Raftery to Big East

[PuertoRicanNightmare]

Fox poaches him from ESPN. Will team with Gus Johnson (who I find annoying). Raftery is great, though!

[nyg]

Raferty is great.  Johnson is great.  Excellent.........

[PuertoRicanNightmare]

Sorry...did not see this in the other thread

[LloydMooresLegs]

HUGE and enjoyable get.   

Made my day--that is a first class pair of announcers/promoters.

[Tugg Speedman]

Bill Raftery Leaves ESPN to Announce Big East Basketball for Fox
By Mason Levinson

June 27 (Bloomberg) -- College basketball analyst Bill Raftery agreed to call games for the new Big East Conference next season on Fox Sports 1, ending a relationship with ESPN that began in 1982.

Raftery will serve as lead analyst, working with play-by-play announcer Gus Johnson, on regular-season and Big East Tournament games for the network that begins programming Aug. 17, Fox Sports said in a news release.

"I was fortunate to work at ESPN since its inception, and I'll be forever grateful to all the talented, professional people who supported me along the way," Raftery said in a statement. "Today, though, we turn the page. I've been associated with the Big East Conference since it began, and I feel the same excitement and anticipation now as I did way back then as the conference is re-born with Fox Sports."

Raftery, 70, who played three seasons at LaSalle University in Philadelphia, has been a basketball analyst on radio and television for 32 years, working with ESPN, CBS and CBS Radio. He coached Seton Hall University in South Orange, New Jersey, from 1970 to 1981, posting a record of 154-141.

The newly formed Big East begins business on July 1 following a split from the original conference that was founded in 1979. After retaining the rights to the Big East name, its schools will be Georgetown, St. John's, Villanova, Seton Hall, Providence, Marquette, DePaul, Butler, Creighton and Xavier.

Val Ackerman, the first head of the Women's National Basketball Association, was introduced yesterday as the first commissioner of the new Big East.

[MU82]

Gus Johnson is fun. Has a great attitude and is technically strong.

Raftery used to be very good but he has become a caricature of himself in recent years, with some ridiculous need to spit out one of his dopey catchphrases every 35 seconds.

The last couple years I felt sorry for Bilas when they had a three-man booth. You had two guys trying to describe basketball and the other spewing silliness. Sometimes, Raftery would bait Bilas, who is too nice a guy to tell him to shut the eff up. I'm sure Johnson will be dragged into Raftery's goofiness, too.

Oh well. I know that others like Raftery, so congrats to those who do.

[PuertoRicanNightmare]

Gus Johnson is fun. Has a great attitude and is technically strong.

Raftery used to be very good but he has become a caricature of himself in recent years, with some ridiculous need to spit out one of his dopey catchphrases every 35 seconds.

The last couple years I felt sorry for Bilas when they had a three-man booth. You had two guys trying to describe basketball and the other spewing silliness. Sometimes, Raftery would bait Bilas, who is too nice a guy to tell him to shut the eff up. I'm sure Johnson will be dragged into Raftery's goofiness, too.

Oh well. I know that others like Raftery, so congrats to those who do.

I am stunned that, of the two of the, it's Raftery you think has become a caricature. Gus Johnson is a carnival barker!

[The Lens]

Bilas loves Raft.  I've run into those guys (McDonnough, too) a few times in MKE and you can tell they're pretty tight. 

[Spotcheck Billy]

I always thought Raftery would be fun to have a beer (or three) with

[martyconlonontherun]

I never understood how pissed off or excited about announcers. The announcers have a .0000001% effect on the game to me.

That said, both these guys are big names and generally liked. Great for the new conference.

[willie warrior]

Raftery will be great for BEast.

[Abode4life]

I never understood how pissed off or excited about announcers. The announcers have a .0000001% effect on the game to me.

That said, both these guys are big names and generally liked. Great for the new conference.

