''College Basketball on NBC Sports'' is the de facto branding used for broadcasts of

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...

Division I men's college basketball games produced by

NBC Sports NBC Sports is an American programming division of the broadcast network NBC, owned and operated by NBC Sports Group division of NBCUniversal and subsidiary of Comcast. The division is responsible for sports broadcasts on the network, and its d ...

, the sports division of the NBC television network in the United States. The NBC network broadcast

college basketball In United States colleges, top-tier basketball is governed by collegiate athletic bodies including National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), the United States Collegiate Athleti ...

games in some shape or form between

1969 This year is notable for Apollo 11's first landing on the moon. Events January * January 4 – The Government of Spain hands over Ifni to Morocco. * January 5 **Ariana Afghan Airlines Flight 701 crashes into a house on its approach to ...

and

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The '' Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently ...

. From

1981 Events January * January 1 ** Greece enters the European Economic Community, predecessor of the European Union. ** Palau becomes a self-governing territory. * January 10 – Salvadoran Civil War: The FMLN launches its first major offensiv ...

, NBC covered the

NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament The NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament, branded as NCAA March Madness and commonly called March Madness, is a single-elimination tournament played each spring in the United States, currently featuring 68 college basketball teams from ...

. It became the first major network to broadcast the championship game, at a cost of more than

US$ The United States dollar (symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the official ...

500,000 in 1969. In 2011,

Comcast Comcast Corporation (formerly known as American Cable Systems and Comcast Holdings),Before the AT&T merger in 2001, the parent company was Comcast Holdings Corporation. Comcast Holdings Corporation now refers to a subsidiary of Comcast Corpora ...

's sports channel

Versus Versus (Latin, 'against') may refer to: Film and television * ''Versus'' (2000 film), a Japanese zombie film * ''Versus'' (2016 film), a Russian sports drama film * ''Versus'' (2019 film), a French thriller film * Versus (TV channel), form ...

became part of NBC Sports after the company's acquisition of NBC Universal, and was relaunched as NBC Sports Network (NBCSN) in 2012. During the 2010's, NBCSN primarily carried coverage of basketball from the

Atlantic 10 Conference The Atlantic 10 Conference (A-10) is a collegiate athletic conference whose schools compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's (NCAA) Division I. The A-10's member schools are located in states mostly on the United States Eastern ...

Colonial Athletic Association The Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) is a collegiate athletic conference affiliated with the NCAA's Division I whose full members are located in East Coast states from Massachusetts to South Carolina. Most of its members are public universi ...

(CAA), and

Ivy League The Ivy League is an American collegiate athletic conference comprising eight private research universities in the Northeastern United States. The term ''Ivy League'' is typically used beyond the sports context to refer to the eight schools ...

. NBCSN would lose the CAA and Ivy League, but retained its A-10 package. It was renewed in 2021 under a multi-year deal, and moved to

USA Network USA Network (simply USA) is an American basic cable television channel owned by the NBCUniversal Television and Streaming division of Comcast's NBCUniversal through NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment. It was originally launched in 1977 as Madison ...

in January 2022 after the shutdown of NBCSN. In August 2022, NBC Sports announced that it had acquired rights to

Big Ten The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference) is the oldest Division I collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representati ...

basketball as part of a larger agreement with the conference, with a package of games airing on Peacock beginning in the 2023–24 season. On November 12, 2022, college basketball returned to the main NBC network when the Notre Dame women's college basketball team took on the California women's college basketball team as part of the inaugural Citi Shamrock Classic. It was the first women's college basketball game to ever air on NBC, and the first college basketball game of any kind since 1998.

History

NBC's relationship with college basketball dates as far back as February 28, 1940, when

W2XBS WNBC (channel 4) is a television station in New York City, serving as the flagship of the NBC network. It is owned and operated by the network's NBC Owned Television Stations division alongside Linden, New Jersey–licensed Telemundo station WN ...

