Fox Broadcast

[TWG236]

What a pleasant surprise to have Megan teaming up with John Fanta for the broadcast. When its a non SNY broadcast, I usually turn down the sound and watch the game listening to the UConn radio team. But I must admit that I really enjoyed listening to Megan/Fanta. Fanta broadcast lots of UConn Men's games on Fox, so he is really knowledgeable about both UConn teams. Hopefully, Megan is part of Fox's Conference Tournament broadcast team and maybe she will continue as part of Fox's broadcasting next season. Also thought it fantastic that they fully broadcasted Senior Night Ceremonies, which for the first time was available to everyone across the nation. Pay attention recruits.

 

[Bone Dog]

Did he mispronounce Meg’s name when he introduced her at the beginning? Meg Cuomo?

 

[ERWUC65]

What a pleasant surprise to have Megan teaming up with John Fanta for the broadcast. When its a non SNY broadcast, I usually turn down the sound and watch the game listening to the UConn radio team. But I must admit that I really enjoyed listening to Megan/Fanta. Fanta broadcast lots of UConn Men's games on Fox, so he is really knowledgeable about both UConn teams. Hopefully, Megan is part of Fox's Conference Tournament broadcast team and maybe she will continue as part of Fox's broadcasting next season. Also thought it fantastic that they fully broadcasted Senior Night Ceremonies, which for the first time was available to everyone across the nation. Pay attention recruits.

Megan was great, as usual. Fanta not so much. Having Nika on was the highlight.

 

[Tufkas]

For me, partially disagree.

Megan was great, as usual. Fanta not so much. Having Nika on was the highlight.

Horses for courses.

Fanta is below average play-by-play talent, a very average voice, and way too much time rhapsodizing, instead of the calling out mildly important things, such as who substituted, who fouled, etc.

Will probably get slated for this, but, Culmo, definitely not for me.

She rarely engages in meaningful analysis, preferring instead to act as though she's a fan watching the game. E.g. "<insert players name here> is amazing." For me, the analyst is to be, um, analysing things such as, the defensive approach and formation, matchups, what the offense is doing to counter, detail UConn's approach to prevent the opponents leading scorer from doing so, how Azzi Fudd leverages elite lateral quickness to guard opponents, how Aubrey Griffin sees the court and anticipates on both offense and defense, using her positioning and jumping talents for offensive rebounds, why the offense sometimes sets Jana El Alfy at the low post versus the high, rotations, how Paige Bueckers is able to get so many rebounds and blocks despite a relatively thin frame (anticipation and positioning - court IQ), how substitutions impact the offensive and defensive approach.

Off last years last second loss in the national semi-final, call out the moving screens, which remain omnipresent. How what works in this game, won't against a different opponent (e.g. Notre Dame's tendency to flop on screens). Respect the chess match, offer tactical analysis, in the same fashion as the men's game. Instead, she repeats the same things intra-game, game to game, incessantly. "It's important for Sarah Strong to hit her open threes." Lather, rinse, repeat.

There's (understandable) massive bias for coach, out of a lifelong friendship, first as a recruited player, then as an assistant. Understandable, but inappropriate for a paid game analyst. Nobody's perfect, everyone makes mistakes (even coach!), she is to call them out when they happen, then offer alternatives.

Perhaps this goes to the perception the women's audience is not as sophisticated as the men's, hence the need to dumb-down broadcasts. For me, this is complete and utter (G-rated) bulldinky.

Using the football model, I'm not looking for Tony Romo here, but something between him and Chris Collinsworth (I love Chris Collinsworth anyway lol) would be nice...

 

[ThisJustIn]

Tony romo has become a lazy hack.

 

[jpscarlato]

For me, partially disagree.

Horses for courses.

Fanta is below average play-by-play talent, a very average voice, and way too much time rhapsodizing, instead of the calling out mildly important things, such as who substituted, who fouled, etc.

Will probably get slated for this, but, Culmo, definitely not for me.

