Dishin & Swishin 2/14/13 Podcast: Kevin Negandhi takes over as ESPN studio host for women’s hoops starting with Play4Kay
(Photo by Joe Faraoni / ESPN Images)
It is not just the quantity but also the quality of the coverage of women’s basketball that has improved dramatically over the last few years. Between the ESPN family of networks and their streaming internet coverage, the conference networks, and the Fox affiliated stations, there are a lot of venues to see great basketball.
It is not just the quantity but also the quality of the coverage of women’s basketball that has improved dramatically over the last few years. Between the ESPN family of networks and their streaming Internet coverage, conference networks and the Fox Sports-affiliated stations, there are a lot of venues to see great basketball.
This week ESPN announced a move designed to further improve their studio coverage as well, bringing in Kevin Negandhi to host women’s basketball coverage and team with analysts Kara Lawson and Carolyn Peck. In adding Negandhi to the studio, ESPN is bringing in someone who “cut their teeth” on women’s basketball; he began his career covering Temple women’s basketball games while a student in Philadelphia.
This weekend viewers will get to see Negandhi’s enthusiasm and excitement about the job as ESPN provides unprecedented coverage of the Play4Kay games, broadcasting between Sunday and Monday twelve games featuring twelve top 25 teams, as the schools and coaches promote breast cancer awareness and raise money for the Kay Yow Cancer Fund. It begins on Sunday at 1:30 p.m. ET with DePaul visiting tenth-ranked Louisville, and ends on Monday night with the 9 p.m. ET game “everyone wants to see,” top-ranked Baylor at Connecticut. The ESPN crew will be in Hartford for that game.
To further help raise money, Baylor and UConn have thrown down the gauntlet to their fans, asking them to contribute via separate phone numbers and Web sites, seeing which school can generate the most money for the Kay Yow Cancer Fund.
Negandhi appears for the first time on Dishin & Swishin this week, and it is a great introduction for you to the man’s passion for the game. We discussed topics including Play4Kay, his new role as host for the NCAA championships, learning the trade while at Temple and growing up in Philadelphia, what he enjoys about the women’s game, and the pros and cons of the ESPN “Three to See” advertising plan for promoting Brittney Griner, Skylar Diggins and Elena Delle Donne.
It is clear that Negandhi knows the game, and is a fan; that can only improve the coverage even more.
| Date | Tip (ET) | Game | Network(s) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sun., Feb. 17 | 1:30 p.m. | DePaul at No. 10 Louisville | ESPNU, WatchESPN |
| Sun., Feb. 17 | 2:30 p.m. | No. 2 Notre Dame at Marquette | ESPN2, ESPN3 |
| Sun., Feb. 17 | 2:30 p.m. | No. 22 Oklahoma at Kansas | ESPN, ESPN3 |
| Sun., Feb. 17 | 2:30 p.m. | Georgia Tech at NC State | ESPN2, ESPN3 |
| Sun., Feb. 17 | 2:30 p.m. | Alabama at Auburn | ESPN2, ESPN3 |
| Sun., Feb. 17 | 3:30 p.m. | No. 4 Stanford at No. 15 UCLA | ESPNU, WatchESPN |
| Sun., Feb. 17 | 5 p.m. | No. 7 Maryland at Virginia | ESPN2, ESPN3 |
| Sun., Feb. 17 | 5 p.m. | Cincinnati at St. John’s | ESPN2, ESPN3 |
| Sun., Feb. 17 | 5 p.m. | Vanderbilt at No. 12 Tennessee | ESPN2, ESPN3 |
| Sun., Feb. 17 | 5 p.m. | Iowa at No. 18 Purdue | ESPN2, ESPN3 |
| Mon., Feb. 18 | 7 p.m. | No. 9 Kentucky at No. 11 Texas A&M | ESPN2, WatchESPN |
| Mon., Feb. 18 | 9 p.m. | No. 1 Baylor at No. 3 Connecticut | ESPN2, WatchESPN |