(the future

flagship A flagship is a vessel used by the commanding officer of a group of naval ships, characteristically a flag officer entitled by custom to fly a distinguishing flag. Used more loosely, it is the lead ship in a fleet of vessels, typically the fi ...

station for NBC, WNBC) presented a doubleheader at New York City's

Madison Square Garden Madison Square Garden, colloquially known as The Garden or by its initials MSG, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in New York City. It is located in Midtown Manhattan between Seventh and Eighth avenues from 31st to 33rd Street, above Pennsylva ...

. The

University of Pittsburgh The University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) is a public state-related research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The university is composed of 17 undergraduate and graduate schools and colleges at its urban Pittsburgh campus, home to the universit ...

faced off against

Fordham University Fordham University () is a Private university, private Jesuit universities, Jesuit research university in New York City. Established in 1841 and named after the Fordham, Bronx, Fordham neighborhood of the The Bronx, Bronx in which its origina ...

, followed by

Georgetown University Georgetown University is a private university, private research university in the Georgetown (Washington, D.C.), Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Founded by Bishop John Carroll (archbishop of Baltimore), John Carroll in 1789 as Georg ...

against

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then-Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, the ...

1969–1976

For NBC's first year of tournament coverage in 1969, the network aired the consolation game nationally and the national semi-finals on a regional basis (which were held on a Thursday night).

1972 Within the context of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) it was the longest year ever, as two leap seconds were added during this 366-day year, an event which has not since been repeated. (If its start and end are defined using Solar time, me ...

marked the final year that NBC aired the consolation game. The following year marked the first time that the ''Final Four'' was held on a Saturday, and was the first prime time championship game to air on NBC. From 1969 to 1972, Final Four contests were split national telecasts. Because the NCAA Tournament wasn't seeded, but based on geography, the Final Four generally had two eastern and two western teams. NBC, with a prime-time slot, televised the eastern-oriented game in the east, and the western-oriented game in the

west West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sunset, Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic languages, German ...

. It essentially was a split-national telecast, with the split occurring over the time, not simultaneous games. This inevitably created problems, such as when Louisville played

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...

in the late game in

, people in the east didn't see it. And, if the first game went into overtime, NBC couldn't close out the eastern window and open the western window. The western United States would get the end of the early game, but the east would still not get to see the late game. The secondary problem was that the east didn't get to see UCLA in the tournament until the title game. By

1974 Major events in 1974 include the aftermath of the 1973 oil crisis and the resignation of United States President Richard Nixon following the Watergate scandal. In the Middle East, the aftermath of the 1973 Yom Kippur War determined politics; f ...

, NBC was providing coverage of nine games in seven windows (a far cry from the current tournament coverage). 1974 also marked the first year that Billy Packer helped commentate an NCAA tournament game, starting a streak continued well into the 2000s. The following year, NBC aired ten games in nine windows – presenting the regional finals as a tripleheader with regional coverage in the middle time slot; this was also the first year that Billy Packer covered the Final Four. The 1974 NCAA tournament started the afternoon of March 9 with a doubleheader on NBC. The

ACC ACC most often refers to: * Atlantic Coast Conference, an NCAA Division I collegiate athletic conference located in the US *American College of Cardiology, A US-based nonprofit medical association that bestows credentials upon cardiovascular spec ...

and Pac 8 had first round byes, and these leagues were still staging conference tournament and regular season action after the NCAA tournament started. NBC did not start airing regular season games until about 1975–76, when the network partnered with the ad-hoc sports service

TVS Television Network The TVS Television Network, or TVS for short, was a syndicator of American sports programming. It was one of the several "occasional" national television networks that sprang up in the early-to-mid-1960s to take advantage of the establishment o ...

. While

' on-air talent was used, the production was covered by TVS. By this point, NBC would air regional and national games on Saturdays, and national games (called by

Dick Enberg Richard Alan Enberg (January 9, 1935 – December 21, 2017) was an American sportscaster. Over the course of an approximately 60-year career, he provided play-by-play of various sports for several radio and television networks, including N ...

, Al McGuire and Billy Packer) on Sundays. As for the regional telecasts on Saturdays, typically in the

Northeast The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each se ...