She rarely engages in meaningful analysis, preferring instead to act as though she's a fan watching the game. E.g. "<insert players name here> is amazing." For me, the analyst is to be, um, analysing things such as, the defensive approach and formation, matchups, what the offense is doing to counter, detail UConn's approach to prevent the opponents leading scorer from doing so, how Azzi Fudd leverages elite lateral quickness to guard opponents, how Aubrey Griffin sees the court and anticipates on both offense and defense, using her positioning and jumping talents for offensive rebounds, why the offense sometimes sets Jana El Alfy at the low post versus the high, rotations, how Paige Bueckers is able to get so many rebounds and blocks despite a relatively thin frame (anticipation and positioning - court IQ), how substitutions impact the offensive and defensive approach.

Off last years last second loss in the national semi-final, call out the moving screens, which remain omnipresent. How what works in this game, won't against a different opponent (e.g. Notre Dame's tendency to flop on screens). Respect the chess match, offer tactical analysis, in the same fashion as the men's game. Instead, she repeats the same things intra-game, game to game, incessantly. "It's important for Sarah Strong to hit her open threes." Lather, rinse, repeat.

There's (understandable) massive bias for coach, out of a lifelong friendship, first as a recruited player, then as an assistant. Understandable, but inappropriate for a paid game analyst. Nobody's perfect, everyone makes mistakes (even coach!), she is to call them out when they happen, then offer alternatives.

Perhaps this goes to the perception the women's audience is not as sophisticated as the men's, hence the need to dumb-down broadcasts. For me, this is complete and utter (G-rated) bulldinky.

Using the football model, I'm not looking for Tony Romo here, but something between him and Chris Collinsworth (I love Chris Collinsworth anyway lol) would be nice...

Amen!

 

[Centerstream]

Meghan has done BE WBB broadcasts on the Fox Sports channels this season.

 

[Forego]

I hope FOX uses additional former Huskies as commentators. Ashley Battle has appeared as a commentator for WNBA games and she was commentator for the Seton Hall - Villanova game back in beginning of January. That game included an outrageously horrible charging call made by Joe Vaszily on a potentially game changing play with about one minute left. Ashley asked to see the replay of the “charge” and it clearly indicated that the real foul was a block by the defensive player. In no uncertain terms Ashley did not mince words about how bad a call it was. Too often commentators down play or make excuses for bad calls. “That’s was a close call” or “the refs review includes other angles that we don’t have access to”. The networks should have more commentators like Ashley who tell it like it is.

 

[Geew1992]

For me, partially disagree.

Horses for courses.

Fanta is below average play-by-play talent, a very average voice, and way too much time rhapsodizing, instead of the calling out mildly important things, such as who substituted, who fouled, etc.

Will probably get slated for this, but, Culmo, definitely not for me.

She rarely engages in meaningful analysis, preferring instead to act as though she's a fan watching the game. E.g. "<insert players name here> is amazing." For me, the analyst is to be, um, analysing things such as, the defensive approach and formation, matchups, what the offense is doing to counter, detail UConn's approach to prevent the opponents leading scorer from doing so, how Azzi Fudd leverages elite lateral quickness to guard opponents, how Aubrey Griffin sees the court and anticipates on both offense and defense, using her positioning and jumping talents for offensive rebounds, why the offense sometimes sets Jana El Alfy at the low post versus the high, rotations, how Paige Bueckers is able to get so many rebounds and blocks despite a relatively thin frame (anticipation and positioning - court IQ), how substitutions impact the offensive and defensive approach.

Off last years last second loss in the national semi-final, call out the moving screens, which remain omnipresent. How what works in this game, won't against a different opponent (e.g. Notre Dame's tendency to flop on screens). Respect the chess match, offer tactical analysis, in the same fashion as the men's game. Instead, she repeats the same things intra-game, game to game, incessantly. "It's important for Sarah Strong to hit her open threes." Lather, rinse, repeat.

