Hoosier Hysteria.

Perhaps I didn't read carefully, but the BTN's coverage of the various opening practices was quite underwhelming. I got the idea that they were going to do a Big Ten version of what ESPN has done in recent years, but really, it was just the same old "Big Ten Tonight," mostly focused on football, with a couple of visits to each of the five schools that bothered to have an opening night event. The BTN's current Friday night programming consists entirely of the Big Ten Tonight and that tailgate show, replayed over and over into the early morning. When I woke up this morning and turned on the TV, I once again saw Glen Mason and his frighteningly white teeth, just like last night. For a one-time event, couldn't they have tweaked the schedule a bit and devoted a couple of hours to basketball?

I certainly don't mean to sound like the stereotypical IU fan, indifferent to football. I would hope my work here shows that isn't the case. But (and this is a point that many others have made, so I don't claim it as my own) basketball is going to make or break this network. The football programs with the biggest fan followings--Michigan, OSU, Penn State--will rarely play on the BTN, and certainly will never play a significant game there during a good season. Basketball is different. Basketball schedules are set in advance, and so it is likely that every season, meaningful matchups will end up on the BTN. If the Peegs boards are any indication, most of the new prospective viewers, taking advantage of the free online preview, were unimpressed.

As for the actual event, well, I didn't see enough of it to say anything interested. I would recommend the videos posted by Peegs, and I apologize in advance if that is premium content. You really should have a membership anyway.