Sunbelt Conference Tournament
All the games are live from Mobile, Alabama.

Sunday, March 9 -
9 p.m. - Men's Quarter Finals

Monday, March 10 -
12:30 p.m. - Women's Semi-Finals
3:00 p.m. - Women's Semi-Finals
6:30 p.m. - Men's Semi-Finals
9:00 p.m. - Men's Semi-Finals

Tuesday, March 11 -
3:00 p.m. - Women's Finals.

WKU BASKETBALL TO APPEAR ON TV A MINIMUM OF 26 TIMES IN 2007-08

Bowling Green, Ky. -- The Western Kentucky University men's basketball program will be among the most televised in the country in 2007-08, as a minimum of 26 of the team's 30 regular-season games will be broadcast on a national and regional level the school announced Wednesday.
"We are committed to a top 25 basketball program, measured in a variety of dimensions. One vital characteristic of an elite program is exposure and visibility, primarily via live television coverage," WKU Director of Athletics Dr. Wood Selig said. "There will be very few college basketball programs in the nation who will be more televised to as wide-reaching an audience as Hilltopper basketball during the 2007-08 season. With potentially over 93 percent of all regular season games to be broadcast, WKU basketball will certainly meet the test of a top-25 televised basketball program. This considerable national exposure is great for family and friends of WKU, our student-athletes, recruits, alumni, and corporate partners.
"We want to exceed the expectations of our loyal Hilltopper fans worldwide. This television schedule will hopefully illustrate our commitment to doing just that."
The Hilltopper Sports Satellite Network (HSSN) will provide a majority of the broadcasts, televising the Hilltoppers on 23 occasions this winter. ESPNU will broadcast a pair of non-conference games and Comcast Sports South will show one, while two more contests at the Carrs/Safeway Great Alaska Shootout have the potential to air on the ESPN family of networks bringing the total to 28 televised games prior to postseason play.
All HSSN broadcasts will also air on Fox College Sports Atlantic, which is available in 47 of the top 50 markets in the United States and can be seen in 54 million homes. HSSN is available on WKYU-PBS (local cable channel 11) in Bowling Green and Channel 19 TV in Louisville, with select games shown on WYCS-TV in the latter city as well.
It is by far the most extensive package of any of the Sun Belt Conference's 12 other schools as no other program is set to appear on television more than eight times this winter.
"We are extremely pleased that the partnership of WKYU-PBS, HSSN and Host Communications will provide the most ambitious schedule of Hilltopper basketball telecasts in history," added Jack Hanes, the school's Director of Educational Telecommunications. "Over the years, WKYU-PBS has demonstrated its commitment to the WKU basketball program, and we're proud to be able to expand that commitment ao this unprecedented level. This will be an exciting year for WKU basketball fans as they will be able to see more away games than in any past season."
"The most valuable thing you can do for the growth of your program is to be on television numerous times during the season. This package is a huge step in the continued process of growing and elevating WKU Basketball," said men's basketball head coach Darrin Horn. "Not only does it help in recruiting, but it allows us to expand our fan and season-ticket base by exposing millions of people across the country to our program consistently from November through March. In the long term, this television schedule is as important as anything we do off the court."
HSSN's coverage will begin with the Toppers' second game of the year when Kentucky Wesleyan visits E.A. Diddle Arena on Nov. 13. After WKU returns from the Great Alaska Shootout, six of its seven games in December will be broadcast on the network, beginning with a Dec. 1 trip to Northern Arizona. Road games at Eastern Kentucky (Dec. 8), Southern Illinois (Dec. 22) and Troy (Dec. 29) will also be televised, as will the Hilltoppers' only two home contests in the month against Nebraska (Dec. 5) and North Carolina Central (Dec. 18).
In addition to appearing on HSSN, the game with the Cornhuskers will be available on FSN Midwest in Nebraska.
HSSN will air all nine January games on the Topper schedule, beginning with a Jan. 2 date with Middle Tennessee at home. The network will also broadcast games against Florida International (Jan. 12), Florida Atlantic (Jan. 16), Arkansas State (Jan. 27) and UALR (Jan. 31) from Diddle Arena in the first month of the new year. Road games at South Alabama (Jan. 5), Louisiana-Monroe (Jan. 10), Louisiana-
Lafayette (Jan. 19) and New Orleans (Jan. 23) will be carried as well.
Home contests with Denver on Feb. 2 and Troy Feb. 13 will be shown around a Feb. 7 trip to North Texas on HSSN, which will also air a Feb. 21 game with South Alabama as well as WKU's season-ending road trip to FIU (Feb. 27) and FAU (March 1).
The Hilltoppers' Senior Day match-up with ULM on Feb. 23 will be broadcast on HSSN as well as ESPN Regional television, while WKYU-PBS will show WKU's Feb. 16 game at Middle Tennessee, which is also set to appear on CSS.
"This aggressive television schedule is the result of a recognized dedication and commitment to Hilltopper fans everywhere and to Western Kentucky University," David Brinkley, Executive Producer of HSSN, said. "We are looking forward to providing numerous games to viewers all across the country. It is truly an opportunity to showcase WKU on a national stage."
"The backbone of WKU basketball's broadcasting capacity continues to be the Hilltopper Sports Satellite Network," said Selig. "Without the leadership and innovation of HSSN, it would be impossible to orchestrate such a comprehensive television package."
WKU will also play games against a pair of teams ranked in the top 15 nationally in the preseason polls on ESPNU. The Toppers will face Gonzaga in the opening round of the Carrs/Safeway Great Alaska Shootout on Nov. 22 (Thanksgiving night), with the network also showing their Dec. 15 contest against Tennessee in the Sun Belt Classic in Nashville, Tenn. The semifinals of the Great Alaska Shootout will air on ESPN360, and the finals will be broadcast on ESPN2.

