College hoops recently picked up a new regular-season commentator when Marv Albert announced he was finished calling football games in favor of more college basketball. Now college hoops will get a former national champion and All-American as former Duke star and NBA champion Shane Battier is joining ESPN’s television team. The story was reported by Jason McIntyre of The Big Lead.
Battier is a two-time NBA champion with the Miami Heat and won a national championship, Player of the Year honors and Final Four Most Outstanding Player in 2001.
If you’ve ever read anything on Battier, you know he’s a very intelligent basketball player that can also eloquently express things about the game in interviews. Battier is keen on analysts in his approach to playing with the Miami Heat and it will be interesting to see if this factors into his broadcasting career. I would hope that to be the case, as college hoops could use another analyst’s touch in the subject.
ESPN now has former Duke players like Jay Bilas and Jay Williams on staff and Battier adds to that team as former Blue Devils. ESPN may be criticized for being too Duke focused in this approach, but former player Grant Hill also works with Turner Sports and Alaa Abdelnaby is on CBS Sports Network.