, before the game featuring the Big East or

Atlantic 10 The Atlantic 10 Conference (A-10) is a collegiate athletic conference whose schools compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's (NCAA) Division I. The A-10's member schools are located in states mostly on the United States Eastern ...

conferences, it was the " ECAC Game of the Week". In Dick Enberg's book ''Oh My!'', he says that the first time that he worked with Billy Packer was on a

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...

game in 1974. Meanwhile, Packer's book ''Hoops'' says that the first time these two worked together was on a UCLA @ Maryland game on Super Bowl Sunday 1975. Packer however, is incorrect on the date because these teams did not play on January 12, 1975 (nor on any other Super Bowl Sunday for that matter) and there was no national college basketball telecast on this date either. Packer spends a few pages on this telecast which he says was a joint production between TVS and Chesley and talks about meeting Enberg for the first time earlier that day. He also says that Enberg called play-by-play for one half and Jim Thacker did play-by-play for the other half and that Packer was the analyst throughout. For the 1975 tournament, NBC expanded the regional finals coverage to present a tripleheader with regionalized coverage in the middle time slot. NBC used Tim Ryan and Al McGuire in the studio on March 22. 1975 also marked the first year that Billy Packer would work on the Final Four. Coverage of the 1976 tournament served as an awkward transition period from Curt Gowdy to Dick Enberg. Although Enberg was NBC's lead college basketball play-by-play announcer during the regular season, Gowdy had a clause in his contract to do the NCAA championship game. As a compromise, NBC decided to put each of them on one national semi-final game along with Billy Packer. Then for the title game, both play-by-play voices worked together while Packer was relegated to the network's New York City

studio A studio is an artist or worker's workroom. This can be for the purpose of acting, architecture, painting, pottery (ceramics), sculpture, origami, woodworking, scrapbooking, photography, graphic design, filmmaking, animation, industrial design ...

(where he worked with Bryant Gumbel and

Lee Leonard Lee Leonard (April 3, 1929 – December 16, 2018) was an American television personality who was involved in the launch of cable television networks ESPN and CNN. Early life Leonard was born Maxwell Lefkowitz on April 3, 1929, in New York City, ...

1977–1981

For the 1976–77 season, NBC moved the national games to Sundays, starting with a doubleheader on January 2-Michigan @ South Carolina then Houston @ UCLA. NBC provided split-national coverage of two games each on February 6 (

Providence Providence often refers to: * Providentia, the divine personification of foresight in ancient Roman religion * Divine providence, divinely ordained events and outcomes in Christianity * Providence, Rhode Island, the capital of Rhode Island in the ...

@ Louisville and Marquette @

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wit ...

) and February 20 (

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and So ...

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

and

Indiana Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th s ...

Purdue Purdue University is a public land-grant research university in West Lafayette, Indiana, and the flagship campus of the Purdue University system. The university was founded in 1869 after Lafayette businessman John Purdue donated land and money ...

). NBC added a Saturday game on the last weekend of the season to show undefeated

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

take on Notre Dame. That weekend, Billy Packer called three ACC tournament games in Greensboro on Thursday March 3, both ACC semi-finals the next night, then went to South Bend to call San Francisco-Notre Dame game on Saturday afternoon. He went back to Greensboro to call the ACC title game that same night, and then went to Ann Arbor to call the Marquette-

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...

game the next day. NBC added first round Sunday coverage during the 1977 tournament. In the 1977–78 season, C.D. Chesley (who controlled the

Atlantic Coast Conference The Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) is a collegiate athletic conference located in the eastern United States. Headquartered in Greensboro, North Carolina, the ACC's fifteen member universities compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Associa ...

(ACC) rights at the time) wanted NBC to televise select ACC games as part of its national package as it had the previous few years. However, NBC wanted to feature intersectional games. This action greatly upset Chesley, who wound up selling the rights to the ACC Tournament final to

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

. As a result, there was a notable absence of ACC home games in NBC's college basketball schedule for the 1977–78 season. For this season, NBC added Al McGuire to the No. 1 team alongside Dick Enberg and Billy Packer. Early in the season, NBC stationed McGuire in a remote location and went to him only for periodic commentary. Eventually, NBC moved McGuire courtside to form a three-man announcer team.

