Feb. 12, 2008
Complete Release in PDF Format
Indianapolis, Ind. -- The men's basketball regular-season finale between Horizon League rivals Wright State University and Valparaiso University has been selected for national broadcast on ESPN2. Tip-off time has been moved to noon (Eastern time / 11 a.m. Central) to accommodate the broadcast.
ESPN selected the Wright State-Valpo match-up from the day's five Horizon League contests as its wild-card broadcast in continued coverage of Horizon League basketball. That package features more than a dozen appearances by League teams this season, including tonight's (Feb. 12) contest between current League front-runner Butler University and the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (7 p.m. ET, ESPNU).
ESPN networks also will carry portions of the Horizon League Men's Basketball Championship, with semifinals airing on ESPNU on Saturday, March 8, and the title showdown on ESPN on Tuesday, March 11. The Horizon League Women's Basketball Championship Game can be seen on ESPNU on Sunday, March 16.
The WSU-Valpo game could carry significant ramifications in the final regular-season standings and the seeding for the Horizon League Men's Basketball Championship. Wright State currently stands at 9-4 in the League, one-and-a-half games behind Butler and one-half game ahead of Cleveland State University (9-5) and one game in front of the University of Illinois at Chicago (8-5). Valparaiso (5-7) is in seventh place, one game behind sixth-place University of Wisconsin-Green Bay (7-7) in the standings.
The top two seeds earn first-round byes into the semifinals with seeds 3-6 hosting first-round games on Tuesday, March 4.
The game will mark WSU's third appearance on ESPN networks in a seven-day period. The Raiders' road games versus Illinois State University (Feb. 24, 6:30 p.m. ET as part of the O'Reilly ESPNU BracketBusters event) and Butler (Feb. 28, 9 p.m.) both appear on ESPNU.
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Remaining Horizon League basketball action on ESPN networks: (all times Eastern Standard)Butler at Milwaukee -- Tuesday, Feb. 12, 7 p.m., ESPNU Butler at Green Bay (women's) -- Saturday, Feb. 16, 4 p.m., ESPNUDrake at Butler -- Saturday, Feb. 23, 5 p.m., ESPN2Miami [Ohio] at Valparaiso -- Saturday, Feb. 23, 6 p.m., ESPN ClassicMarist at Cleveland State -- Saturday, Feb. 23, 6:30 p.m. ,ESPNUMilwaukee at Bradley -- Saturday, Feb. 23, 9 p.m., ESPN360.comWright State at Illinois State -- Sunday, Feb. 24, 6:30 p.m., ESPNUWright State at Butler -- Thursday, Feb. 28, 9 p.m., ESPNUWright State at Valparaiso -- Saturday, Mar. 1, 12 p.m., ESPN2Horizon League Men's Basketball Championship, semifinals -- Saturday, Mar. 8, 4:30/6:30 p.m., ESPNUHorizon League Men's Basketball Championship Game -- Tuesday, Mar. 11, 9 p.m., ESPNHorizon League Women's Basketball Championship Game -- Sunday, Mar. 16, 1 p.m., ESPNU