Oct. 12, 2009

WASHINGTON - Georgetown University was selected as one of nine schools to be featured on ESPN during Midnight Madness celebrations as the college basketballs season officially starts this weekend. Midnight Madness will be held on Friday, Oct. 16.

For a fourth consecutive year, the ESPN family of networks' college basketball season will commence on ESPNU, with its extensive whip-around coverage of Midnight Madness events from several top college basketball programs around the country on Friday, Oct. 16, from 9 p.m. to 1 a.m. ET. ESPN2 will simulcast ESPNU's coverage from 11:30 p.m. - 12 a.m. ESPN has been covering Midnight Madness events since 1993.

The four-hour ESPNU Midnight Madness special will showcase nine schools, the most teams ever featured in the history of the network's coverage of the annual event. In addition to covering the Hoyas, ESPNU's coverage includes Connecticut, Duke, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan State, North Carolina, North Dakota State and Washington. Of the nine schools to be highlighted, eight are ranked on Andy Katz's Preseason Top-25, including No. 18 Georgetown.

Georgetown's Midnight Madness broadcast team will include Bill Raftery and Lou Canellis. The duo will provide practice coverage, analysis, and courtside interviews with the head coach and key players from each team.

Wristband distribution for students for the event will begin at 6:30 p.m. Outdoor activities include a viewing of the 2008-09 men's basketball highlight video and a cookout from the Georgetown University Grilling Society (GUGS) as well as live music provided by WPGC.

Doors to the Arena open at 8:15 p.m. There will be performances by the Georgetown Step Team and Groove Theory beginning at 9 p.m. A game of Knockout will determine one person who can attempt a half-court shot with a chance to win $10,000, followed by a shooting contest between members of the men's and women's basketball team.

The Georgetown Pep Band and Cheerleaders will take the floor at 9:30 p.m., and the women's basketball team will be introduced at 9:50 p.m., followed by an address from Head Coach Terri Williams-Flournoy.

One of the highlights of the evening will be the unveiling of former Georgetown standout DaJuan Summers' NBA jersey on the back wall of McDonough Arena. The Hoya men's basketball team and Head Coach John Thompson III will be introduced at approximately 10:15 p.m.

Complementing on-site coverage, ESPNU signature anchor Lowell Galindo will be joined in studio by college basketball analyst Adrian Branch and ESPN.com senior writer Andy Katz, who will preview the season and respond to viewer e-mails and comments.

ESPNU is available in more than 55 million households and has long-term carriage agreements with nine of the top 10 providers - Charter, Comcast, Cox, DirecTV (Channel 614), DISH Network (Channel 141), Mediacom, Time Warner Cable, Verizon FiOS TV and AT&T U-verse.