Fans will have plenty of opportunities to catch the 2010-2011 Valparaiso men’s basketball team on the various ESPN platforms, as the Crusaders will appear at least four times and up to eight times on the ESPN family of networks, highlighted by Purdue’s visit to the ARC on Dec. 7 being broadcast live on ESPNU.  In addition, Valpo will host Butler in the Horizon League Network Game of the Week on Jan. 29.

ESPNU’s broadcast of the Dec. 7 game when Purdue, a consensus preseason top-10 squad, comes to town will mark the first non-league contest from the ARC on the ESPN family of networks since the Crusaders hosted Miami (Ohio) in BracketBuster action on ESPN Classic in February of 2008.

Then, three straight league weekends provide Valpo three chances to be on ESPNU in the month of January.  A pair of home games (Friday, Jan. 7 vs. Youngstown State, Friday, Jan. 21 vs. Milwaukee), as well as a game at Wright State on Friday, Jan. 14, have been chosen as ESPNU/ESPN3.com wildcard games.  Two Horizon League games have been designated on each night, with one to be broadcast on ESPNU and the other to be streamed live on ESPN3.com, to be announced a couple weeks before game day.

On Saturday, Feb. 5, when the Crusaders play at Youngstown State, ESPN2 and ESPNU will each choose a Horizon League game to televise live, with the game selection to take place in mid-January.  In addition, Valpo is again taking part in the BracketBusters event, hosting a game from the ARC on Saturday, Feb. 19 which could be chosen for broadcast on one of ESPN’s platforms.  ESPNU will again carry the Horizon League semifinals on Saturday, March 5 while the championship game will again be broadcast on ESPN on Tuesday, March 8.

The Horizon League Network Game of the Week is back for its second year of broadcasting games regionally in the Horizon League markets.  This year, the Crusaders will make their appearance on the HLN Game of the Week hosting 2010 national runner-up Butler at the ARC on Saturday, Jan. 29.  Tipoff of that game is slated for 1 p.m. CST.

Please note that due to the three games in January being designated as ESPNU/ESPN3.com wildcard games, those league weekends will become Friday/Sunday games for the Crusaders instead of the general Thursday/Saturday format.