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

This Week in the BIG EAST - Weekly Overview of NCAA College Basketball's Top Conference

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.

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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.