Notes on ACC, A-10. Big Ten & MAC MBK TV Schedule Releases

Some random stuff I picked out while combing through the TV schedules.

ACC
Atlantic 10
Big Ten
MAC

* Call this a bit of homerism, but I'm slightly surprised that FOX allowed CBS to take Syracuse at Georgetown, regardless of how big a rebuild the Hoyas are in for.  I don't know if CBS gets the ability to pick games off the top from FOX and FOX pushed them this one instead of, say, Duke at St. John's as Duke is much more of a national draw.

Per Jon Rothstein, the Big East schedule should be out next week, so we'll see at that time the other Big East games they've received to air on CBS & CBS Sports Network.

* NBCSN went in on four Atlantic 10 non-conference games after not selecting any last year.  With that said, I'm checking on the counts for ESPN and CBS Sports Network as they don't match the number of games announced.

You'll notice that Stadium was not announced as a TV partner, but that the conference talked about additional regional & local TV announcements forthcoming.  When this round of TV partners were set in 2012, it was noted that NBC Sports regional networks would have some level of commitment to carry games from member schools.  Nine schools reside in areas covered by NBC Sports RSNs.

* The Big Ten release did not have any information about TV for the ACC-Big Ten Challenge nor the Gavitt Games vs. the Big East, but the ACC's release did carry the info.  I assume that the Big East's TV release would have Gavitt Games information.  Maybe.  Possibly.

* Also missing from the Big Ten release: Wildcard windows for CBS and BTN.  I don't know if its because of the compressed schedule for 2018, but all games were slotted to a specific date and TV network, with a handful of games awaiting tip times either based on the NFL or other programming.

* Besides a decent number of Monday & Friday Big Ten games during conference play, five Thursday & four Sunday night windows were also secured by FS1.  Those games could being paired with Pac-12 games, particularly the Thursday night games.  One Sunday window will likely be paired against the Phoenix NHRA event (February 25th).

* The MAC release had seven CBS Sports Network and two ESPN telecast windows.   I assume that each network will have a handful of wildcard windows later in the season.

The conference semifinals are once again on CBS Sports Network and it will be interesting to see where the semifinals, along with C-USA's semifinals are slotted in on the network.  Last year, the Mountain West semifinals were moved back an hour, but the 2018 schedule has them returning to their traditional 9pm & 11:30pm ET starts, which could move the MAC or C-USA semis to start at 4:30pm ET & someone (maybe the MAC) to have semifinals start at noon ET on a Friday.  Yuck.

* The first Duke-North Carolina meeting has been scheduled as a Thursday night game for the second consecutive year.  The ACC will again fill ESPN's open NBA Wednesday night in February during the NBA All Star break with the same four schools from 2017 (Duke, Louisville, North Carolina & Syracuse) in diffrerent matchups: North Carolina-Syracuse & Duke-Louisville

* Potentially a side effect of the loss of several Big Ten games to FOX and changes to the SEC schedule appear to have left ESPN with an opening for women's basketball on Thursday nights.  Per ESPN MediaZone, each Thursday night in January there will be a women's basketball game on ESPN.  I can't say whether this will extend to February, but this is in addition to the Big Monday ESPN2 slot.