HE’S AWESOME, BABY.

An early spring break, a free trip to Los Angeles, halftime entertainment for the Pac-10 men’s basketball championship — now that’s super scintillating sensational, baby.

IU senior Ben Heisler will experience all of that this week as a finalist in an ESPN.com “Be Dickie V” contest that is searching for the best impersonator of colorful ESPN basketball analyst Dick Vitale.

Heisler, the host of WIUX sports radio show “The Honest Brew,” submitted a video to the contest in early February and was selected as a semifinalist by a panel of voters. After receiving enough fan votes, he was named one of the 15 finalists.

The finalists were grouped in threes and will be sent to five different men’s basketball major conference tournaments this weekend, where they will each perform a one-minute impersonation at halftime of the respective conference championship games.

One winner will be chosen at each tournament and receive $10,000.

With an option of which tournament to attend, Heisler chose the Pac-10 because the games are played at the Staples Center in Los Angeles.

“I was like ‘I want a free trip to California,’” Heisler said.

Heisler will perform an original impersonation and said he plans to cater his act for the Pac-10. His original submission featured jokes about IU basketball player Tom Pritchard and Gene Hackman of “Hoosiers” fame.

“So much of what I know about college basketball is focused around the Big 10 and Indiana,” Heisler said. “I don’t know a whole lot about the Pac-10 right now.”

Heisler said his Vitale impression was something he started doing for fun a few years ago, not to gain attention. In high school, he interviewed Vitale for a radio show in which he told Heisler he was “super scintillating sensational” — a trademark line from the analyst.

As a sports radio show host who hopes to find a career in sports broadcasting, Heisler said one of his dreams would be to announce a basketball game alongside Vitale.

“I’ve always loved his passion and his enthusiasm for the game,” Heisler said. “For me, as a young sportscaster growing up and admiring someone who’s been a staple of college basketball, now I’ve got the opportunity to win 10 grand impersonating him — it’s all out of respect, I love the guy.”