ESPN (also available on ESPN HD) will present the exclusive, live announcement of the women’s 64-team field on the NCAA Women’s Basketball Selection Special Monday, March 17 at 7 p.m. ET. Trey Wingo will host alongside analysts Stacey Dales and Kara Lawson. The one-hour show will mark ESPN’s 16th consecutive year of announcing the pairings days before it begins complete coverage of the NCAA Division I Women’s Basketball Championship March 22 – April 8 on ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, ESPN360.com and ESPN FULL COURT. In addition, ESPNU, the 24-hour college sports network, will simulcast the show, while more women’s NCAA Championship content will be featured across other ESPN entities, including SportsCenter, ESPNEWS, ESPN Mobile TV’s ScoreCenter and ReSet and ESPN.com.

At 8 p.m., ESPNU will provide supplemental coverage of Selection Monday with a one-hour show, 2008 NCAA Women’s Basketball Selection Special. ESPNU’s Mike Gleason will host the show and be joined by women’s basketball analyst Charlene Curtis, who will give her thoughts on this year’s bracket as well as breakdown the first-round matchups. The show will also feature special guests from around the world of women’s basketball.

Also following the exclusive live announcement of the women’s 64-team field, ESPN will televise part two of the film “Black Magic.” Directed by Dan Klores and Co-produced by Klores and basketball legend and Winston-Salem State University graduate Earl “The Pearl” Monroe, “Black Magic” tells the story of the injustice which characterized the Civil Rights Movement in America, as told through the lives of basketball players and coaches who attended Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU).

On Tuesday, March 18, Wingo, Dales and Lawson will return for a 30-minute edition of the NCAA Women’s Championship Special on ESPN at 7 p.m. This show will further examine the bracket seeds and matchups with more reaction from the women’s college basketball community.

A SNEAK PREVIEW OF THE NCAA WOMEN’S SELECTION MONDAY SPECIAL
(March 17, 7-8 p.m.):

· Immediate analysis and thoughts by Dales and Lawson as the brackets are announced on the program;

· Exclusive interview with NCAA Division I Women’s Basketball Committee Chair Judy Southard from NCAA headquarters in Indianapolis by Wingo via satellite;

· Dales and Lawson will give their predictions of the teams they think will advance from the Elite Eight through the National Championship;

· Live interviews and reactions from the following women’s basketball programs: Connecticut, Maryland, Stanford and Texas El-Paso (UTEP);

· And a special feature celebrating the 10th anniversary of Harvard’s upset over Stanford in the 1998 NCAA Division I Women’s Basketball Championship. Harvard became the first 16th seed to upset a No. 1 seed in women’s tournament history.

SELECTION MONDAY ON ESPN.COM

· Team-by-team breakdown of all 64 teams by Beth Mowins, Mechelle Voepel and Graham Hays;

· Bracketology predictions and break downs from Charlie Creme;

· Live chats with women’s tournament selection chair Judy Southard (9:30 p.m., on Selection Monday), Creme, and other notable guests;

· Expert analysis from Nancy Lieberman, Mowins, Creme and Voepel, including their picks on the toughest

region, best first-round game, Women’s Final Four and more.

WOMEN’S TOURNAMENT CHALLENGE ON ESPN.COM

Sign-up has begun on ESPN.com for the 11th annual ESPN Women’s Tournament Challenge. The Tournament Challenge game is free and allows contestants to complete and submit up to five entries. Fans complete and submit a bracket of hypothetical tournament outcomes. Points are awarded for each correct pick, with point values increasing as the Tournaments progress.

The Women’s Tournament Challenge winner will receive a $5,000 Circuit City gift certificate and a $500 gift certificate to ESPNShop.com, and the runner-up will receive $1,000 Circuit City gift card and a $250 gift certificate to ESPNShop.com. Entries for the Women’s Tournament Challenge will be accepted until just prior to tip-off of the first game on Saturday, March 22.

ALL 63 NCAA CHAMPIONSHIP GAMES ON ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, ESPN360.com & ESPN FULL COURT

For the sixth consecutive year, the ESPN networks will combine to present all 63 games from the NCAA Women’s Basketball Championship. During the first two rounds, ESPN and ESPN2 will present the 48 games within 12 telecast windows in a whip-around format with home market protection. ESPN360.com will offer complete game telecasts of all 63 games, while ESPNU will offer select ESPN and ESPN2 early-round games in their entirety. The final 15 games (regional semifinals on) will have national telecast windows on ESPN or ESPN2. The complete schedule will be announced on a later date.