The Basketball Tournament (commonly called TBT) returns for its tenth year in 2023, and ESPN once again has comprehensive coverage of the tournament.
On Monday, ESPN announced its coverage plans for the tournament, which runs from Wednesday, July 19th through Thursday, August 3rd.
TBT games will air across ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, and ESPN+. Three of the four quarterfinals will air on ESPN2 (the fourth airs on ESPN+), while both semifinals and the final will air on ESPN. Most regional games will air on ESPN+ with ten airing on ESPN2 and four airing on ESPNU.
Here’s a listing of each regional’s broadcast team, featuring plenty of familiar names.
- Texas Tech regional: Chris Vosters, Seth Greenberg
- Wichita regional: Matt Martucci, Tim Scarbrough
- Wichita regional: Eric Collins, Fran Fraschilla, Ashley ShahAhmadi
- Xavier regional: Eric Duick, Mike LaTulip
- Xavier regional: Bob Rathbun, Robbie Hummel
- Syracuse regional: Brock Bowling, Dalen Cuff
- Louisville regional: Chris Vosters, Seth Greenberg
- West Virginia regional: Matt Martucci, Tim Scarbrough
- Dayton regional: Erick Duick, Errick McCollum
- Dayton regional: Bob Rathbun, Robbie Hummel
The quarterfinals will be called by Collins and Fraschilla (Wichita), Martucci and Scarbrough (West Virginia), Rathburn and Hummel (Dayton), and Vosters and Greenberg (Louisville). Collins, Fraschilla, and ShahAhmadi will call the semifinals and final.
Prior to the semifinals on August 2nd, ESPN+ will air the Puma Posterize Dunk Contest, featuring a prize of $20,000 for the winner.
TBT has become a staple on ESPN’s summer schedule and is a fine way to fill programming windows until football season starts back up. It’s a fun way to spend some time when you’d otherwise be watching streaming content you’ve seen a hundred times before. It will also be airing at the same time as another basketball tournament on ESPN – the previously announced revival of SlamBall, which premieres on July 21st.
ESPN’s coverage of TBT began in 2015, and several multi-year extensions have been announced in the years since.
Earlier this year, TBT branched out into soccer with The Soccer Tournament, airing on NBC’s platforms.
For the full schedule of TBT games and network assignments, click here.
[ESPN]
About Joe Lucia
I hate your favorite team. I also sort of hate most of my favorite teams.