TV what to watch: The first weekend in January 2007

*** all times pacific; add +3 for east coast times ***
*** this is a west coast priority blog! ***
*** some predictions are on the wild side ***


Friday, January 5, 2007

12pm, Arizona at Washington repeat on FSN. Great high-scoring up and down game!

430pm, 9pm: Utah vs UNLV on CSTV (taped). This is a double overtime game. You may recall highlights from this game on Sportscenter and FSN's Final Score. It included a "soccer fan" throwing something on the court and hitting an employee.

5pm to 11pm on BYU-TV (religious channel): Two classic BYU games from 1979 against LaSalle, and 2002 against UNLV. Both games repeat one after the other. Commercial free!


Saturday, January 6, 2007
* Very busy day! Cancel your appointments, tune up your TiVos and VCRs! *

Women's Triple Header on CBS!

8am, ESPN Gameday morning edition, on ESPN2. One hour long.

9am, Virginia Tech at Duke on ESPN. Go Hokies! I am tempted to do a Reece Davis and sing their fight song and then post it as an mp3 ;-) Prediction: Duke. Hope for: Virginia Tech! Beat those smug Dookies!!!

10am, 10pm, 3am: Fordham at Richmond on CSTV. A10 action (A14 really). Prediction: Fordham by 3

1030am: Oklahoma at Texas Tech on CSN. Prediction: Bob Knight gets 881! I will be having a short tribute on Bob Knight's record in the next couple of days.

11am: ACC Basketball Today on Fox College Sports and regional FSNs

11am, Ohio State at Illinois on ESPN. Game of the Day!. Can the Illini next-gen stop Greg Oden and the sharpshooters? Bruce Weber has the beef inside, but can they? Prediction: Ohio State, comfortably (but not numb)

11am, UCLA at Oregon on FSN and Fox College Sports. This was supposed to be the battle of the undefeated. But Tim Floyd spoiled the fun and will probably cause FSN lower ratings. But Oregon will be very motivated to showcase their new found glory by un-undefeating the wrestlemania Bruins. I want Oregon to win, but i'm afraid the Wrestlemania Bruins will win :-(

1230pm, UNLV at Air Force on Versus. A double-header on the Comcast-owned channel (found on standard cable in most places). Two teams that are doing it with fundamentals. Even if you don't watch this game live, tape it if you are a hardcore fan of the game. Prediction: Crystal ball is muddy

1pm, 630pm: LMU Lions at GoneZaga, WCC action on Fox College Sports. The Zags are smarting after a 4-game losing streak, a first in the Mark Few era, where losses are ...few and ...marked on the schedule. Okay enough bad puns. Prediction: LMU pulls the upset and gets revenge for the close losses of last year.

1pm, 5am: Holy Cross at Lafayette on CSTV.

230pm: SDSU at BYU on Versus. The 2nd part of their Mountain West double-header. Two more solid teams. The Mountain West is trying to return to its glory days where it was fighting off C-USA for the 7th best conference. Long before the Missouri Valley Conference was the new darling conference, even among the haters *cough* Billy Packer *cough*

3pm USC at Oregon State on Fox College Sports and FSN. Fresh after defeating the then undefeated Nike Ducks, USC lets it get to their head and loses to Oregon State, slightly cooling off the hot seat for Jay John.

3pm, Citadel at Oakland on Fox College Sports in Mid-Con action. Mid-majors!

3pm, 12am, 7am: Marshall at George Washington on CSTV. No longer trendy, GW can fly under the radar once again. No Mike Jarvis and no Alexander Kool.

5pm, 9pm: Arizona State at Washington on Fox College Sports. Finally the Huskies get their first Pac-10 win. They will probably take it out on the NC State Sun Devils ;-)

5pm, ESPN gameday pre-game edition on ESPN2 actually. One hour long.

6pm ESPN Gameday game: UConn at LSU. The whole circus will be there, Dick Vitale, Jay Bilas, Reece Davies, Digger Domer Phelps, and rookie (but not Dookie) Hubert Davis.

7pm, 7am: Arizona at Washington State on Fox College Sports. Other than UCLA, this team probably has a good chance of beating the Wildcats. Prediction: Wazzu wins 65-64 and they storm the court!

730pm, 1030pm: St Marys at Santa Clara in WCC action on CSN.

930pm, Midnight Madness on ESPN. This appears to be a new name for College GameNight on Saturdays. Debut!

High school games as well
A triple header on Fox College Sports and regional FSNs from Minnessoooota:

10am: St Margaret (MN) vs Taft (CA)

12pm: Hopkins (MN) vs Campbell Hall (CA)

2pm: Lake Hall (MN) vs Lake Oswego (Oregon). Kevin Love is playing!. For those not familiar, Kevin Love is one of the top 5 players of the 2007 class and he is heading to UCLA.


ESPN Full Court FREE PREVIEW

First game starts at 9am and they continue through the day

Big East: Notre Dame at Georgetown, DePaul at Nova, StJohns at West Virginia, Seton Hall at Dunkin Donuts (Providence)

Big Ten: Penn State at Purdue, Meeeecheeeegan at Northwestern, Minnesssooooota at Wisconsin

SEC: Georgia at Florida, Alabama at Arkansas, Vandy (JP Prince is coming!) at Auburn, Kentucky at Ole Miss (the first Ole Miss national-access TV game this year?)

Big12: Oklahoma at Texas Tech, Texas at Colorada, Iowa state at Missouri, Kansas State (Billy Walker!) at Texas A&M. This could be a major blowout!

ACC: BC at NCState



Sunday, January 7, 2007
* Wow I still haven't written 2006! remember, all times are pacific

130pm, Kansas at South Carolina on CBS. Bill Self wants to give Dave Odom a chance at a quality win. He will take it! South Carolina wins! (yeah right!)

130pm, Tip Off Show on FSN and Fox College Sports

2pm Stanford at Virginia, on FSN and Fox College Sports. After beating Arizona and the Zags, Virginia should be able to beat Stanford. But then again, this team lost to Appalachian State and got blown out by Utah, and barely beat a non-D1 team in Puerto Rico. Prediction: Stanford pulls the upset (or loses by 20)

4pm, Florida State at North Carolina on FSN and Fox College Sports. After losing at home to Clemson, a win here would be very very nice at FSU. They may win the first half, they may win the "3rd quarter", but they are not winning the game :)

5pm, Syracuse at Marquette on CSN and ESPN Full Court. Promising game on paper. Prediction: Marquette, comfortably.

Other ESPN Full Court games: South Florida at overrated Pitt, Mississippi State at Tennessee, Rutgers at Cincy (fighting for a spot at MSG (the Big East tourney))


**** That's all folks ****