Jay Bilas

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Jay Bilas (born December 24, 1963 in San Pedro, California) is an American lawyer and basketball analyst for ESPN. He is also a former college basketball player.

Contents 1 Playing career 2 Coaching career 3 Broadcasting career 4 Acting career 5 Legal career

[edit] Playing career

Bilas was a four-year starter for Mike Krzyzewski on the Duke University men’s basketball team from 1983-1986, and helped lead Duke to the Final Four and National Championship game in 1986. In 1986, Duke won 37 games, the second highest total for a single season in the NCAA. Krzyzewski’s 1982 recruiting class of Bilas, Johnny Dawkins, Mark Alarie and David Henderson still ranks as the highest scoring single class in college basketball history. In his college career, Bilas scored 1,062 points and grabbed 692 rebounds while shooting over 55% from the field. [1] Bilas graduated in 1986 with a degree in political science, and was selected in the 1986 NBA Draft by the Dallas Mavericks, playing professionally overseas for teams in Italy and Spain, where he averaged over 20 points and 10 rebounds per game for his career. [2] In 1985, Bilas represented USA Basketball on the U.S. National Select Team in the Jones Cup in Taipei, Taiwan. [3] Bilas was a consensus Top 50 recruit at Rolling Hills High School in Los Angeles, California, where he averaged 23.5 points and 13.5 rebounds per game in 1982. That season, Bilas was named First Team All-CIF, First Team All-South Bay, MVP of the Bay League, Best in the West by the Long Beach Press Telegram, and was named to the All-Tournament team in every event in which he played.

[edit] Coaching career

Bilas served as an assistant coach under Mike Krzyzewski at Duke for three seasons from 1990-1992. While serving as an assistant coach, Bilas attended Duke University School of Law, receiving his law degree in 1992. During his three-year tenure as an assistant coach, Duke advanced to three Final Fours and won two National Championships. Bilas still teaches and speaks at clinics, and has been an instructor at the Nike Skills Academy in Beaverton, Oregon, the Nike/Amare Stoudamire Skills Academy in Phoenix, Arizona, and the Nike/LeBron James Skills Academy in Akron, Ohio, which annually tutor some of the nation’s finest high school and college players. In 2005 and 2006, Bilas was one of 12 coaches taking part in Operation Hardwood I and II that coached United States Service teams in tournament competition in the Middle East. Among the other coaches of Operation Hardwood I and II were Mark Gottfried, Tom Izzo, Kelvin Sampson, Tubby Smith, Rick Barnes, Gary Williams, Dave Odom, Bobby Lutz, Bobby Cremins, Mike Jarvis, Billy Lange, Jim Crews and Reggie Minton.

[edit] Broadcasting career

Bilas has been a color commentator and studio analyst for ESPN since 1995.[4] Bilas began his broadcast career as a color commentator alongside play-by-play man Bob Harris for the Duke Radio Network and Raycom/Jefferson Pilot in 1993.^[1] Bilas joined ESPN in 1995 as a college basketball analyst on games and in the studio.^{[citation needed]} He has served as co-host of ESPN’s studio broadcasts since 2000, including College Gamenight and College Gameday with Rece Davis, Hubert Davis, and Digger Phelps. Bilas makes frequent appearances on SportsCenter, ESPNEWS and ESPN Radio, and is a featured basketball writer on ESPN.com. In 2003, Bilas joined CBS as a game analyst for the network’s coverage of the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament, and has been paired with Dick Enberg as his color analyst. Sports Illustrated has called Bilas the best analyst in college basketball. In both 2007 and 2008, Bilas was nominated for an Emmy for Outstanding Performance by a Studio Analyst.

[edit] Acting career

A member of the Screen Actors’ Guild since 1987, Bilas has appeared in national television commercials and the feature-length movie I Come in Peace (also known as Dark Angel). In 1990, Bilas also appeared in an episode of the TV series The White Shadow.

[edit] Legal career

Bilas received his law degree from Duke University School of Law in 1992. He is currently Of Counsel to the Charlotte office of Moore & Van Allen, where he maintains a litigation practice.

Bilas most notably worked on the case Lyons Partnership v. Morris Costumes, Inc., where he successfully defended the costume business against trademark-copyright brought by owners of the popular children's television character, Barney the Dinosaur^[2]