-- WKU --

It was announced Monday afternoon that WKYU-PBS in Bowling Green will televise Wednesday’s (March 28) Western Kentucky University women‘s basketball game at Wisconsin in the semifinals of the WNIT live at 7 p.m. (CDT).

“We are extremely excited to provide our students and community the opportunity to watch the Lady Toppers continue their quest for the WNIT Championship,” said David Brinkley, senior producer at WKYU. “ WKYU-PBS is firmly committed to providing Hilltopper and Lady Topper action wherever and whenever it is available. We are very proud of the Lady Toppers and we are looking forward to this semifinal game.”

The game between the Lady Toppers and Badgers in Madison, Wis. is being produced by Wisconsin Public Television. For those outside the WKYU viewing area, a free webcast of the game will be available at www.uwbadgers.com.

The Lady Toppers have reached the semifinals of the WNIT for the second straight year, following three home wins this past week. WKU opened it’s tournament run with a 73-57 win over Minnesota on Monday night, then picked up a 56-53 win over Mississippi State in the third round. The Lady Toppers reached the semifinals with a 72-54 win over Hofstra Sunday afternoon in the quarterfinals.

The Western Kentucky University men’s basketball game at North Texas Saturday will be broadcast live in Bowling Green on WKYU-PBS (local cable channel 11), it was announced Thursday.
The contest is set to tip-off at 7 p.m. (CST) at The Super Pit in Denton, but pregame coverage with former Hilltopper All-American and coach John Oldham will begin at 6:30 p.m.

WKYU-PBS is working in conjunction with North Texas Television (NTTV) to bring the game back to Bowling Green. Fifteen WKU regular-season contests will air live this year.

Bowling Green, Ky. — The Hilltopper Sports Satellite Network (HSSN) announced Friday that it will carry a minimum of 19 Western Kentucky University men’s and women’s basketball games during the 2006-07 campaign.
All Hilltopper and Lady Topper contests can be seen live in Bowling Green on WKYU-PBS (local cable channel 11), as well as on WYCS-TV and Channel 19 TV in Louisville. Also, Fox College Sports — which reaches over 52 million households and is in 47 of the top 50 markets in the United States — will air all HSSN broadcasts live.

“Once again we are very pleased with our HSSN TV coverage of Hilltopper and Lady Topper basketball,” said WKU Director of Athletics Dr. Wood Selig. “Via HSSN and our partnership with Fox College Sports, we are able to deliver basketball games to over 52 million homes — few programs in the country have such far reaching and regular basketball telecast distribution as WKU. It is so important for us to be televised, as it keeps us in front of our alumni and friends around the country and it aids considerably in our being able to recruit nationally the finest student-athletes in the country as we regularly reach 47 of the top 50 U.S. media markets.”

“As WKU basketball continues to become recognized on the national scene, WKYU-PBS and HSSN are proud to provide these games to viewers across the country,” David Brinkley, Senior Producer of HSSN, added. “We are very proud of our continued relationship with Fox College Sports. Once again, FCS has elected to carry all of our home telecasts live nationally. We are proud to help extend the reach of this university and provide a valuable learning tool for students in the School of Journalism and Broadcasting. WKYU-PBS and HSSN have and will continue to serve WKU and the viewing public as we enter another great season of Hilltopper and Lady Topper basketball.”

