The MEAC announced the 2011-12 basketball television schedule today with an exciting selection of men's and women's competitive matchups on multiple ESPN platforms.

As part of its agreement with ESPN, the MEAC will highlight four men's and two women's basketball regular season games. 

The 2012 MEAC Championship Tournament will also air on the ESPN networks with the men's and women's championship games televised live on ESPNU and ESPN2, respectively, beginning at 1 p.m. and 4 p.m. on Saturday, March 10.

The 2011-12 television schedule tips off on Monday, January 16 with the defending MEAC men's basketball champion Hampton Pirates traveling to Baltimore, Maryland to take on the Morgan State Bears.  In a rematch of last year's championship game, the teams will face off live at 7 p.m. on ESPNU.

The Coppin State Lady Eagles will match up against the North Carolina A&T Lady Aggies Monday, January 23 at 4:30 p.m. on ESPNU in the first televised women's game of the season.  The action continues with Coppin State hosting the Aggies of North Carolina A&T in the second game of the doubleheader at 7:30 p.m.

In a men's and women's double-header on Monday, January 30, Hampton will host Morgan State with the women's game at 4:30 p.m. and the men's game immediately following at 7:30 p.m.

The Coppin State Eagles will also take on the Maryland Eastern Shore Hawks in a Monday, February 13 game at 9 p.m. on ESPNU.

For the fourth straight year, the MEAC will participate in the annual Sears BracketBusters event, a three-day men's college basketball extravaganza pitting potential NCAA Tournament hopefuls against each other.

The Morgan State Bears, who have competed as the MEAC's representative for four consecutive years, will be joined by Delaware State, and Hampton.  The DSU Hornets are competing in the event for the second straight year, while the Hampton Pirates are making their first-ever appearance.

For the seventh straight year, ESPNU will feature five Sears BracketBusters games, while ESPN or ESPN2 will television up to six and ESPN3 will carry two. The 13 Sears BracketBusters matchups will be announced Monday, Jan. 30 with dates, times and networks.

The 142-team field will feature teams from 16 conferences: 12 each from Colonial Athletic Association, Mid-American Conference and Southland; 11 each from Ohio Valley Conference and Big South; 10 each from Horizon League, Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference, Missouri Valley and Summit League; nine each from America East, Big Sky and Big West; eight from the Western Athletic Association; four from the Southern Conference; three from the MEAC; and two from the West Coast Conference.

The 2012 MEAC Basketball Tournament tips off March 5-10 at the Lawrence Joel Veterans Coliseum in Winston-Salem, NC. For more information on the MEAC Men's and Women's Basketball Tournament, log on to www.MEAChoops.com.

ESPNU

ESPNU launched March 4, 2005. The 24-hour college sports television network televises more than 650 live events annually. Action includes a variety of top football and men's and women's basketball games, as well as Olympic sports from 26 Division I conferences. ESPNU is the destination for premier high school programming, including elite football and basketball events. The network also has a wide-ranging agreement with the NCAA for extensive coverage of NCAA Championships.

ESPNU offers over 600 original studio shows, including SportsCenterU, ESPNU Recruiting Nation, The Experts, The WhipAround, College Basketball Live, BCS Countdown and is the television home of ESPN Radio's The Herd with Colin Cowherd. The brand is also available in high definition on ESPNU HD, now in over 20 million homes. In addition, ESPNU Campus Connection is a multiplatform, student-generated content initiative to enhance the network's link to college campuses nationwide.

ESPNU has seen a steady increase since its inception and is now in approximately 73 million households across the country.

The network has long-term carriage agreements with all 10 of the top multichannel TV providers - Cablevision, Charter, Comcast, Cox, DirecTV (Channel 208), DISH Network (Channel 141), Mediacom, Time Warner Cable, Verizon FiOS TV and AT&T U-verse.

2011-12 MEAC Basketball Televised Schedule

Men's Televised Schedule

Date	Match-up	Location	Airtime/Network
Monday, Jan. 16	Hampton at Morgan State	Baltimore, Md.	7 p.m./ESPNU
Monday, Jan. 23	North Carolina A&T at Coppin State	Baltimore, Md.	7:30 p.m./ESPNU
Monday, Jan. 30	Morgan State at Hampton	Hampton, Va.	7:30 p.m./ESPNU
Monday, Feb. 13	Maryland Eastern Shore at Coppin State	Baltimore, Md.	9 p.m./ESPNU
Saturday, March 10	MEAC Men's Championship	Winston Salem, N.C.	1 p.m./ESPN2

Women's Televised Schedule

Date	Match-up	Location	Airtime/Network
Monday, Jan. 23	North Carolina A&T at Coppin State	Baltimore, Md.	4:30 p.m./ESPNU
Monday, Jan. 30	Morgan State at Hampton	Hampton, Va.	4:30 p.m./ESPNU
Saturday, March 10	MEAC Women's Championship	Winston Salem, N.C.	4 p.m./ESPNU