In Charlotte, Scott Fowler notes ESPN’s Jay Bilas has been with the network for “exactly 30 years” and says he calls “in the range of 40” college basketball games a year. He added, “It’s been over that for the last several years -- maybe up to around 50 with the NBA.” When it comes to how long he wants to remain on TV, Bilas said, “I’m not naive enough to think I’m going to try to do it until I’m 80-something. It’s more a year-to-year thing. Physically, I feel great. I have thought about what would make me want to get out. And the only thing that I can come up with is the travel” (CHARLOTTE OBSERVER, 3/5).
ALWAYS ON: In Des Moines, Chad Leistikow wrote broadcaster Robbie Hummel’s on-air omnipresence during college basketball season “has become a running gag.” Cue up the TV “on a day that ends in y, and Hummel has seemingly teleported into yet another arena three states away.” Leistikow wrote it is “probably underselling it to say” Hummel is a “rising star in basketball broadcasting.” He is “already a highly respected voice” in the sport who will, all told, call 85 games this season for Fox, FS1, Big Ten Network, Peacock, Turner Sports and Westwood One Radio. Hummel said, “The way I look at it is I don’t work for seven months. For the five months that I do, it’s full go” (DES MOINES REGISTER, 3/4).
AGAINST ALL ODDS: In Charleston, Scott Hamilton notes SEC Network basketball analyst Patric Young, who was paralyzed from the waist down after a car crash in 2022, “finished his first season as a TV analyst.” Following his crash, ESPN “stuck by Young,” and his job “awaited the following season” with adjustments being made “for both sides.” Young said, “Somebody mentioned something to me after a speaking engagement.” He added, “It was, ‘You’re a great inspiration. I think it would be so impactful if you were in your wheelchair when you got on TV.’ I was convicted by that. I was like, ‘I’m never going back. Never going back’” (Charleston POST & COURIER, 3/5).
