Pac-12 announces 2016-17 Men's Basketball television schedule
Composite 2016-17 TV Schedule (PDF)
SAN FRANCISCO - The Pac-12 Conference announced on Thursday the 2016-17 men's basketball television package that will feature 222 contests telecast to national and regional audiences.
Pac-12 Conference controlled games include 151 games to be aired on Pac-12 Networks (including eight Pac-12 Tournament games), 47 on ESPN/ESPN2/ESPNU (including three Pac-12 Tournament games), 20 games on FS1 and two nationally each on FOX and CBS broadcast networks. Additional appearances will be made through other conference television agreements and various in-season tournaments.
Every Pac-12 home contest will be televised during the 2016-17 regular season. The Pac-12 non-conference home slate features 35 games against teams that participated in postseason play in 2016, including 10 against teams from the 2016 NCAA Tournament field highlighted by matchups against Butler, Michigan, Virginia and Xavier.
Pac-12 men's basketball fans will get their first taste of hoops on Friday, Oct. 14 as Pac-12 Networks will broadcast ARIZONA's annual Red-Blue Game, as well as UTAH's 'Night With the Runnin' Utes' showcase on Tuesday, Oct. 18.
The regular season will begin on Friday, Nov. 11 with eight games as part of Pac-12 Networks' Full Court Friday as well as ARIZONA battling Michigan State in the Armed Forces Classic on ESPN and STANFORD facing Harvard in the 2016 Pac-12 China Game on ESPN2.
League TV partner ESPN will open its coverage of the race to Las Vegas for the 2017 Pac-12 Tournament on Wednesday, Dec. 28 with UCLA visiting defending Pac-12 champion OREGON on ESPN2. ESPN will also cap the conference season with three broadcasts during the Pac-12 Tournament at the new T-Mobile Arena, culminating with the championship game on Saturday, March 11 at 8 p.m. PT.
FOX Sports will carry several in-season tournament contests involving Pac-12 teams on FS1 before the broadcast partner opens its league slate with USC traveling to OREGON on FS1 on Friday, Dec. 30 at 7 p.m. PT.
The Pac-12 will feature four preseason All-Americans according to Athlon Sports, including a national-best three first-team selections in OREGON's Dillon Brooks, WASHINGTON's Markelle Fultz and CALIFORNIA's Ivan Rabb. 2015-16 Pac-12 All-Conference performers Brooks, Rabb and Isaac Hamilton (UCLA) headline the list of the league's top returners, while Fultz and fellow McDonald’s All-Americans Lonzo Ball and T.J. Leaf of UCLA and Kobi Simmons of ARIZONA lead a group of 18 freshmen rated in Scout's Class of 2016 Top 100 recruit rankings, the second-most of any league in the country.
Pac-12 men's basketball enjoyed one of its most exciting and competitive seasons in 2015-16. A record seven teams earned bids to the 2016 NCAA Tournament, nine teams finished the year ranked in the RPI Top 100, all 12 teams posted Top 100 Strengths of Schedule, and league play featured seven matchups between AP Top 25 teams, the most for the conference since 2007-08.