Georgia at Baylor, 5 p.m., ESPN2; Oklahoma State at Auburn, 7 p.m., ESPN2. Missouri of the SEC is left out of the challenge this year. There are 10 teams in the Big 12; 14 in the SEC.

KU fourth-best job: A CBSsports.com poll of college coaches lists Kentucky, Duke and North Carolina as the “top three college basketball jobs in the country.” KU came in fourth, followed by Texas, UCLA, Arizona, Indiana, Stanford, Gonzaga, Louisville and Florida.

Of the KU job, one anonymous coach told CBSsports.com: “Great tradition. Great fans. Coolest facility in the sport. The only question is whether it’s a great job because it’s a great job or because they’ve always had great coaches. It’s been 30 years since Kansas didn’t have a Hall of Fame coach.”

Of North Carolina, led by former KU coach Roy Williams, an anonymous coach said: “UNC could get five-star recruits no matter who the coach is. M.J. played there. The tradition is great. Dean won championships. Roy has won championships. And I don’t mean this in a bad way, but even Matt Doherty signed a top-ranked recruiting class there. Almost anybody could win big there. To me that’s the best job in the country.”

Writes CBSsports.com’s Gary Parrish at http://ljw.bz/1Iikq9L: “In the spirit of honesty, I’m a little surprised Stanford made the list. It’s a fabulous school, undeniably. But is it really a top-three job? One worthy of some coaches’ first-place vote? With all due respect, I’d say no. The one job I was surprised that didn’t receive a single vote is Ohio State because Ohio State is a great job for most of the same reasons Texas is a great job. Not sure if it’s a top-three job, exactly. But it’s definitely a better job than some of the answers we received. Either way, the top three is a solid top three. Kentucky, Duke, North Carolina. Makes total sense to me.”

KU’s Bill Self received votes for “best defensive coach in all of college basketball.” Virginia’s Tony Bennett came in first, followed by Louisville’s Rick Pitino, Michigan State’s Tom Izzo and Wisconsin’s Bo Ryan. Others to receive votes: Self, plus Arizona’s Sean Miller, Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski, S.D. State’s Steve Fisher, South Carolina’s Frank Martin, Stephen F. Austin’s Brad Underwood, Cincinnati’s Mick Cronin, UTEP’s Tim Floyd and Kentucky’s John Calipari.

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