SBNation.com reports that Bomani Jones, a UNC graduate who hosts an internet sports show out of Durham and is a regular contributor to ESPN TV programs, has signed a 4-year deal with the network that will give him a presence on ESPN's radio, television and online outlets.

Jones previously hosted a sports talk radio show called "The Morning Jones" and now hosts "The Evening Jones" on the internet. Jones has been a regular panelist on ESPN's "Around the Horn" and "Outside the Lines," and also appears on ESPN2's "Dan Le Batard Is Highly Questionable" and "First Take."

Hart of Dixie (8pm, CW) - Brick's love life suffers after a secret about him gets out. Meanwhile, Zoe tries to share her feelings, but she has bad timing, and George looks after Tansy's reckless brothers.

30 for 30: Elway to Marino (8pm, ESPN) - A Ken Rodgers documentary chronicling the quarterback-rich 1983 NFL Draft. Hall of Famers John Elway and Dan Marino, who headed the record six QBs selected in the first round, look back on draft day events along with agent Marvin Demoff. Repeats at 9.

NCIS (8pm, CBS) - Tony and Ziva track her father's killer to Berlin and plot to avenge his death.

Frontline: The Retirement Gamble (10pm, UNC-TV) - An examination of retirement accounts, including the lack of uniformity in plans, which results in some workers paying much more than others. Also, the hidden fees that some 401(k) providers charge consumers.

Body of Proof (10pm, ABC) - After a teenage girl is murdered in a mental institution, Megan and Tommy interview a seemingly sane young patient who claims that she saw the killer and that she was the actual target.

Girl Code (10:30pm, MTV) - Crushes, roommates and drinking are among the topics discussed in the opener of this new comedy series.

Full disclosure: I am a proud Red-and-White-For-Life graduate of N.C. State and was at State during the final Jim Valvano years. Even so, I'm supremely confident in saying that you don't have to be an N.C. State fan, or even a basketball fan, to be moved by tonight's excellent ESPN 30-for-30 documentary, "Survive and Advance."

You only need a beating heart and a little warm blood running through your veins.

"Survive and Advance," the story of the 1983 N.C. State basketball team's unlikely march to an NCAA championship under the guidance of former coach Jim Valvano, has been described by at least one television critic as a documentary that "makes grown men cry." Well, I have it on good authority that some people don't just tear up once or twice while watching, they pretty much cry all the way through it. Jonathan Hock's documentary is an hour and 42 minutes long, and I think I had varying degrees of tear production through about an hour and 35 minutes of it.

You may try and resist -- and good luck to you -- but you won't stand chance. The eyes will sting. The film's warm and fuzzy clips of "the shot," along with Valvano joking around with his players and members of the press, or sharing inspirational memories of his father, are interspersed with more sobering moments from player Lorenzo Charles' funeral, Valvano's forced resignation from N.C. State, and the former coach's cancer diagnosis. The moments where Valvano's friend, Duke basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski, shares memories of the time they spent together during Valvano's illness and on the day Valvano died, are especially moving.

I found "Survive and Advance" an emotionally wrenching joy to watch. For every tear I cried there was just as much laughter. I especially loved the festive moments from a reunion of some of the '83 players at the Players Retreat in Raleigh, which run throughout the film (let's just say Dereck Whittenburg, who is also an executive producer of the doc, has an infectious laugh.)

Hock's film not only captures the magic of the N.C. State basketball team in that 1983 season and the magic of Valvano (yes, magic), it's a warming reminder of very different, if not simpler, times in college sports. As UNC coach Roy Williams points out early in the film, players weren't leaving after one year for the NBA, they hung around longer. "The games were better, the players were better," he says. After watching this, it's hard to argue.

Valvano famously said in his 1993 ESPY acceptance speech that "If you laugh, you think and you cry, that's a full day. That's a heck of a day."

If that's your criteria for a full day (and it's pretty good criteria), I promise that "Survive and Advance" will complete your day.

****
"Survive and Advance" airs Sunday night at 9 p.m. on ESPN. (Look for repeats on ESPN2 at midnight and at 2 am tonight; on March 22 at 2 a.m. and 8 p.m.; and on March 24 at 6 a.m.)

ESPN is spending the day in Raleigh covering tonight's basketball game between N.C. State and UNC (airs tonight on ESPN at 7). The sports network broadcast their live "College GameDay" show at the PNC Arena this morning, and in addition to the usual looks back at great moments in NCSU basketball history (yes, the 1983 win with Valvano) and interviews with basketball coach Mark Gottfried, the students in attendance were treated to a performance of "Folsom Prison Blues" by State freshman (and 2011 "American Idol" winner) Scotty McCreery, with NCSU football coach Dave Doeren and Wolfpack fullback Logan Winkles accompanying on guitar. (NOTE: ESPN may not air footage of the McCreery-Doeren performance on the "College GameDay" TV show.)