The network is set to carry 10 men’s and nine women’s contests, beginning with the BB&T Classic for both programs — the Lady Toppers play host to Vanderbilt Nov. 16 while the Hilltoppers face UAB on Nov. 28. Other games prior to the new year include the Toppers’ contests against Eastern Kentucky (Dec. 2), Southern Illinois (Dec. 9) and North Texas (Dec. 19) as well as the Lady Tops’ Dec. 17 match-up with South Alabama.

After the holidays, the schedule picks up with the women’s Jan. 7 date with South Dakota State, while the men’s first televised contest in the new year will be against Louisiana-Lafayette on Jan. 13.

HSSN’s coverage of the Hilltoppers also includes games with New Orleans (Jan. 21), Louisiana-Monroe (Jan. 31), Florida Atlantic (Feb. 14), Kentucky Wesleyan (Feb. 20) and Florida International (Feb. 24) — the last date is a senior day doubleheader with the Lady Toppers, with the network broadcasting both contests. Other women’s televised games include UL-Lafayette (Jan. 14), UNO (Jan. 20), ULM (Feb. 1), Middle Tennessee (Feb. 11), and FAU (Feb. 15).

“We at WKYU-PBS and HSSN are really excited about the upcoming Hilltopper and Lady Topper basketball schedules,” said Jack Hanes, Director of Educational Telecommunications at WKU. “This year’s telecast schedule contains the most home games in the Hilltopper Sports Satellite Network’s history. In addition, continuing our relationship in providing our telecasts to Fox College Sports allows millions of viewers around the nation to see the quality of basketball here at WKU.”

Bowling Green, Ky. — WKYU-PBS (local cable channel 11) announced Tuesday that it will air live Western Kentucky University’s men’s basketball game Thursday at Denver. The contest tips off at 8 p.m. (CST).

“WKYU-PBS is pleased to be able to bring this important away game to WKU fans here in South Central Kentucky,” said Jack Hanes, Director of Educational Telecommunications at WKU. “We know how much our viewers like Hilltopper basketball, and when we have the opportunity to get the rights to an away game we make every effort to get it on the air.”

WKYU-PBS will pick up DU’s in-house video feed and, in cooperation with the Big Red Radio Network, use the play-by-play call of Mike Legg, “The Voice of the Hilltoppers,” as part of the broadcast. Jeff Younglove and former Topper great John Oldham will host pregame and halftime segments.

“Basically, the Big Red Radio Network and WKYU-PBS have agreed to merge their two independent work parts to form a finished product,” Legg said. “Simply put, it will be a radio broadcast accompanied by video.”

With this broadcast, WKYU-PBS is scheduled to air nine Hilltopper men’s basketball contests during the 2005-06 season. It will also originate the feed for the Hilltopper Sports Satellite Network’s (HSSN) coverage of WKU’s Feb. 11 meeting with North Texas as well as Senior Night against Florida International on Feb. 25.

2006 Sun Belt Tournament
AVAILABLE GAMES
(All Times Central)

Monday (3/6/06)
Women's Semifinals (2 games)
#2 East 11:00am
#1 or 3 East 01:30pm

Men's Semifinals (2 games)
#2 East 05:30pm
#1 East 08:00pm

Tuesday (3/7/06)
Women's Finals (1 game)
03:00pm

Hilltopper fans will have a chance to get a first-hand look at Western's competition as we feature a series of live Sun Belt Conference games on WKYU-PBS

January 19 - Denver at Arkansas State (men), 8pm CT
January 26 - Troy at North Texas (women), 5pm CT
February 2 - South Alabama at Arkansas-Little Rock (men), 8pm CT
February 9 - Arkansas State at Arkansas-Little Rock (women), 8pm CT

WKU BASKETBALL TO BE BROADCAST LIVE IN OVER 40 MILLION HOMES

Bowling Green, Ky. — The Western Kentucky University Department of Athletics announced Tuesday at a press conference at E.A. Diddle Arena that the Hilltopper Sports Satellite Network (HSSN), WKYU-PBS (local cable channel 11) and Fox College Sports (FCS) have teamed up to put Hilltopper and Lady Topper basketball games in more homes than ever before.

In all, eight men’s contests and eight women’s games will be available in over 40 million homes, as Fox College Sports and occasionally Fox Sports World broadcast HSSN’s feed around the globe.

“Today’s announced partnership between WKU and Fox College Sports places Hilltopper and Lady Topper basketball among the nation’s elite basketball programs with respect to national and international television visibility and exposure,” said Dr. Wood Selig, WKU Director of Athletics. “It is a testament to the quality of our basketball programs and the quality of our television production that such a substantial programming partnership has been forged. Season-long exposure in over 40 million homes with a potential audience of greater than 100 million viewers each night should serve WKU well.”