Dick Stockton Richard Edward Stokvis (born November 22, 1942), known professionally as Dick Stockton, is an American retired sportscaster. Stockton began his career in Philadelphia, then moved to Pittsburgh, where he worked as the sports director for KDKA-TV ...

filled in for Enberg on at least three games,

Kentucky Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia to ...

vs. Notre Dame (at Louisville on December 31), Marquette @

South Carolina )''Animis opibusque parati'' ( for, , Latin, Prepared in mind and resources, links=no) , anthem = " Carolina";" South Carolina On My Mind" , Former = Province of South Carolina , seat = Columbia , LargestCity = Charleston , LargestMetro = ...

(on February 5), and

(on February 12). Enberg called the AFC title game in Denver on January 1 and had a

boxing Boxing (also known as "Western boxing" or "pugilism") is a combat sport in which two people, usually wearing protective gloves and other protective equipment such as hand wraps and mouthguards, throw punches at each other for a predetermined ...

assignment on February 5. In

1978 Events January * January 1 – Air India Flight 855, a Boeing 747 passenger jet, crashes off the coast of Bombay, killing 213. * January 5 – Bülent Ecevit, of Republican People's Party, CHP, forms the new government of Turkey (42nd go ...

, NBC aired all regional finals games nationally for the first time, moving two of the games to Sunday. NBC split up the analysts from its No. 1 announcer team for the first two weekends of the tournament. Al McGuire for the most part, worked with Curt Gowdy while Billy Packer generally worked with Dick Enberg. While Dick Enberg served as the play-by-play announcer for NBC's Final Four coverage in 1978, Curt Gowdy moved over to a hosting role for the Final Four coverage. Meanwhile,

NCAA Productions NCAA Productions is the official film and television production company for the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). History Football It was founded by Dick Snider as NCAA Films. One of the earliest programs to be produced was the te ...

covered all tournament games not televised by NBC. Merle Harmon, Jim Ferguson, Connie Alexander,

Bill Strannigan William Matthew Strannigan (December 1, 1918 – September 7, 1997) was an American college basketball, college men's basketball coach . He was the head coach of Colorado State Rams men's basketball, Colorado State from 1950 to 1954, Iowa State Cy ...

, Jay Randolph, Gary Thompson, and Fred Taylor were the commentators for NCAA Productions. NCAA Productions carried also the consolation game with Jay Randolph and Gary Thompson on the call. On February 25, 1979, NBC added a game featuring the undefeated

Indiana State Indiana State University (ISU) is a public university in Terre Haute, Indiana. It was founded in 1865 and offers over 100 undergraduate majors and more than 75 graduate and professional programs. Indiana State is classified among "D/PU: Doctor ...

(which went up against

Wichita State Wichita State University (WSU) is a public research university in Wichita, Kansas, United States. It is governed by the Kansas Board of Regents. The university offers more than 60 undergraduate degree programs in more than 200 areas of study in ...

on that particular day). This was the first time that Larry Bird played on a national basketball telecast. Also in

1979 Events January * January 1 ** United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim heralds the start of the ''International Year of the Child''. Many musicians donate to the ''Music for UNICEF Concert'' fund, among them ABBA, who write the song ...

, the tournament expanded to add Thursday and Friday first-round games (done by

, which also again produced the regional semi-finals). Like it did the previous year, NBC split up the analysts from its primary announcer team for the first two weekends of the tournament, with Jim Simpson (in his last year with NBC before moving on to the newly launched

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...

cable network) working with Billy Packer while Dick Enberg worked with Al McGuire. On December 30, Dick Enberg called an NFL playoff game, so Simpson filled in him on the

- Notre Dame game (which was aired on tape delay at 11:30 p.m.

Eastern time The Eastern Time Zone (ET) is a time zone encompassing part or all of 23 states in the eastern part of the United States, parts of eastern Canada, the state of Quintana Roo in Mexico, Panama, Colombia, mainland Ecuador, Peru, and a small port ...

