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Fran Fraschilla is one of only two male TV analysts -- with Van Chancellor -- on the NCAA women's basketball tournament, which starts Saturday on ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPNU.
Chancellor is a veteran WNBA coach. Fraschilla hasn't coached women and has called only one women's game -- Texas-Connecticut last month.
"I'm honored and see this as a chance to grow," says Fraschilla, whose preparation for the tournament has included watching DVDs of women's games during plane flights.
"It's basketball, whether you play above or below the rim. And while it's easy to fake stuff in this business, I don't want anybody to say I didn't prepare."
Fraschilla, after coaching New Mexico and St. John's, considered himself "a walk-on" when he joined ESPN in 2002. He hadn't been as famous as some coaches-turned-analysts and "was just trying to make the team."
Fraschilla now calls ESPN's Big 12 men's games and was added to its NBA draft coverage last season.
But he doesn't think he'll be stepping down in Tucson this weekend, when he'll be calling games in the Albuquerque Regional.
"Women don't play above the rim, at least not yet," he says. "But fundamentally, it's a better game than the men -- more execution of team play."
ESPN's coverage of the women's tournament differs a bit from CBS' coverage of the men's event in that ESPN is expected to do more switching of audiences between games. But viewers in teams' home markets will stay put.
Fraschilla says he'll take the same approach he brings to men's games: "I won't patronize. If a young lady can't, say, go to her left, I'll still point it out."
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