This year, it's a little different.
This year, the San Diego State men's basketball team is getting some love on national TV because they actually have a chance to make the NCAA tournament.
By surviving an upset bid by Colorado State on Thursday in the Mountain West Conference tournament in Las Vegas, the Aztecs advanced to a Friday semifinal against No. 8-ranked New Mexico that could determine if they're one of 65 teams in the NCAA tournament field.
A win over the Lobos, said ESPN analyst Doug Gottlieb, would assure the Aztecs a spot in the tournament. A win over New Mexico and a championship-game win over No. 14 Brigham Young or Nevada-Las Vegas would assure them a higher seed.
The Aztecs and New Mexico tip off at 6 p.m. Friday on CBS College Sports, with BYU-UNLV to follow at about 8 p.m. The Mountain West championship game is set for a little after 3 p.m. Saturday on Versus.
Win or lose against New Mexico, the Aztecs have made Sunday's NCAA selection show at 3 p.m. on CBS must-see viewing.
Do Gottlieb and "bracketologists" like Joe Lunardi and Jerry Palm really know what they're talking about? Will Lunardi's 96.8 percent accuracy rate at predicting the tournament field over the last 10 years hold up? Will the Mountain West really place a conference-record four teams in the tournament: BYU, New Mexico, UNLV and San Diego State? Will the Pac-10 really only get one team in? Will Seton Hall, Mississippi and Rhode Island -- teams that Gottlieb said the Aztecs are battling for spots in the tournament -- earn berths?
Even if San Diego State doesn't make the tournament, it's good to hear ESPN anchors talk about the Aztecs in a positive light. It's good for the university to get some positive PR.
Now, though, it's up to the team to win a couple more games in a row and really make some national noise.
Hoop scoop
-- Dick Enberg, the new TV voice of the Padres, will call Saturday's 3 p.m. Pac-10 championship game for CBS. He'll work a full slate of NCAA tournament games for the network. His assignment and destination will be determined either Sunday or Monday.
-- There are 21 college games on Saturday's schedule, including 12 conference championships. The best of those are the Pac-10 at 3 p.m. on CBS, Big 12 at 3 p.m. on ESPN, Mountain West at 3 p.m. on Versus, Big West at 5 p.m. on ESPN2 and WAC at 7 p.m. on ESPN2.
-- Sunday's slate features four tournament championships: Atlantic-10 at 10 a.m. on CBS, ACC at 10 a.m. on ESPN, SEC at 10 a.m. on ABC and Big Ten at 12:30 p.m. on CBS.
-- There are eight women's games on Saturday, including the Mountain West championship at 1 p.m. on Versus. There are three women's title games on Sunday.
-- If you can't wait for Sunday's CBS selection show, ESPN has a "Bracketology" special at noon Sunday, with analysts trying to peer into the selection committee's crystal ball. And if you need more, ESPN has a selection special at 4 p.m., as does CBS College Sports.
-- The NIT selection show is at 6 p.m. on ESPNU.
-- The NCAA women's selection show is at 4 p.m. Monday on ESPN.
-- ESPN's men's college basketball coverage -– featuring 131 regular-season games -- was the network's most-viewed season ever and highest rated since 2005-06. ESPN averaged 1.049 million households, 1.359 million viewers and a 1.1 rating for increases of 4 percent, 8 percent and 10 percent, respectively, over last year's 127 games.
-- ESPN's most-viewed and highest-rated game of the season was the Dec. 19 matchup of then-No. 2 Texas and then-No. 10 North Carolina, with Texas winning 103-90. The telecast averaged 2.362 million households and a 2.4 rating.
-- ESPN2 -- which televised a network-record 173 games, 31 more than last year -- averaged an 0.4 rating, 372,000 households and 482,000 viewers, equal with last year.
Local notes
-- Several readers from areas such as Vista and Solana Beach have complained of poor reception for Padres weekday spring training games on 1700 AM. It's hard to say why that is, but I live in Escondido and the broadcasts are clear on car radio and on a transistor, but not so much on a home radio.
-- The Padres go head-to-head with basketball conference tournament finals with their first telecast of the spring, 1 p.m. Sunday against the Indians on Channel 4. The second spring game on Channel 4 is at 7 p.m. Monday against the Giants. The other spring TV dates are March 24 at 7 p.m., March 27 at 1 p.m. and March 29 at 7 p.m.
-- If you believe, like I do, that Major League Baseball's blackout rules are stupid and need to be revised, note that Tuesday's Padres-Angels game on Fox Sports West was blacked out in San Diego. What market are you protecting when you black out a spring training game that the other team isn't carrying?
