Division II has announced an eight-game regular-season men’s and women’s basketball package with CBS College Sports.

The live broadcasts include four men’s and four women’s games, the first of which is January 9 when Fort Valley State’s women’s team visits Albany State in a Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference clash.

The schedule features two Saturdays of women’s action, followed by four men’s games in consecutive weeks and then two more women’s games to wrap up the broadcast season.

This is the fourth year of the television agreement between Division II and CBS College Sports.

“Our partnership with CBS College Sports is another example of why our schools consider Division II as a membership destination,” said Division II Vice President Mike Racy. “We are able to provide national exposure for the student-athletes and their institutions while also providing viewers a unique glimpse into the division and the way we balance academic and athletics excellence.”

It also provides an opportunity for individual programs to take advantage of a national stage.

“We’re absolutely thrilled to get an opportunity to share Pfeiffer basketball and Conference Carolinas basketball with the country,” said Pfeiffer men’s head coach Dave Davis, whose Falcons host Conference Carolinas rival Queens (North Carolina) on January 30. “Our brand of basketball is exciting and a different style than most people are used to. We can’t wait for the country to see what we can do.” 

The basketball package supplements a six-game football broadcast series that begins August 27.

The eight basketball games also continue a hallmark of the television initiative, which is to spread the exposure. The eight games represent eight different conferences.

The broadcasts will also be syndicated through regional sports networks and made available via broadband at www.NCAA.com.

2010 Division II/CBS College Sports Network regular-season basketball broadcast schedule (all games noon Eastern time unless otherwise noted)

• Saturday, January 9 – Fort Valley State at Albany State (women) (Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference)
• Saturday, January 16 – Molloy at Queens (New York) (women) (East Coast Conference) (6 or 8 p.m.)
• Saturday, January 23 – Bellarmine at Northern Kentucky (men) (Great Lakes Valley Conference)
• Saturday, January 30 – Queens (North Carolina) at Pfeiffer  (men) (Conference Carolinas)
• Saturday, February 6 – Cal State Monterey Bay at Humboldt State (men) (California Collegiate Athletic Association) (5:30 or 7:30 p.m.)
• Saturday, February 13 – Montevallo at Augusta State (men) (Peach Belt Conference)
• Saturday, February 20 – Franklin Pierce at Bentley (women) (Northeast-10 Conference)
• Saturday, February 27 – Bloomfield at Caldwell (women) (Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference)