Two of the top players in college basketball history are set to bring their expertise and knowledge to Fox Sports Net when the network telecasts the 2002 Pac-10 Tournament on Thursday & Friday, March 7 & 8, from the Staples Center in downtown Los Angeles.
Bill Walton & Sean Elliott, who between them have won four collegiate National Player of the Year awards, join Kevin Frazier on the FSN studio set at the Staples Center to provide pre-game, post-game and halftime analysis. Walton is scheduled to be a part of the telecast for the semi-final action on only Friday, March 8, while Elliott joins Frazier for both days.
This year marks the first Pac-10 Men's Basketball Tournament since 1990 and brings together the top-eight teams in the league's final regular season standings. Fox Sports Net televises quarterfinal action on Thursday, March 7, beginning at 1:00 p.m. FSN also telecasts the semi-final games on Friday, March 8. The first game that night is scheduled for 6:00 p.m. with the second match-up to follow. The winner of the tournament receives the conference's automatic berth in the NCAA Tournament.
Walton, a three-time consensus All-American and National Player of the Year (1972, '73 and '74) for John Wooden's UCLA Bruins, helped lead the program to two NCAA titles and a record of 86-4. Walton is also a member of the Basketball Hall of Fame, and his son, Luke, is currently a junior forward on the Arizona Wildcats basketball team.
As for Elliott, he was the 1989 National Player of the Year and a two-time All-American at the University of Arizona for head coach Lute Olson. He was the Pac-10 Conference's Player of the Year and the Pac-10 Tournament's Most Outstanding Player in 1988 and 1989, while leading the Cats to a pair of Pac-10 crowns.
FSN's announcing team of Barry Tompkins & Dan Belluomini call the first two quarterfinal games on Thursday, March 7 and are joined by sideline reporter Bill Macdonald. Steve Physioc and 1977 John R. Wooden National Player of the Year Marques Johnson do the other two quarterfinal match-ups that day. They are joined by sideline reporter Leila Feinstein. On Friday, March 8, Physioc, Johnson & Feinstein team to do both semi-final contests.
Fox Sports Net Bay Area reaches more than 3.5 million households in Northern California and Northern Nevada. Fox Sports Net Bay Area is owned and operated by Rainbow Sports Networks, a division of Cablevision's Rainbow Media Holdings, Inc.
Fox Sports Net reaches more than 78 million households nationwide and is a service of National Sports Partners, equally owned by Cablevision's Rainbow Media Holdings, Inc. and Fox. Rainbow Sports Networks incorporates Rainbow's 50% ownership of Fox Sports Net and Fox Sports National Advertising, and the ownership and management of Fox Sports Net regional networks in five of the nation's largest markets: Chicago, Florida, Ohio, New England, and San Francisco.