What to watch: Weekend Hoops

* All times are Pacific; add +3 for EST (eastern time) *

Friday
* 4pm and 630pm: Coaches vs Cancer double-header on ESPN2 and ESPN2HD, featuring Texas and super-frosh Kevin Durant, Michigan State, Maryland and St Johns.
* 4pm Eastern Kentucy at Ohio State on Comcast Sports Net and ESPN+
* ESPN Full Court (aka Pay Per View) features five games with Kentucky, Texas Tech, Indiana, Illinois and Ohio State hosting mid-majors and cupcakes
* 7pm Battle of the Brains: Northwestern at Stanford on FSN and Fox College Sports. Stanford is still smarting from the 30+ loss vs Air Force in the Bay Area. Perhaps the Mike Montgomery to Oregon rumor will be replaced by the Mike Montgomery returning to Stanford rumor?
* 730pm (and repeat 12:30am) New Mexico State at Loyola Marymount on CSTV. Reggie Theus shocked the recruiting world today by signing Herb Pope away from Pitt, Maryland and such. But Herb Pope isn't playing tonite (2007-2008 recruit). But four high-profile transfers are playing for Reggie Theus tonite (barring any injuries and such)
* 1am repeat: South Carolina at USC on FoxCollegeSports


Saturday

12pm repeat of the 1982 NCAA Final between Georgetown and Jordantown (North Carolina) on ESPN-Classic

1pm Wichita State at George Mason on ESPN2. The new darling mid-majors square off once again against each other. Oh baby!

430pm: Cal at San Diego State on VERSUS. Yes, Versus is the new entity that emerged from the ashes of the standard cable channel Outdoor Life or something like that. Comcast bought it and is turning it into a general purpose sports channel while maintaining a heavy rotation of "outdoorsy" programming. The call sign for this channel is "VS" and is usually found in the 70s or 80s in terms of channel number. As always check local listings

5pm Fairfield at UConn on ESPN+ and CSN (Comcast Sports Net). Get a sneak peek at this year's crop of talented players getting yelled at by Calhoun ;-)


Sunday

Six games on ESPN Full Court, including Iowa State, Indiana, Misery (Missouri), Oklahomo State, Northern Iowa and Kansas (about to lose at home again?). Most of them are hosting either mid-majors or cupcakes. But some of them bite them in the ass :-)

1pm New Mexico State at Arizona on Fox College Sports. This promises to be a shootout as Reggie Theus has an influx of eligible talent

1pm Sacramento State at Washington on Fox College Sports. Spencer Hawes is recovering quite well. Expect a strong showing here! Quite possibly a one-and-done player.

5pm UT-San ANtonE at Gonzaga on Fox College Sports. Josh Heytvelt is a rising star. Abdullaih Kuso (former St Joseph's signee) could emerge as a Rodman-Lite for the Zags. (And they badly need him to do so)

630pm Northern Colorado at Denver, on Fox College Sports. If you watch this game and you are not a fan of either team, then you must be a Hoops junkie! :-)

4pm and 630pm (with reruns later on): Paradise Jam semi-finals from the Virgin Islands. This is the only original programming produced by Fox College Sports, which usually picks up games from regional FSNs, and other local and regional channels/networks.

10pm repeat: 1954 Hoosier classic: Muncie vs Milan on ESPN-Classic

3pm and 1am reruns: Northern Iowa at Washington on Fox College Sports. If you haven't watched this earlier in the week, this is a good game!

7pm rerun: Northwestern at Stanford on Fox College Sports. Battle of the Brainiacs? :-0)


Next week
* tune-up your VCRs, TiVos, DVRs, ReplayTVs, and multimedia PCs! Dozens of games including the Maui Invitational, the Alaska shootout, the final fours of the NIT and the CBE (Guardians classic), the Paradise Jam, South Padre Island, and the ESPN debut of the Old Spice Classic in Vegas (8 teams, 3 games each on ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPNU)