Some thoughts on the mens' hoops TV schedule

In case you didn't know, and you probably didn't, today will be the first chance to catch our mens' hoops squad on television as they take on Colorado State at 3:30 on Comcast SportsNet.  UO released the TV schedule the other day and all I could think was "wow, that's terribly underwhelming."  Of our 30 games, only 16, barely more than half, will be available to television viewers.  That means that 14 games--including six conference matchups, won't be shown this season.  To sum it up in a word:  pathetic.

I'll confess that I don't know what the ratings for a local broadcast of an Oregon basketball game is, and they were definitely down with the team's performance last year.  But its clear that this university wants to be a major player in the college basketball scene.  Lets look at the major players.  Gonzaga has all their games shown in their local market.  UCLA does.  Duke does.  Washington has all but two.  Now, I understand that the non-conference schedule is a bit soft this year, and that CSN gives preference to the Blazers when making the schedule.  But a whopping 14 games nowhere to be found?  And its even more baffling when you look at some of them.

Next Saturday, the Ducks will go on the road and take on a Portland team that is expected to finish second in the WCC.  A home game against a good St. Mary's team won't be shown.  And a whopping six conference games:  at Cal, at Stanford, vs. Stanford, at USC, vs. Washington, and vs. Washington St. (admittedly, the latter two could be picked up by FSN at a latter date).

Bottom line--there is no excuse for half the schedule not to be on TV.  If that cannot be rectified next season, then there is a major flaw in the local TV contract that needs to be fixed.  In the meantime, here is the TV schedule.  Hope you have a subscription to goducks.tv or a good radio handy:

11/15 vs Colorado St. CSNNW

11/28 vs Montana St.  CSNNW

12/05 @Missouri         ESPNU

12/19  vs Oakland       CSNNW

12/31 @Washington St. CSNNW

1/02  @Washington  CSNNW

1/10 vs Oregon State FSNW

1/14  vs Arizona State CSNNW

1/16  vs Arizona           FSN

1/28 vs UCLA              FSN

1/30 vs USC               CSNNW

2/06 @Oregon State FSNW

2/11 @Arizona           FSN

2/13 @Arizona State CSNNW

2/20  California         CSNNW

2/27 @UCLA             CSNNW