BATON ROUGE — Former LSU men’s basketball star Ricky Blanton, a member of the school’s 16-man All-Century Team announced earlier this year, will join the LSU Sports Radio Network’s expanded coverage of home basketball games when the 2009-10 season begins on Nov. 13, LSU announced on Saturday.
Blanton will join the “Voice of the Tigers” Jim Hawthorne and long-time host/analyst Kevin Ford for broadcast coverage of the 18 home games this season. Blanton will be the game analyst at home while Ford will host and handle the pre-game, halftime and post-game portions of the broadcasts, including the pre-game interview with Coach Trent Johnson and various segments during the game as well.
“I am very excited to be a part of the LSU broadcast team,” said Blanton. “I am thankful for LSU Sports Properties and the LSU Athletic Department for giving me the chance to share my basketball insight with the LSU fan base. Coach Johnson and his staff have established a great foundation for the LSU basketball program and it is an honor to be back and involved with the LSU program.”
Blanton was a member of the 1986 LSU Final Four team, at that time the lowest seeded team ever to make it to the national semifinals. He finished his career in 1989 and 20 years later still ranks 15th all-time in scoring with 1,501 points, including 17.0 points per game in 1988 and 20.3 points in 1989. He also ranks 14th in career rebounds with 766.
“We are very pleased to have Ricky Blanton join our broadcast team for the home games this year,” said Hawthorne. “He gave us a lot of thrills when he was playing for the Tigers and has gone on to become a great ambassador for LSU athletics. I know his expert insight into the strategies and nuances of the game will be a big plus for our broadcasts.”
Hawthorne and Ford will continue to call the road games this season. This will be Hawthorne’s 30th season as the basketball play-by-play announcer and Ford is in his 21st year an on-air part of the network.