Bowling Green State University Athletics
MAC Announces Basketball TV Schedule
January 09, 2003 | Women's Basketball
Jan. 9, 2003
CLEVELAND, Ohio - Highlighted by four telecasts on the first ever ESPN Bracket Buster Saturday on Feb. 22, the 23-game Mid-American Conference men's and women's basketball television package has been finalized for the 2003 season.
As a result of the TV schedule, the start times have been changed for several games involving the Bowling Green State University men's and women's teams.
The Falcon men will appear on Fox Sports Ohio four times in the coming weeks, beginning with Saturday's (Jan. 11) contest at Kent State University. That game will tip off at 2:00 p.m. at KSU's M.A.C. Center.
The Falcons' home game with Akron one week later (Jan. 18) has been added to the TV schedule. BGSU and UA will play in a 4:00 p.m. contest at Anderson Arena.
BGSU's return engagement with KSU also will be televised, as the Falcons and Golden Flashes will meet in an 8:00 p.m. start on Thursday, Feb. 6.
The Brown and Orange will host Western Michigan on Saturday, Feb. 15, in another televised contest. The start time for that contest has been changed to 2:00 p.m. As a result of that change, the Falcon women's game against Miami has been moved to a 4:30 p.m. start at Anderson.
BGSU BASKETBALL SCHEDULE TIME CHANGES...
Men's
Jan. 11 at Kent State - 2:00 p.m. (Fox Sports Net Ohio)
Jan. 18 vs. Akron - 4:00 p.m. (Fox Sports Net Ohio)
Feb. 6 vs. Kent State - 8:00 p.m.
(FSN Ohio, Detroit, Empire, Sunshine)
Feb. 15 vs. Western Michigan - 2:00 p.m.
(FSN Ohio, Detroit, Pittsburgh, Empire, Sunshine)
Women's
Feb. 15 vs. Miami - 4:30 p.m. (no TV)
ESPN Bracket Buster Saturday is a one-day, nationally televised event that has four MAC teams among the field of 18. MAC schools Kent State and Marshall will host Bracket Buster games while Ball State and Bowling Green will play on the road. The matchups for Bracket Buster will be announced on Monday, Feb. 3.
Opponents for Kent State and Marshall will come from among Detroit, Fresno State, Hawaii, Illinois State, Northern Iowa and Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Ball State and Bowling Green could go to Creighton, Illinois-Chicago, Louisiana Tech, Southern Illinois, Western Kentucky or UC-Santa Barbara for its Bracket Buster contest.
The entire MAC package encompasses ESPN, ESPN2, ESPN Regional and FOX Sports Net Regional Networks. The FSN Regionals comprise FSN Ohio, FSN Detroit, FSN Pittsburgh, FSN Midwest, FSN Chicago, the Sunshine Network and Empire Network.
The regular-season FSN package begins Feb. 3 with a cross-divisional matchup between the high-powered offensive teams of Marshall and Eastern Michigan and concludes Mar. 10 with defending league champion Kent State hosting pre-season East Division favorite Ohio.
An early February encounter features a rematch of last year's tournament championship game when Kent State faces Bowling Green in Anderson Arena on the BG campus on Feb. 6. The FSN format will follow the league race to the final weekend with FSN Ohio carrying each of the nine games.
The men's tournament will again take place on NCAA Tournament selection weekend with ESPN2 to carry the 2003 First Energy MAC Championship game on Saturday, Mar. 15 at 7:00 p.m. from Gund Arena in Cleveland. The semi-finals on Mar. 14 will be televised by FOX Sports Net.
The MAC FSN women's package includes four regular-season games and the semi-finals and championship game of the Kraft MAC women's basketball tournament at Gund Arena. The women's package begins Feb. 9 with the Northern Illinois at Buffalo contest and also includes Ohio at Toledo (Feb. 16), Miami at Kent State (Feb. 23) and Eastern Michigan at Ball State (Mar. 2).
| MAC MEN'S BASKETBALL TV PACKAGE | ||||
| Monday | Feb. 3 | 8:00 | Marshall at Eastern Michigan | FOX Ohio, Detroit, Midwest, Empire, Pittsburgh* |
| Thursday | Feb. 6 | 8:00 | Kent State at Bowling Green | FOX Ohio, Detroit, Empire, Sunshine |
| Sunday | Feb. 9 | 2:00 | Miami at Ball State | FOX Ohio, Detroit*, Pittsburgh*, Midwest* |
| Monday | Feb. 10 | 8:00 | W. Michigan at C. Michigan | FOX Ohio, Detroit, Pittsburgh, Midwest, Empire |
| Saturday | Feb. 15 | 2:00 | W. Michigan at BGSU | FOX Ohio, Detroit, Pittsburgh, Empire, Sunshine |
| Monday | Feb. 17 | 8:00 | Ohio at Akron | FOX Ohio, Pittsburgh, Midwest, Empire |
| Thursday | Feb. 20 | 8:00 | Miami at Akron | FOX Ohio, Pittsburgh, Empire |
| Saturday | Feb. 22 | Noon | Miami at Buffalo | FOX Ohio, Empire |
| Saturday | Feb. 22 | tba | tba at Marshall | ESPN, ESPN2 or ESPN Regional |
| Saturday | Feb. 22 | tba | tba at Kent State | ESPN, ESPN2 or ESPN Regional |
| Saturday | Feb. 22 | tba | Ball State at tba | ESPN, ESPN2 or ESPN Regional |
| Saturday | Feb. 22 | tba | Bowling Green at tba | ESPN, ESPN2 or ESPN Regional |
| Saturday | Mar. 1 | 4:00 | Toledo at Northern Illinois | FOX Ohio, Detroit |
| Saturday | Mar. 8 | Noon | Ohio at Kent State | FOX Ohio, Detroit, Pittsburgh, Empire, Sunshine |
| Friday | Mar. 14 | 6:30 | MAC Tourn. semi-final game 1 | FOX Ohio, Pittsburgh, Midwest |
| Friday | Mar. 14 | 8:30 | MAC Tourn. semi-final game 2 | FOX Ohio |
| Saturday | Mar. 15 | 7:00 | MAC Tournament championship game | ESPN2 |
| MAC WOMEN'S BASKETBALL TV PACKAGE | ||||
| Sunday | Feb. 9 | 4:00 | Northern Illinois at Buffalo | FOX Ohio, Empire, Chicago* |
| Sunday | Feb. 16 | 4:00 | Ohio at Toledo | FOX Ohio, Empire |
| Sunday | Feb. 23 | 4:00 | Miami at Kent State | FOX Ohio, Midwest |
| Sunday | Mar. 2 | 4:00 | Eastern Michigan at Ball State | FOX Ohio, Detroit, Midwest, Empire |
| Friday | Mar. 14 | noon | MAC Tourn. semi-final game 1 | FOX Ohio, Detroit, Pittsburgh, Midwest, Empire, Chicago |
| Friday | Mar. 14 | 2:30 | MAC Tourn. semi-final game 2 | FOX Ohio, Detroit, Pittsburgh, Midwest, Empire, Chicago |
| Saturday | Mar. 15 | 1:00 | MAC Tournament championship game | FOX Ohio, Detroit, Pittsburgh, Midwest, Empire, Chicago |
| * denotes delayed telecast |
