UK has small role in ESPN Madness plans

ESPN announced its plans for television coverage of Midnight Madness. It’s four hours of celebration on Oct. 17.

Of course, Kentucky’s doing its Madness on Friday. That doesn’t mean UK will be absent from the ESPN plan. Spokesman Michael Humes said that ESPN will have a “campus connection student” doing a report from Kentucky’s Madness.

That report will be pre-packaged and used as part of ESPN’s coverage on Oct. 17.

Here’s the heart of the matter on ESPN’s announcement:

ESPNU will televise four hours of Midnight Madness coverage beginning at 9 p.m. ET on Friday, Oct. 17, expanding its coverage 30 minutes from last season and showcasing more schools. The network will present extensive whip-around coverage of several Midnight Madness events, including those at Davidson, Kansas, Georgetown, Gonzaga and Indiana, which will be the five primary men’s basketball programs highlighted. Several of ESPN’s top men’s college basketball analysts will be on hand at each of the sites, such as Jay Bilas, Fran Fraschilla, Bill Raftery, Stephen Bardo and Steve Lavin, providing practice coverage, analysis, and courtside interviews with the head coach and key players from each team.