ESPN to offer Extensive Coverage of the NCAA Men’s Final Four in Houston 

Mar 31, 2023 - 12:01 PM

ESPN will be live from the NCAA Men’s Division I Basketball Championship Final Four in Houston with live coverage across a number of shows throughout the weekend. The College GameDay crew – host Rece Davis and analysts Jay Bilas, LaPhonso Ellis and Seth Greenberg – along with reporter Kris Budden will provide insight and analysis leading up to the semifinals and through the National Championship game.

ESPN’s men’s college basketball analysts and reporters will join SportsCenter, PTI, Get Up! and First Take, among other shows and platforms, with exclusive coverage live from Houston.

Saturday’s national semifinals feature three Final Four newbies – No. 5 seeds Miami and San Diego State, and No. 9 seed FAU along with four-time NCAA Champion and six-time Final Four participant UConn. ESPN will have expansive coverage previewing the Owls – Aztecs and Hurricanes – Huskies matchups ahead of tip off from NRG Stadium.

Final Four access begins Friday with live coverage of the FAU and San Diego State practices during SportsCenter (noon ET, ESPN) as Davis, Bilas, Ellis and Greenberg will be courtside from NRG Stadium.

College GameDay Covered by State Farm

Final Four coverage will continue Saturday with a special four-hour edition of College GameDay Covered by State Farm beginning at 2 p.m. on ESPN. The quartet will be live from outside of NRG Stadium and will welcome a number of guests including Baylor head coach and 2021 NCAA Champion Scott Drew, 2015 National Player of the Year and current Houston Rocket Frank Kaminsky, FAU alum Carrot Top and ESPN sports betting analyst Joe Fortenbaugh. ESPN men’s college basketball analysts Dick Vitale, Jay Williams and Sean Farnham will also be on hand in Houston.

GameDay will also offer exclusive interviews with players and coaches from all four Final Four teams, and will have reports from the Women’s Final Four in Dallas previewing the National Championship game. Carolyn Peck, Nikki Fargas, Monica McNutt and host Elle Duncan will have the latest from the American Airlines Center.

College GameDay will be live from outside of NRG Stadium on Monday beginning at 7 p.m. (ESPN) previewing the National Championship game, and full postgame coverage will follow the game on SportsCenter.

Additional GameDay Highlights

• Dan Hurley Conversation: UConn’s head coach sits down with Seth Greenberg to talk about the Huskies’ Final Four run.
• Nothing Else Matters: In May 2022, at just 34 years old, St. John’s College High School (Washington, DC) boys’ basketball coach Patrick Behan was diagnosed with ALS and was given a year to live. While adjusting to the diagnosis and the devasting effects that comes with it, basketball became a form of medicine for him, as he looks to win his first championship in the most competitive high school basketball league in the country. (Pete Thamel)
• College GameDay will celebrate the 40th anniversary of NC State’s 1983 NCAA title and Jimmy V’s lasting legacy
• Top plays of the NCAA Tournament
• Final Four ‘player draft’
• Live reveal of the men’s and women’s Naismith Hall of Fame positional player of the year award winners
• Memorable Houston Final Four moments and much more

ESPN’s Expanded Digital Coverage

ESPN continues its expanded supporting Final Four coverage with its social and digital show Countdown to the Semifinals Presented by Principal Financial Group. Hosted by Jason Fitz, Sam Ravech and King McClure, the pre-pregame show will begin at 5:30 p.m. on Saturday. The show is available across Twitter, YouTube, Facebook and the ESPN App.

Hall of Fame Class Announcement

The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame Class Announcement will air Saturday, April 1 (11 a.m. ET, ESPN), with an exclusive reveal of the 2023 Hall of Fame class. Rece Davis and Jay Bilas will host the one-hour presentation, with Rebecca Lobo, Dick Vitale and select members of this year’s class joining the show.

International Feeds

ESPN will televise the semifinals and championship game to fans in 189 countries and territories across 16 networks outside the United States:

• Brian Custer (play-by-play) and Dick Vitale (analyst) will be courtside on the call for the first national semifinal and title game, while Custer and Jay Bilas will call the second semifinal.
• Coverage will be available in Latin America (Dominican Republic, Mexico, Central America), South America (including Brazil) the Caribbean, Africa, the Netherlands and Oceania (Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific Islands), and via TSN/RDS in Canada.
• Additionally, ESPN Syndication has completed agreements around the globe to distribute the NCAA Men’s Basketball Championship to local television clients reaching tens of millions of homes in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia and AFN (US Armed Forces Network).
• ESPN broadband services around the world – under the ESPN Player, WatchESPN, ESPN Play and Star+ brands – are also providing live and on-demand coverage of the tournament in more than 180 countries in the Europe, Middle East, Africa, Central and South America, Mexico and the Caribbean.

ACC Network Surrounds Miami’s First Final Four with Live Studio Presence in Houston

ACC Network will be live from Houston with dedicated coverage of Miami in the Final Four beginning Thursday with its signature studio shows Nothing But Net and ACC PM originating from outside of NRG Stadium. Nothing But Net host Kelsey Riggs will be joined by analysts Joel Berry II, Carlos Boozer and Luke Hancock, while Mark Packer and Taylor Tannebaum will cover all of the Final Four storylines on ACC PM on Friday, March 31 (4-6 p.m.). Should Miami advance, ACC PM and Nothing But Net will have pre-game coverage Monday beginning at 4 p.m., and will have postgame coverage following the championship game at 11 p.m. More details

ESPN.com

Jeff Borzello, Myron Medcalf and Pete Thamel will provide on-site coverage of the Final Four in Houston, providing news and features surrounding the event, along with contributor John Gasaway. Borzello’s ultra-popular Way-Too-Early Top 25, looking ahead to the 2023-24 season, will publish as soon as the final buzzer sounds at NRG Stadium.