The men’s basketball team will play in Memphis, Tenn., for the 2014 American Athletic Conference championships, commissioner Mike Aresco announced Tuesday.
“We are very excited to have the first American Athletic Conference championship at FedExForum,” Aresco said. “We received significant interest from many outstanding venues. FedExForum is an outstanding facility and the forum, the city of Memphis and the local community will combine to create a wonderful inaugural event that our teams, coaches, administrators and fans will embrace and enjoy.”
March 12 – 15 will be the dates for the 2014 championship. The finale will be televised on March 15 on ESPN. The first two tournament games will be played, March 12. The two quarterfinal doubleheaders will be played on, March 13, followed by a semifinal doubleheader that Friday.
New voice
UH has named sports broadcasters and alumni Kevin Eschenfelder and Matt Thomas as the new voices for the football and basketball teams.
UH alumnus Jeremy Branham, who is the play-by-play voice for women’s basketball and baseball, will be named to the radio team as a sideline reporter for football.
Ted Pardee and hall of famer Elvin Hayes will both return as color commentators.
“It was obvious who we wanted to fill the roles. We are extremely excited to add Kevin, Matt and Jeremy to our Houston IMG Sports Network team,” said Mack Rhoades, Vice President for Intercollegiate Athletics. “All three are Houston alums, call our great city their home and have been great friends of our program throughout the years.”
Eschenfelder, who is a 1990 UH-Clear Lake graduate with more than 20 years of radio and television experience, will be in his first year with Comcast Sportsnet Houston and is the host of SportsTalk Live, and the weekly-hour show, The Tony Levine Show.
“I am really pumped and ready to get going with the University of Houston,” Eschenfelder said. “I grew up following the Houston Cougars and have been a fan of the program all my life. My childhood hero was former Houston great Danny Davis; this truly is a dream come true. This is thrilling that I get to be a part of the Houston experience, and I am counting down the days until Aug. 30.”
