#TWITBE Ep. 8.9 - Guests Val Ackerman, Javon Freeman-Liberty and Tim Welsh

NEW YORK – This Week In The BIG EAST Radio Show,
distributed by Westwood One is in its eighth season as the
official podcast of BIG EAST basketball. The ninth episode of the
season welcomes DePaul senior guard Javon Freeman-Liberty, BIG
EAST Commissioner Val Ackerman and former Providence coach and
current ESPN College Basketball analyst Tim Welsh.


TWITBE welcomes DePaul guard Javon Freeman-Liberty in the BIG
EAST Spotlight, ahead of Saturday’s regular season finale against
No. 18 UConn. Despite an injury sidelining the all-around guard
for a month, including seven conference games, Freeman-Liberty is
back in the starting lineup lighting up the scoreboard. Leading
the BIG EAST with 21.9 ppg over the course of his 22 regular
season games, as well as averaging 22.7 in 12 league games, he
has led the Blue Demons (15-14, 6-13 BE) back over .500 while
riding a three-game winning streak. Averaging 28.0 ppg, 7.5 rpg
and 3.3 spg in his last four outings, paving the way to league
wins over Georgetown, St. John’s and Marquette. 


BIG EAST Commissioner Val Ackerman is on TWITBE bringing this
week’s focus on the upcoming conference tournament. This year
marks the 40th anniversary of the BIG EAST Conference staging its
men’s basketball tournament at Madison Square Garden, with the
excitement surrounding the return of fans to the World’s Most
Famous Arena. Ackerman also takes some time to discuss the
Women’s Basketball Tournament tipping off Friday morning, the
Black Fives initiative and the impacts NIL and transfers have had
and will continue to have on collegiate sports.


ESPN College Basketball analyst Tim Welsh gives a view on the
national perspective. Welsh joins the show to give his insights
on the upcoming conference tournaments across the NCAA and the
impacts they will have on selection Sunday (March 13).


The episode’s “Who’s Hot” segment continues to feature “Blast
from the Past” a segment reliving the greatest moments of 40
years at Madison Square Garden. This week, return to the
semifinals of the 2018 BIG EAST Tournament, where No. 5 seed
Providence led a furious comeback against top-seeded Xavier, to
force overtime and advance to the BIG EAST Championship game
against Villanova.


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.


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. 


Please subscribe, rate and review to keep #TWITBE top of the
podcast charts.  


The show will air on Saturday, March 5 at 11 a.m. ET on Sirius
138, XM 201 and Online 964, leading into the Villanova broadcast
of Villanova at Butler.