This Week In The BIG EAST Radio Show, distributed by Westwood One, continued its 11th season with guests Georgetown head coach Ed Cooley, NCAA Basketball Analytics Expert Ken Pomeroy and FOX Sports and CBS Sports analyst Bill Raftery.
The returning hosts for This Week In The BIG EAST (#TWITBE) are John Rooke, a longtime BIG EAST play-by-play voice, and Kevin McNamara, BIG EAST radio host, columnist and author. Rooke and McNamara give a comprehensive look at the teams, coaches, players and storied tradition of the top basketball conference in America in each episode.
The sixth episode of TWITBE takes a look back on another thrilling week of BIG EAST games, with multiple finishes coming down to the wire. Most notably at the top of the league standings, St. John's hit a road bump for the first time in 10 games, coming up short against Villanova. In addition, UConn knocked off second-place Creighton in a nail-biter, the Huskies first win ever in Omaha, Neb.
The BIG EAST Spotlight is on Butler senior forward Patrick McCaffery, discussing the Bulldogs up and down season, and most recently righting the ship winning four of the last seven conference games. After opening the season 7-1, including a top-25 win against Mississippi State, Butler went on a nine-game skid before getting back on track. Thanks to McCaffery's leadership along with head coach Thad Matta, he discusses the turnaround and expectations heading into the tournament.
The BIG EAST Focus shines on Seton Hall sophomore guard Isaiah Coleman, who leads the Pirates with 14.9 points per game, a year removed from garnering BIG EAST All-Freshman honors. Coleman takes the time to discuss his sophomore campaign and how the team is aiming to finish the season on the right foot.
Rooke and McNamara are then joined by former Providence basketball standout Tim Welsh, who now works as a color analyst for NBC and ESPN. Welsh provides an inside look into the BIG EAST's new broadcast partnership with NBC and Peacock, as well as his perspective on how the conference stacks up nationally.
The episode’s “Who’s Hot” segment features the return of “Blast from the Past”, turning the clock back 35 years to 1990. Seton’s Hall’s Marco Lokar made the move across the Atlantic from Italy the season after the Pirates lost the National Championship game to Michigan. On February 20th, 1990, Lokar went off with 41 points against Pittsburgh, setting a the BIG EAST single-game freshman scoring record, that still stands today.
To join the conversation and send questions to Rooke (@JRbroadcaster) and McNamara (@KevinMcNamara33), use #TWITBE on Twitter. Fans may submit questions to be featured on the show.
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This will air Saturday, Feb. 15 at 11 a.m. ET on Sirius 161 XM 201 Online 963 leading into DePaul at Xavier.