More WAC basketball on television

From Jason Erickson, WAC Director of Media Relations:

The WAC Sports Network (WSN) today announced its first-ever broadcast schedule and talent line up for men’s basketball, marking its debut for the sport since launching two months ago.

The WSN – a product of the Western Athletic Conference and its multimedia rights partner, Learfield Sports – will broadcast 12 evening basketball games from January 3 through March 5, 2011.

Here is the station/channel affiliate list. 

Additionally, the five-member broadcast team appointed for the 2011 schedule comprises Rich Cellini, Guy Haberman and Dave Harbison as play-by-play announcers, with Dave Bollwinkel and Bob Donewald serving as color commentators. Haberman and Harbison were members of WSN’s football broadcasting team, as well.

“We received such positive feedback from our member schools and their communities with our football rollout, that we’re definitely pleased to now introduce WSN for basketball,” said WAC Commissioner Karl Benson.

The WSN will allow for WAC basketball games to be produced and distributed to media outlets in the respective school markets. Learfield Sports’ locally based WAC Sports Properties team has oversight of WSN through Learfield Sports’ extensive conference partnership. The company represents the WAC, as well as seven member schools: Boise State, Fresno State, Idaho, Louisiana Tech, Nevada, San Jose State and Utah State. For more about its history and collegiate portfolio, visit learfieldsports.com.

The complete basketball game schedule and broadcasters’ line-up

Jan. 3      Nevada at Fresno State (8:00 p.m. PT)                 Cellini/Bollwinkel

Jan. 8      Fresno State at New Mexico State (7:00 p.m. MT)       Haberman/Donewald

Jan. 15     Nevada at Boise State (7:00 p.m. MT)                  Harbison/Donewald

Jan. 22     Boise State at Idaho (7:00 p.m. PT)                   Harbison/Bollwinkel

Jan. 27     Fresno State at Nevada (7:30 p.m. PT)                 Haberman/Donewald

Jan. 29     Fresno State at San Jose State (7:00 p.m. PT)         Cellini/Donewald

Feb. 10     Fresno State at Boise State (7:00 p.m. MT)            Cellini/Bollwinkel

Feb. 12     Fresno State at Utah State (7:00 p.m. MT)             Harbison/Bollwinkel

Feb. 12     Nevada at San Jose State (7:00 p.m. PT)               Haberman/Donewald

Feb. 26     Boise State at Nevada (7:30 p.m. PT                   Haberman/Donewald

March 3     Fresno State at Idaho (7:00 p.m. PT)                  Cellini/Bollwinkel

March 5     Nevada at New Mexico State (7:00 p.m. MT)             Harbison/Donewald

WSN’s basketball broadcast team

Rich Cellini – PBP Announcer

Cellini joined Sports USA in 2005 as a play-by-play announcer and sideline reporter.  Last season, he was the voice of the radio network's "College Football Game of the Week."  His broadcasting resume includes play-by-play coverage of college football for Fox Sports Net, ABC Sports and CSTV.  He also has covered NFL Europe and worked for NFL on Fox as a sideline reporter.  In addition to his on-air work, Cellini is a professor in the Master's Program in Sport Management at the University of San Francisco, teaching in the areas of Leadership and Critical Thinking. He is a Fresno State graduate and has called Nevada basketball games since 2004.

Guy Haberman – PBP Announcer

As host of The Guy Haberman Show on 1430 ESPN in Fresno, Calif., Haberman is in his third year broadcasting on 790 ESPN for the Fresno Grizzlies, AAA affiliate for MLB’s San Francisco Giants.  A native of Davis, Calif., Haberman also is the voice of Fresno State women’s basketball and softball, served as a sideline reporter for Fresno State football on the Bulldog Sports Network in 2009 and was pre- and post-game color commentator for the 2010 WAC Softball Tournament.

Dave Harbison – PBP Announcer

Since 2005, Harbison has done on-air work for Fox Sports Houston, including the last three years as part of the broadcast team for "Astros Live".  He also served 15 years with Sporting News Radio as a reporter, talk show host, update anchor and pre/post-game host.  Harbison has prior experience as sports director for KILT-FM (Houston, Texas); host and anchor for WTEM (Washington, D.C.) and as sports director for WTKA/WAAM (Ann Arbor, Mich.), where he was play-by-play announcer for Michigan and Eastern Michigan University athletics.  Vanderbilt, Tulane and Texas Southern are other collegiate programs where he has done play-by-play work.

Dave Bollwinkel – Color Commentator

Having served 25 years in college basketball, Bollwinkel spent nine of those as head coach for both Saint Mary’s College and Cal Poly University.  During his coaching tenure, he served as an assistant for the California, Oregon, Wisconsin, Dayton, Colorado State and San Jose State programs.  Additionally, he has been a college basketball color analyst for Fox SportsNet, Comcast SportsNet and The Mountain Network.  Currently he also scouts for the NBA’s Chicago Bulls and is a professional speaker.

Bob Donewald – Color Commentator

Former head basketball coach for Illinois State University from 1978-1989, Donewald led the Redbirds to appearances in the NIT and NCAA tournaments and guided them to a victory in the 1984 Missouri Valley Conference championship, the year he won MVC Coach of the Year.  Prior to ISU, he served five years as assistant basketball coach for Indiana, which went on to win the Big Ten Conference three of those years and the NCAA title in 1976.  Donewald also served as head basketball coach for Western Michigan University, from 1989 – 2000, leading the team to numerous accomplishments in the NIT and NCAA tournaments and the 1998 Mid-American Conference Championship title.  Since 2001, Donewald has been a basketball consultant and television color analyst.