CHICAGO – For the fifth straight year, BTN will televise live every game of the Big Ten Baseball Tournament. Coverage begins Wednesday and continues until Saturday, with a game on Sunday if necessary.

Stephen Bardo needs no introduction to Big Ten fans. A key cog to Illinois’ 1989 Final Four team, dubbed the “Flyin’ Illini,” and a respected broadcaster since his retirement, Bardo is about to become even more synonymous with Big Ten hoops. That’s because the Illini product is BTN’s newest hire, and he’ll serve as one of our basketball analysts. Read our Q&A with the Illini product in this post.

CHICAGO – The Big Ten Network is the home for complete coverage of Big Ten spring championships in May, televising events in the sports of baseball, softball, men’s and women’s golf, rowing, men’s and women’s tennis and men’s and women’s outdoor track and field. In all, BTN will televise more than 50 hours of coverage, including the entire Big Ten Baseball Tournament.

BTN will debut school-specific episodes of The Journey: Big Ten Men’s Basketball 2013 this week featuring the four Big Ten teams reaching the Sweet 16: Indiana, Michigan, Michigan State and Ohio State. Journey editors have compiled a 30-minute episode from the stories of the past season.

CHICAGO – Fans looking to follow Big Ten teams throughout the 2013 NCAA Men’s and Women’s Basketball tournaments can turn to BTN for comprehensive coverage, including pre- and post-game press conferences and frequent episodes of Big Ten Basketball & Beyond: Tournament Edition, hosted by Dave Revsine and Jim Jackson.

As BTN prepares to air the first of four games in the Big Ten Men’s Basketball Tournament at noon ET today, the network is celebrating another ratings record.

BTN will kick off the start of the Big Ten Men’s Basketball Tournament, back in Chicago for the first time since 2007, by announcing registration opens today for the second-annual BTN Big 10K and 5K on July 27, 2013 in downtown Chicago. This year, the race, which will be nationally televised on BTN, will benefit Special Olympics. Fleet Feet Sports – Chicago is again partnering with BTN to put on both races.

BTN puts the full court press on the Big Ten Tournament, including four live BTN games featuring Gus Johnson, as well as pre and post-game shows, post-game press conferences, and a Sunday night special following NCAA Tournament selections.

BTN will present the exclusive, live announcement of the annual Big Ten basketball awards during the All-Conference Selection Show at 7 p.m. ET Monday. Dave Revsine (@BTNDaveRevsine) will host the show alongside analyst Jim Jackson (@BTNJimJackson). Interviews from select award winners will also be included during the 30-minute program.

BTN’s new series, BTN LiveBIG, continues Wednesday following the Minnesota at Nebraska men’s basketball game, with stories about a Nebraska research initiative to help reduce the number of traumatic brain injuries suffered by soldiers and a professor leading the way in the fight against bullying in schools. The episode will air at 11 p.m. CT Wednesday.

Greg Shaheen, who ran the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament for 12 years, will join BTN host Mike Hall to take fans inside the tournament selection process, from who’s in the room to where the top seeds are headed and why, to how Big Ten teams stack up in 2013. The 60-minute special, Inside the Selection Process, airs at 9 p.m. ET Monday.

Saturday afternoon’s Iowa-Nebraska game, originally scheduled for Thursday but postponed due to an impending winter storm, will air at 2 p.m. ET on BTN2Go, the Big Ten Conference announced Wednesday.

BTN will offer its most extensive baseball and softball coverage ever, with over 220 events airing on BTN, BTN2Go and BTN.com for the 2013 season. BTN will air at least 84 conference matchups, including the entire Big Ten Baseball Tournament, which will take place at Target Field in Minneapolis.

For the sixth consecutive year, BTN will televise seven winter Big Ten Championships, including men’s and women’s swimming and diving, wrestling, men’s and women’s indoor track and field and men’s and women’s gymnastics. Every event will be produced in high definition.