There's (understandable) massive bias for coach, out of a lifelong friendship, first as a recruited player, then as an assistant. Understandable, but inappropriate for a paid game analyst. Nobody's perfect, everyone makes mistakes (even coach!), she is to call them out when they happen, then offer alternatives.

Perhaps this goes to the perception the women's audience is not as sophisticated as the men's, hence the need to dumb-down broadcasts. For me, this is complete and utter (G-rated) bulldinky.

Using the football model, I'm not looking for Tony Romo here, but something between him and Chris Collinsworth (I love Chris Collinsworth anyway lol) would be nice...

I agree with you here

 

[Geew1992]

I hope FOX uses additional former Huskies as commentators. Ashley Battle has appeared as a commentator for WNBA games and she was commentator for the Seton Hall - Villanova game back in beginning of January. That game included an outrageously horrible charging call made by Joe Vaszily on a potentially game changing play with about one minute left. Ashley asked to see the replay of the “charge” and it clearly indicated that the real foul was a block by the defensive player. In no uncertain terms Ashley did not mince words about how bad a call it was. Too often commentators down play or make excuses for bad calls. “That’s was a close call” or “the refs review includes other angles that we don’t have access to”. The networks should have more commentators like Ashley who tell it like it is.

Ashley did a broadcast the other day. I'm not sure who was playing, but she's done quite a few on FS1

 

[GoUconn7961]

I don't get the hate for Fanta. He's awesome. He has a lot of energy. Lots of posts online yesterday about how great the two of them were together. No one is ever happy, especially here lol.

 

[HCCForever]

Nice to see Nika on the broadcast. Unfortunately, I could not always hear her very well.

It was a special treat to watch the ceremony after the game.

 

[DennieEddy]

Nice to see Nika on the broadcast. Unfortunately, I could not always hear her very well.

It was a special treat to watch the ceremony after the game.

Was it the thick Croatian accent, very heavy eastern European...or was your volume turned down?

 

[Aluminny69]

Nice to see Nika on the broadcast. Unfortunately, I could not always hear her very well.

It was a special treat to watch the ceremony after the game.

Nika was on for most of the third quarter. But I was disappointed she wasn't asked her future plans, when and where might she be playing next. Seems like an obvious question.

 

[Blue Huskie]

I don't get the hate for Fanta. He's awesome. He has a lot of energy. Lots of posts online yesterday about how great the two of them were together. No one is ever happy, especially here lol.

I've watched his games many times and have no problem with him. He's fine.

 

[Bald Husky]

Nika was on for most of the third quarter. But I was disappointed she wasn't asked her future plans, when and where might she be playing next. Seems like an obvious question.

I think it is strange that nobody asks her about her ACL surgery and how rehab is going. I think it happened a few months ago in her very first overseas pro game, in Turkey I believe.

 

[Tufkas]

I think it is strange that nobody asks her about her ACL surgery and how rehab is going. I think it happened a few months ago in her very first overseas pro game, in Turkey I believe.

Agreed! Happened in Turkey on October 3, 2024, so she should be well into the challenges of rehab. Goes to my post above, though it is possible she specifically requested them not to ask.

 

[HCCForever]

Was it the thick Croatian accent, very heavy eastern European...or was your volume turned down?

I thought it was her microphone since her volume varied without me making any volume adjustments.

 

[Charliebball]

The Fox broadcast was far superior to the last CBS Sports Network broadcast which seemed to be just another game to the on-air talent.....

 

[MSGRET]

For me, partially disagree.

Horses for courses.

Fanta is below average play-by-play talent, a very average voice, and way too much time rhapsodizing, instead of the calling out mildly important things, such as who substituted, who fouled, etc.

Will probably get slated for this, but, Culmo, definitely not for me.

