While the TCU men’s basketball team was unable to reach the NCAA tournament, TCU will be sending some sports broadcasting students this year, including junior Ryan Mattingly and sophomore Jack Hurlbut.
Mattingly and Hurlbut will be working together the entire weekend to help provide broadcast footage for Turner Broadcasting. Their camera work will be seen on TBS.
Film-television-digital media professor Michael Martin was able to help these students work at the games, which will take place at AT&T Stadium in Arlington on Saturday.
Mattingly will be the robot camera operator over the weekend. His main job will be to capture shots of the announcers.
The job is a “dream come true,” Mattingly said.
“When I work games for TCU, I know that there are people watching but not millions,” he said. “I know that on this broadcast millions of people are going to be able to watch me, which motivates me, but at the same time I would be lying if I said I wasn’t nervous.”
Hurlbut, who described the weekend as “nerve-wracking,” already has experience working at the Final Four. Last year, when it was held in Atlanta, Hurlbut worked the event and was able to meet basketball greats Charles Barkley, Kareem Abdul Jabbar, Bill Walton and Oscar Robertson.
Hurlbut said he will be a runner this year, which means he will be helping out the crew in a variety of ways, from getting water for on-air talent to building sets.
“Sure it is not glamorous,” he said, “but it is all about working your way up.”