BTN Originals debuts 'The Journey: Big Ten Basketball 2014'

CHICAGO -BTN Originals will once again give Big Ten fans a view inside some of the most dynamic men?s basketball programs in the country this season with the debut of The Journey: Big Ten Basketball 2014. The series? fifth season debuts at 9:30 PM ET Sunday following the Illinois at Northwestern men?s basketball game.

?Once again, the Big Ten Conference features some of the top teams in the nation,? said BTN Originals Coordinating Producer Bill Friedman ?and The Journey will have our cameras rolling to capture the most compelling stories and to take the viewer courtside and into the locker room at all the big games.?

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The season premiere features former Duke assistant coach Chris Collins, son of Doug Collins, the former head coach of the Chicago Bulls, on his return to the Chicago area to be the head coach at Northwestern. The show will also feature Wisconsin sophomore Sam Dekker and his relationship with his father, who was also his high school coach. The episode will also show viewers why Michigan State?s Tom Izzo decided to take his team to the Big Ten Football Championship Game in Indianapolis last December, and why reaching the Final Four is a motivating force for seniors Adreian Payne and Keith Appling. The Journey also goes behind-the-scenes at the Iowa-Wisconsin and Ohio State-Michigan State games.

The Big Ten continues to lead all conferences with five teams ranked in this week?s AP poll, including three in the top five. The Journey will travel to each campus throughout the series to capture the action and provide fans an in-depth look into each Big Ten program. The 10-episode series culminates with a one-hour special dedicated to the 2014 Big Ten Men?s Basketball Tournament in March.

The Journey has consistently been among BTN?s highest-rated original programs. In 2013, the series earned a CableFAX Award in the Best Show – Sports category. The series also was nominated for a National Sports Emmy in 2010 in the category of Outstanding Edited Sports Series/ Anthology.

For scheduling information on upcoming episodes, please go to BTN.com/Journey. Fans can also follow the Journey crew on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

About BTN: A joint venture between the Big Ten Conference and Fox Networks, BTN is the first internationally distributed network dedicated to covering one of the premier collegiate conferences in the country. With more than 800 events, all in HD, the 24/7 network is the ultimate destination for Big Ten fans and alumni across the country, allowing them to see their favorite teams, regardless of where they live. BTN2Go is the 24/7 simulcast of BTN that delivers live and on-demand programming via the internet, smartphones and tablets to customers of participating video providers. Events include football, men?s and women?s basketball games; dozens of Big Ten Olympic sports and championship events; studio shows; and classic games. The network televises and streams more Olympic sporting events and women?s sports than has ever been aired on any other network. Original programming highlights activities and accomplishments of some of the nation?s finest universities. The groundbreaking Student U initiative provides real-world experience for students interested in careers in sports television. The network is in more than 52 million homes across the United States and Canada, including carriage by all the major video distributors, such as DIRECTV, DISH, Verizon FiOS, AT&T U-Verse, Charter Communications, Comcast Xfinity, Time Warner Cable, Cablevision, Cox Communications, Mediacom, RCN, WOW!, Rogers Cable, Shaw and Shaw Direct (Canada) and approximately 300 additional video providers across North America. For additional information, go to http://www.BTN.com.

About BTN Originals: BTN Originals is the Big Ten Network?s award-winning original programming that includes such series as The Journey: Big Ten Football, The Journey: Big Ten Basketball, Big Ten Elite, and the network?s first feature-length documentary, Tiebreaker. BTN Originals is uniquely qualified to provide viewers with unparalleled storytelling and an all-access pass into the Big Ten Conference.