She rarely engages in meaningful analysis, preferring instead to act as though she's a fan watching the game. E.g. "<insert players name here> is amazing." For me, the analyst is to be, um, analysing things such as, the defensive approach and formation, matchups, what the offense is doing to counter, detail UConn's approach to prevent the opponents leading scorer from doing so, how Azzi Fudd leverages elite lateral quickness to guard opponents, how Aubrey Griffin sees the court and anticipates on both offense and defense, using her positioning and jumping talents for offensive rebounds, why the offense sometimes sets Jana El Alfy at the low post versus the high, rotations, how Paige Bueckers is able to get so many rebounds and blocks despite a relatively thin frame (anticipation and positioning - court IQ), how substitutions impact the offensive and defensive approach.

Off last years last second loss in the national semi-final, call out the moving screens, which remain omnipresent. How what works in this game, won't against a different opponent (e.g. Notre Dame's tendency to flop on screens). Respect the chess match, offer tactical analysis, in the same fashion as the men's game. Instead, she repeats the same things intra-game, game to game, incessantly. "It's important for Sarah Strong to hit her open threes." Lather, rinse, repeat.

There's (understandable) massive bias for coach, out of a lifelong friendship, first as a recruited player, then as an assistant. Understandable, but inappropriate for a paid game analyst. Nobody's perfect, everyone makes mistakes (even coach!), she is to call them out when they happen, then offer alternatives.

Perhaps this goes to the perception the women's audience is not as sophisticated as the men's, hence the need to dumb-down broadcasts. For me, this is complete and utter (G-rated) bulldinky.

Using the football model, I'm not looking for Tony Romo here, but something between him and Chris Collinsworth (I love Chris Collinsworth anyway lol) would be nice...

One of the reasons why I stopped watching football is because of Romo and Collinsworth. Half of the time they seemed to only want to hear themselves talk. Meghan is good at what she does, yes she is a UConn alum, and is always slighted towards UConn when she announces their games. She has done other Big East games this year and was fair and balanced when she did.

If she continues to work Big East and maybe some other conference games for FOX, I see her holding in her favoritism towards UConn during those games.

 

[Jaml]

Using the football model, I'm not looking for Tony Romo here, but something between him and Chris Collinsworth (I love Chris Collinsworth anyway lol) would be nice...

I like Collinsworth, but he has been a football broadcaster for 35 years...and still says "pash rush" 100 percent of the time.

 

[Tufkas]

One of the reasons why I stopped watching football is because of Romo and Collinsworth. Half of the time they seemed to only want to hear themselves talk. Meghan is good at what she does, yes she is a UConn alum, and is always slighted towards UConn when she announces their games. She has done other Big East games this year and was fair and balanced when she did.

If she continues to work Big East and maybe some other conference games for FOX, I see her holding in her favoritism towards UConn during those games.

Vast disagreement here, with respect to Culmo being different in that aspect.

As for favoritism, would that it be my only misgiving, however, it's near the bottom of the list I endeavored to present in detail for that reason, honestly. Omitted others in an attempt to keep this civil.

 

[cabbie191]

For me, partially disagree.

Horses for courses.

Fanta is below average play-by-play talent, a very average voice, and way too much time rhapsodizing, instead of the calling out mildly important things, such as who substituted, who fouled, etc.

I agree that he didn't do this, but this is true of virtually every broadcaster out there. IMO, Fanta is no worse but no better than others in this regard.

As for comments elsewhere on this thread as they pertain to Tony Romo, when he first started I thought he was a breath of fresh air and I was disappointed at the criticism he received for predicting plays ahead of what teams actually ran. The fact that he was almost always right was to me a sign that he understands the game exceptionally well, which is to be expected given his playing career.

I think I only heard him broadcast one time this past season and it was a game I was only half-watching so perhaps he's different now.

 

[BBallF]

If you listen to the Allen Bestwick podcast on this site you will realize the difference right away. The first thing Meg ever told Bestwick was that UCONN fans stay glued to the game whether we are up 2 or up 30 and you have to keep on calling the game. Fanta hasn't figured that out yet and he just mouths on when he thinks the game itself is not interesting to fans. Maybe that's true someplace else but not here. We will watch with 1 minute to go up 40 to see if Allie hits a 3 or Q plays good defense and we don't want to hear your prattle. Call the game, tell us who has what fouls, who just came in, etc. We are fans of our team and the women's game and as such, don't distract us, inform us.