"College Gameday" aired at 10 a.m. on ESPN-U and at 11 a.m. on ESPN. There's another installment tonight at 6 on ESPN (the 10 a.m. episode had much more NCSU stuff than the one at 11).

Be sure to check out our ESPN College GameDay at NCSU photo gallery.

Below is the video of the performance taken by the NCSU Athletics Dept.

N.C. State had two fouls to give at the end of Wednesday's game at Maryland.

Wolfpack coach Mark Gottfried used one of the fouls and he said Friday that he thought he used what was the best strategy to win the game.

Maryland's Alex Len scored off a Pe'Shon Howard miss with 0.9 seconds left for a 51-50 win, but Gottfried was pleased with the shot his defense forced Howard to take.

"The truth of the matter is, Pe'Shon Howard took an off-balance, awful shot and shot an airball, which is what you would want to have," Gottfried said.

Stuart Scott, a UNC-Chapel Hill graduate who grew up in Winston-Salem and has hosted a variety of programs at ESPN for nearly twenty years, announced Monday night that he has cancer.

This will be Scott's third battle with cancer. He was first diagnosed in 2007 when doctors discovered a tumor during an emergency appendectomy. It was successfully treated, but in 2011, another tumor was discovered in his small intestine. Scott once again underwent surgery and chemotherapy, and was cancer-free until this latest diagnosis.

No details have been released regarding what type of cancer Scott now has.

On Monday night, Scott (@StuartScott) tweeted to his followers: ‏"Thanks for prayers..ill fight w ALL C survivors & loved ones. Cancer wants to re-appear..picked the right guy cuz I HIT HARD all day long!"

Scott worked for WRAL in the early 1990s and joined ESPN in 1993, hosting "SportsNight," "SportsCenter" and various NFL and NBA programs. Scott became famous at ESPN for coining phrases such as "Boo Yah!" while narrating highlight reels, and has even been parodied on "Saturday Night Live."

Scott has remained close to the area, participating in annual Jimmy V Foundation events in Raleigh nearly every year since the organization was founded.

In August of 2011, Scott was given the Spirit of Jimmy V Award at the Jimmy V Celebrity Golf Classic. That award honors those dedicated to fighting cancer and who personify former N.C. State basketball coach Jim Valvano's "Don't ever give up" spirit. Valvano died in April 1993 after a yearlong battle with cancer.

In December 2012, Scott returned to Raleigh to tour the Jimmy V Cancer Therapeutics Lab at N.C. State.

Photo from ESPN.com

The Atlantic Coast Conference’s new $3.6 billion television deal with ESPN includes three Friday games each year.

The N.C. High School Athletic Association has worked for years to keep the ACC from televising its football games on Friday nights, which are the traditional playing night for high schools in the state, but the tide could not be stopped.

Ravenscroft’s boys basketball team was seeded as the No. 7 seed in the ESPNHS National High School Invitational. The Ravens (31-3) will face No. 2-seed Montrose Christian School (Md.) in the quarterfinals March 29 at 4 p.m. on ESPNU.

The tournament is being held at Georgetown Preparatory School’s Hanley Center for Athletic Excellence in Bethesda, Md.

Montrose (20-2) is No. 11 in the latest ESPNHS national rankings, and is the defending tournament champion. The Mustangs feature University of Virginia signee Justin Anderson. 

The winner of the quarterfinal game will play the winner of the three-seeded Montverde (Fla.) vs. No. 6-seed La Porte La Lumiere (Ind.) game Friday, March 30 at 11:30 a.m. on ESPN2.

Ravenscroft claimed the NCISAA 3A State Championship last month.

The title alone of this new ESPN special should cause some screeching or at least some serious eye-rolling among local Tar Heel fans: "The Last Great Game: Duke vs. Kentucky" airs Sunday morning at 10:30 a.m. on ESPNU.

The 30-minute program, which is based on a premise set forth in Gene Wojciechowski's book of the same title, features former players, coaches and basketball analysts who argue that the 1992 overtime thriller between Duke and Kentucky was the last great game in men's college basketball.

Duke won the game 104-103 on a last-second shot by Christian Laettner.

There's insight from members of both ’92 teams, including Laettner and Grant Hill, as well as Kentucky’s Jamal Mashburn and John Pelphrey. Then-assistant coaches Mike Brey, Jay Bilas and Billy Donovan add their eyewitness accounts, while basketball analyst Len Elmore, who called the game for CBS, rounds out the discussion of the legendary game that propelled Duke to its 2^nd straight National Championship.

Photo from ESPN

Football fans in the Triangle may have been talking about Russell Wilson’s Wisconsin debut last night, but they weren’t watching -- at least, not any more than usual.

According to ESPN, last night’s Wisconsin-UNLV game did a 3.7 metered market rating in the Raleigh-Durham TV market. Last year’s Thursday night opener, South Carolina against Southern Mississippi, did a 3.8.

Given the interest in Wilson locally, it's surprising there wasn't more of a bump in the ratings, but it may also be an indication of the voracious appetite for college sports in this area.