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Media Contacts

George Vlahakis
IU Communications
vlahakis@iu.edu
812-855-0846

Malcolm Moran
National Sports Journalism Center
moranma@iupui.edu
317-278-5329

Beth Moellers
IU School of Journalism
bamoelle@indiana.edu
812-855-6317

Last modified: Thursday, January 31, 2013

ESPN GameDay's Jay Bilas will speak at IU's National Sports Journalism Center event

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Jan. 31, 2013

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- On Friday, one day before ESPN's College GameDay broadcast converges on Indiana University's Assembly Hall, sportscaster Jay Bilas will speak to students and faculty of IU's National Sports Journalism Center.

The center's director, Malcolm Moran, who joined the IU School of Journalism this month after a career of more than 30 years as a sports journalist, will moderate the conversation. The one-hour event, which is open to the public, will begin at 1 p.m. in the Whittenberger Auditorium of the Indiana Memorial Union, 900 E. Seventh St. in Bloomington.

Those who can't join in person can tweet questions to @iusportscenter, where they also can follow the discussion.

On Saturday, Bilas will join fellow ESPN personalities Rece Davis, Jalen Rose and Digger Phelps and the GameDay crew at IU Assembly Hall for the first time in five years. No. 3 IU will face No. 1 ranked Michigan that night.

"Jay is generously offering us the rare chance to share his observations and insight even as he prepares for a GameDay telecast," said Moran, also the Louis A. Weil Jr. Endowed Chair at the School of Journalism. "His opinions on the basketball landscape and the industry of college sports are as informed as anyone in the business. All of us at the National Sports Journalism Center are grateful that our students can tap into that knowledge."

The Indianapolis-based center, launched by the IU School of Journalism in 2009, serves as a comprehensive institute for the study of sports journalism.

Bilas joined ESPN in 1995 and provides color commentary courtside on college basketball games and as an analyst for ESPN's College GameDay and college basketball studio shows. He also writes for ESPN.com and contributes reports to ESPN's SportsCenter and ESPNEWS. Since 2003, Bilas has provided player scouting and analysis for ESPN's coverage of the NBA Draft.

In 2007 and 2008, Bilas was nominated for an Emmy as Outstanding Studio Personality, and in 2008 he was honored by the U.S. Basketball Writers Association for the Best Column of the Year. Sports Illustrated has twice named Bilas the best analyst in college basketball.

Bilas was a four-year starter at Duke, from 1982 to 1986, and helped lead the Blue Devils to the 1986 ACC Championship and NCAA Championship game. While a player at Duke, he was one of only two student-athletes in the nation appointed to the NCAA's Long-Range Planning Committee, serving from 1984 to 1986.

After a professional basketball career in Europe, Bilas returned to Duke in 1990 to serve as an assistant coach on Mike Krzyzewski's staff and earned a law degree from Duke Law School. Since 1992, Bilas has been an attorney with the law firm of Moore & Van Allen, PLLC, where he has specialized in commercial litigation.

The National Sports Journalism Center is based at the IU School of Journalism at IUPUI and has programs in Bloomington. It is the official partner of the Associated Press Sports Editors and the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association, the nation's two largest professional sports journalism organizations.

The National Sports Journalism Center and the IUPUI campus also are the home of the APSE Red Smith Award Hall of Fame, widely considered the most prestigious award in the field. The National Sports Journalism Center's website, SportsJournalism.org, features breaking news and commentary about the sports media industry.