 

[Jackalope]

I thought it was cute when they gave Nika the opportunity to call a replay and she basically gave "oohs" and "aahs"!

 

[Tufkas]

I agree that he didn't do this, but this is true of virtually every broadcaster out there. IMO, Fanta is no worse but no better than others in this regard.

True, but not an excuse for incompetenece.

 

[MSGRET]

True, but not an excuse for incompetenece.

It's funny, people said the same thing about Allen when SNY took over from CPTV, that they didn't like Allen on his play by play. That he wasn't as good as Bob Picozzi and they will most likely say the same thing about every other play by play announcer next year. What you like in an announcer might be something that others don't like. Please tell us why Fanta is incompetent, because he might not be the best announcer out there, but he's far from being the worst.

 

[OldSchooler]

If you listen to the Allen Bestwick podcast on this site you will realize the difference right away. The first thing Meg ever told Bestwick was that UCONN fans stay glued to the game whether we are up 2 or up 30 and you have to keep on calling the game. Fanta hasn't figured that out yet and he just mouths on when he thinks the game itself is not interesting to fans. Maybe that's true someplace else but not here. We will watch with 1 minute to go up 40 to see if Allie hits a 3 or Q plays good defense and we don't want to hear your prattle. Call the game, tell us who has what fouls, who just came in, etc. We are fans of our team and the women's game and as such, don't distract us, inform us.

Super half-hour valedictory interview of a highly professional broadcaster who will be sorely missed, as was his predecessor.

 

[Tufkas]

It's funny, people said the same thing about Allen when SNY took over from CPTV, that they didn't like Allen on his play by play. That he wasn't as good as Bob Picozzi and they will most likely say the same thing about every other play by play announcer next year. What you like in an announcer might be something that others don't like. Please tell us why Fanta is incompetent, because he might not be the best announcer out there, but he's far from being the worst.

Some background: I was obsessed with sports and sportscasting as a child. When I wasn't playing I was writing scripts in pencil in a notebook, then "broadcasting" them into a portable cassette recorder, idolizing Win Elliott to Marv Albert in hockey. Marty Glickman (also Giants) to Marv Albert in basketball. I did the PA for football (I played soccer) in high school, and was a sports director for our college's FM radio station, play-by-play on-air, with responsiblities for training incoming talent. I had job offers to broadcast professionally after college. So, granted, I might be just a wee bit more critical than most...

As it specifically relates to Fanta, to be real granual, since you asked, meaning exhibiting incompetent actions, not completely and totally incompetent. Frequently overlooked, seems obvious, but in practice is not, TV broadcasting must be significantly different - less - than radio. Avoid telling the audience things they're already seeing (Culmo), emphasize things they might not. Fouls timely - not just who, but how many (not just for those in foul trouble) for the individual and team. Substitutions as they occur, not just who, but why. Trends - not just after the fact ("That was a 19-2 run"), but before, e.g. noting an event as significant, perhaps starting a trend. We see this in the men's game where the announcer remarks, "Remember that basket and the score. It could be significant."

Each team usually has a spotter accompanying the statistician - perhaps there was an issue there. There's also voice quality, timbre and pronunciation. I'll leave it at that.

A derail perhaps, but for perspective, for me, some of the best play-by-play broadcasters are found in the English Premiere League. Arlo White (formerly of the EPL) could make the phone book exciting. Peter Drury is ballet with words and drama. NHL - Dan Kelly (R.I.P.). Pat Summerall and Ray Scott (Glickman) in the NFL. Mel Allen. For me, Joe Buck is about the best we have currently, but, not in that class.

 

[Bone Dog]

I like Meg, and Fanta is okay by me. There have been many games with infuriatingly bad duos calling them. Meg and John kept the focus mainly on the game and Meg is plenty knowledgeable about the sport and the players.