People get pissed at announcers cause if they are bad, you have to listen to them the whole game.  I don't know if anyone says they have an effect on the game, just on your viewing experience.

[marquette20]

Expect him to announce plenty of Marquette games next year. Sounds like we are the top dogs for the first time.

[nyg]

http://www.barstoolsports.com/nyc/super-page/bill-raftery-and-gus-johnson-will-reunite-to-call-big-east-basketball-on-fox-sports-1/

[Lennys Tap]

Love Raftery. Like Gus. On air talent is important IMO. This is very good news.

[frozena pizza]

This is awesome.  Raftery is great and Gus Johnson is fantastic.

[chapman]

Hoped it as wishful thinking months ago.  How great!

[MU82]

I am stunned that, of the two of the, it's Raftery you think has become a caricature. Gus Johnson is a carnival barker!

Johnson is just excitable. He's kind of like a college version of Kevin Harlan. The latter has simmered down some over the years and Johnson is maturing, too. Again, I think he knows his stuff.

Raftery, with the two-per-minute catchphrases, is starting to remind me of Vitale. Both are good for basketball, but they simply aren't pleasing to my ear. Others may disagree.

Speaking to another commenter ... why do the announcers matter? Because we either have to listen to them for 2-plus hours or mute the volume. I'd rather not watch an entire game on mute and I'd rather get some genuine insight from the announcers instead of constant reminders that the big fella scored with a kiss.

[martyconlonontherun]

People get pissed at announcers cause if they are bad, you have to listen to them the whole game.  I don't know if anyone says they have an effect on the game, just on your viewing experience.

Still don't understand. You don't have to do anything and it's not like you need announcers to watch the game. You don't need commentators at the BC, so why do you need them at home? Go to a bar and watch a game. Turn it on mute and talk to friends about the game. Turn off the sound and listen to Homer. You have so many options than being forced to listen to the game. Only time it makes a difference is if you have a hall-of-fame type coach providing insight, which doesn't happen very often and you won't find that with any of these big-time announcers no matter what channel.

[MUfan12]

Love Raftery. Like Gus. On air talent is important IMO. This is very good news.

Yep. Both of them have big followings, and will help bring in viewers. If there's a close game that Gus is calling, people turn it on.

This is a big deal. Adds a lot of credibility to FS1's coverage.

[Silkk the Shaka]

I always thought Raftery would be fun to have a beer (or three) with

I'd pay good $ for the honor

[ChicosBailBonds]

Fox poaches him from ESPN. Will team with Gus Johnson (who I find annoying). Raftery is great, though!

I had dinner with Gus on Tuesday night and he said a huge announcement was coming this week for basketball fans.  He wouldn't spill the beans, so this must have been it.

[ChicosBailBonds]

I am stunned that, of the two of the, it's Raftery you think has become a caricature. Gus Johnson is a carnival barker!

I disagree...I find them both pretty good.  Gus is who he is, at least during the 5 hours I spent with him the other day.  I know that's a limited sample size, but I attend a few of these things and you ultimately see their true personas come out when they let their guard down.  I would say he is that way during the entire evening.  He's like the energizer bunny (nothing compared to Jay Glazer, however, damn that guy is running on something high octane.     LOL)

[Niv Berkowitz]

I friggin love love love this move. Johnson and Raft are great. Sure, both may at times become caricatures, but after doing something for so long and being liked for doing it, you often tend to give people what they want (and expect).

I think this is great from a credibility standpoint. No, announcers don't make/break a league or network, but they can certainly affect the perception of it.

Imagine if Fox Sports had hired ESPN's or CBS' third-string crew. With no "names", they'd have no cache or anything at the table from day one.

The fact that Johnson and Raft are two well-known "brands" helps the credibility of FS1. Great, great get. And as a fan, I'm super stoked to see Raft. I'll miss him and Bilas as they had great chemistry.

[CAGASS24]

Sweet MU raftery line from last season : "most gardners do their work during the day, but this one does his at night under the lights"