“This is a great opportunity to elevate the national exposure of Western Kentucky University and its’ athletic programs to another level. We at WKYU-PBS are so pleased to be a partner in this project,” WKU Director of Educational Telecommunications Jack Hanes added. “Since the late 1970s, we’ve been bringing WKU basketball to viewers in South Central Kentucky. In the fall of 2000, we expanded coverage to the Southeastern United States with the birth of our Hilltopper Sports Satellite Network. Now in this partnership with Fox Sports, we’re able to give the Hilltoppers regularly scheduled national exposure. “In addition, this continues to expand the experience of sports television production for students in Western’s Broadcasting Program. Each telecast provides network-level television experience for 17 to 20 students.”

Tonight’s doubleheader will mark the Hilltoppers debut on the air this season, as WKU faces Evansville at 8 p.m. (CST) after the Lady Toppers take on Arkansas at 5 p.m. The Toppers contest at 7 p.m. Saturday against Pacific — an NCAA Tournament participant from a year ago — will be the last televised game for either team prior to the holidays.

HSSN and FCS pick up in the New Year beginning with the Hilltoppers’ three-game homestand that begins Jan. 7 against Middle Tennessee. The network will also show games against Arkansas-Little Rock Jan. 12 and Arkansas State two days later. Other men’s games on HSSN and FCS’s schedule include New Orleans (Jan. 28), North Texas (Feb. 11) and Florida International (Feb. 25).

The Lady Toppers game against South Alabama on Jan. 21 will be televised before four additional contests are broadcast the final month of the season. HSSN and FCS will air match-ups with FIU (Feb. 4), UALR (Feb. 16), Arkansas State (Feb. 19) and Middle Tennessee (Feb. 25).

Lady Topper wins over Louisiana Tech and Louisville have already been broadcast. WKU also announced Tuesday that a pair of basketball legends will handle the analysis on HSSN and FCS’s broadcasts. Three-time All- American Clem Haskins will be part of the broadcasts for the Hilltoppers, while his daughter Clemette — who was also selected an All-American three times during her career on the Hill — will supply analysis for Lady Topper contests.

He is one of six Toppers to have their jersey retired after earning All-America honors from 1965-67 as WKU posted a 66-15 (81.5%) mark while advancing to the NCAA Tournament in each of his final two seasons. Haskins scored 22.1 points per game during his career, the second-highest average in school history, and he still ranks in the top 10 in six different statistical categories.

She remains WKU’s all-time leader with 731 assists and 285 steals, and is also ranked in three other categories. Haskins helped lead the Lady Toppers to a 99-31 (76.2%) record during her career, as they advanced to the NCAA Tournament in each of her final two season — that included a trip to the 1986 Final Four.

George Plaster, host of The Sports Zone, the top-rated sports talk show in Nashville on 104.5 The Zone, will return for his second season as the play-by-play announcer for Hilltopper basketball. Plaster has served as host of various sports talk shows in Nashville since arriving in the city in 1981. Jeff Younglove will once again call the action for Lady Topper games.

Individuals interested in learning more about the availability of Fox College Sports, visit www.foxcollegesports.com.

WKU MEN'S BASKETBALL TELEVISION SCHEDULE

WKU WOMEN'S BASKETBALL TELEVISION SCHEDULE

2005-2006 Tentative
HSSN Broadcast Schedule
(all times Central)

WKU Football Live on WKYU-PBS

On October 22nd at 4pm CT, join us for the WKU @ WIU (Western Illinois) Gateway Conference football game, LIVE from Macomb, IL. WKYU-PBS is partnering with WWIR-TV and the Department of Broadcasting from Western Illinois University to bring you this live Western vs. Western match up.

This game, plus two other vitally important late season road games, have just been added to the WKYU-PBS broadcast lineup. Tune in for three critical Gateway Conference games during a four week stretch at the peak of the season when a league Championship and a play-off bid are on the line.

On November 5th, WKYU-PBS will replay the WKU vs. Northern Iowa University Gateway Conference game at 7pm CT. This game is the Gateway Television game of the week.

On November 12th, the WKU @ YSU (Youngstown State) Gateway Conference football game will be broadcast at Noon CT LIVE from Youngstown, OH.

This schedule represents two of the top ten ranked teams nationally in 1-AA college football. Additionally, all of WKU opponents for these three games are currently ranked or received votes in both polls.