Jay Bilas, EPSN College Basketball Analyst will be this year's guest speaker at the Gala.

Jay Bilas joined ESPN as a college basketball analyst in 1995, and provides expert analysis courtside on more than 40 games a year, and as a studio analyst for ESPN’s weekly College GameDay and College Gamenight shows. Bilas is also a regular contributor to ESPNEWS, ESPN Radio, ESPN.com and Mobile ESPN. He also provides expert analysis for ESPN’s coverage of the NBA Draft, the NCAA Men’s Final Four, select SportsCenter stories, utilizing both his extensive basketball expertise and legal background. Bilas also serves as a game analyst for CBS Sports during the NCAA Men’s Basketball Championship.

In 2007, Bilas was nominated for an Emmy Award as Outstanding Studio Analyst, received the “Best Column of the Year” award from the U.S. Basketball Writers Association, and received the “Distinguished Young Alumni Award” from Duke Law School.

A consensus Top 40 national recruit from Los Angeles, California, Bilas was a member of Mike Krzyzewski’s first No. 1 rated recruiting class in 1982. As a four-year starter for Krzyzewski from 1983-86, Bilas finished his Duke career with 1,062 points and 692 rebounds, and left Duke as it’s third all-time career field-goal percentage leader (56 percent). As a senior, Bilas was a starter on Krzyzewski’s NCAA record 37-win team that won the ACC Championship and played in the 1986 Final Four and NCAA Championship game.

Bilas was one of two student-athletes in the nation appointed to the NCAA’s Long Range Planning Committee (1984-86). He appeared on CBS’ Face The Nation on April 7, 1985, to discuss academics and athletics and was a panelist on the prestigious National Sports Forum with Howard Cosell, Dr. Harry Edwards and Digger Phelps in 1986. Bilas also worked as a production assistant for ABC Sports, including stints at the 1983 PGA Championship and the 1984 Summer Olympics.

Drafted by the NBA’s Dallas Mavericks, Bilas played professional basketball in Italy and Spain from 1986 to 1989. In 1990, Bilas accepted a position as an assistant coach for Krzyzewski. While Bilas was on Krzyzewski’s staff, Duke made three appearances in the NCAA Championship game, winning back-to-back titles in ’91 and ’92.