Olympic fallout
NBC has owned the Olympics, but only has a contract for the 2012 Summer Games in London. Up for bid are the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi, Russia, and the 2016 Summer Games in Rio de Janeiro.
NBC paid $820 million for the U.S. rights to the recent Vancouver Olympics, and it was a ratings success. But Vancouver is in a favorable time zone. London, Russia and Rio are not.
So it will be interesting to see if NBC bids high for Russia and Rio while suitors like ESPN lurk.
New Year's Day slump
ESPN provided further evidence that New Year's Day is no longer the best day in college football.
The network announced deals with the Gator Bowl, Capital One Bowl and Outback Bowl -- with all three scheduled for New Year's Day. The Capital One Bowl is scheduled to kick off at 10 a.m. on ESPN, the Outback Bowl is scheduled for 10 a.m. on ABC, and the Gator Bowl starts at 10:30 a.m. on ESPN2.
New Year's Day used to be special with only the best bowl games. But why would a network want to have three bowl games kick off within 30 minutes of each other? Give me the old days of the Cotton, Rose, Orange and Sugar bowls on New Year's Day - and maybe even the Fiesta - and let's leave it at that.
Soccer news
-- Ian Darke, Adrian Healey, Derek Rae and Martin Tyler will be the announcers for ESPN's coverage of the FIFA World Cup this summer. Darke works for London-based Sky Sports, calling Premier League matches. Healey is part of ESPN International's coverage of Spain's La Liga and hosts Premier League telecasts on ESPN2. Rae works UEFA Champions League matches. Tyler has called every World Cup match since 1978. ESPN will carry all 64 World Cup matches from June 11-July 11.
-- ESPN also announced Jeremy Schaap, Sal Masekela, Andrew Orsatti, Dan Williams, Julie Foudy, Allen Hopkins and Rob Stone will work as reporters for the World Cup.
-- ESPN Radio will also carry all 64 World Cup games with JP Dellacamera and Tommy Smyth forming one broadcast team, Glenn Davis and Kyle Martino another. Ross Dyer and Shep Messing round out the commentator team.
-- Fox will have the Champions League final on May 22 from Madrid. The 2:45 p.m. kickoff will be Fox's first soccer telecast.
Around the dial
-- The Tennis Channel has 90 hours of live coverage from the BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells. The coverage begins at 11 a.m. Saturday and extends through the championship matches on March 21. Brett Haber, Tracy Austin and Cari Champion will work the women's matches. Jason Goodall, Doug Adler and Robbie Koenig will handle the men's coverage.
-- NBC Universal has coverage of the world indoor track and field championships at 4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.
-- ESPN Radio, which can be heard in San Diego on 98.9 FM, announced a new lineup. Effective April 5, "Mike & Mike in the Morning" runs from 3-7 a.m., followed by "The Herd with Colin Cowherd" from 7-10 a.m., "Scott Van Pelt Show" from 10 a.m.-1 p.m. and "Doug Gottlieb Show" from 1-4 p.m.
-- Robert De Niro has been cast as Vince Lombardi, the legendary coach of the Green Bay Packers, in the motion picture "Lombardi." The movie is being developed by ESPN Films, Andell Entertainment and the NFL. Plans call for the film's release during the weekend of the 2012 AFC and NFC championship games. Ernest Borgnine played Lombardi in a 1973 made-for-TV movie "Legend in Granite: The Vince Lombardi Story."
-- ESPN has reached a multiyear agreement with the New York Yankees for exclusive TV and radio rights to the Pinstripe Bowl that will debut this season and be played Dec. 30 in Yankee Stadium. The game will pit the No. 3 team from the Big 12 against the sixth-best conference record after the BCS selections. The contest will mark the first college football bowl game in Yankee Stadium since the Gotham Bowl in 1962, when Nebraska beat Miami in the original Yankee Stadium.
-- Donovan McNabb, Terrell Owens, Antonio Gates, Hakeem Olajuwon, Kenny Smith and Rick Fox are all in Los Angeles on Friday for a taping of a special episode of Spike TV's "Pros vs. Joes," featuring current NFL stars who played college basketball (McNabb, Owens and Gates) playing basketball against former NBA greats Olajuwon, Smith and Fox. Season 5 of "Pros vs. Joes" premieres July 14. The new season, hosted by Michael Strahan and Jay Glazer, will consist of eight one-hour episodes.