) at Louisville. Jim Simpson also filled-in for Enberg on the

USC USC most often refers to: * University of South Carolina, a public research university ** University of South Carolina System, the main university and its satellite campuses **South Carolina Gamecocks, the school athletic program * University of ...

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

game on January 20 because Enberg was scheduled to anchor NBC's

Super Bowl The Super Bowl is the annual final playoff game of the National Football League (NFL) to determine the league champion. It has served as the final game of every NFL season since 1966, replacing the NFL Championship Game. Since 2022, the game ...

coverage the next day. NBC's coverage of the 1979 NCAA championship game between Indiana State and

Michigan State Michigan State University (Michigan State, MSU) is a public land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan, the first of its kind in the United States. It i ...

to this day, remains the highest- rated game (garnering a 24.1 rating) in the history of televised college basketball. The final game marked the beginning of the rivalry between future Hall of Famers

Magic Johnson Earvin "Magic" Johnson Jr. (born August 14, 1959) is an American former professional basketball player. He is often regarded as the greatest point guard of all-time and has been compared with Stephen Curry. Johnson played 13 seasons in the ...

and Larry Bird. Both Johnson and Bird would

enter Enter or ENTER may refer to: * Enter key, on computer keyboards * Enter, Netherlands, a village * ''Enter'' (magazine), an American technology magazine for children 1983–1985 * ''Enter'' (Finnish magazine), a Finnish computer magazine * Enter ...

the

NBA The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United St ...

in the fall of

, and the rivalry between them and their respective teams (the

Los Angeles Lakers The Los Angeles Lakers are an American professional basketball team based in Los Angeles. The Lakers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference Pacific Division. The Lakers play their ...

and

Boston Celtics The Boston Celtics ( ) are an American professional basketball team based in Boston. The Celtics compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Atlantic Division. Founded in 1946 as one of t ...

) was a major factor in the league's renaissance in the 1980s and 1990s. The game also led to the "modern era" of college basketball, as it introduced a nationwide audience to a sport that was once relegated to second-class status in the sports world. Both Dick Enberg and Don Criqui called NFL playoff games the weekend of December 29, 1979, so

Charlie Jones Charles, Charlie, Charley or Chuck Jones may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Chuck Jones (1912–2002), American animator, director, and producer * Charles Jones (c. 1889–1942), American actor better known as Buck Jones * Charles Jones (pho ...

filled in on the

- Notre Dame game (aired on tape delay). Enberg however, did not have an NFL assignment the weekend of December 15 (NBC aired DePaul @

) while Criqui did ( Jets- Oilers). The February 17 game between Kentucky and

UNLV The University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) is a public land-grant research university in Paradise, Nevada. The campus is about east of the Las Vegas Strip. It was formerly part of the University of Nevada from 1957 to 1969. It includes the S ...

, was a Sunday morning local start. For two December games in 1980, Bob Costas filled in for Enberg (who was on NFL duty). The games were

(on the 20th) and

@ DePaul the following week. Meanwhile, Charlie Jones filled in for Enberg on January 24 ( Notre Dame @

) as Enberg was getting ready to call the

the next day. On Super Bowl Sunday 1981, NBC also regionally broadcast

@ Georgia and Georgetown @ UNLV at 1:30 pm. ET. For the 1980 tournament, NBC only split up the analysts from its No. 1 announcer team for the first weekend. While Dick Enberg again teamed with Al McGuire, Billy Packer was this time, paired with Don Criqui. In NBC's final year covering the NCAA tournament,

(beginning on March 14 to be exact), the network introduced a policy of switching from game to game (and buzzer beater to buzzer beater, for that matter) on the fly. Before this, NBC would naturally, stay with the regionally-televised games to their conclusion. Bryant Gumbel was the studio host for NBC by this point. This time, NBC kept its No. 1 announcer team (Enberg/Packer/McGuire) intact for the entire tournament.

After losing the Division I basketball tournament rights (1982–1989)

After NBC lost the tournament rights to CBS (which started a separate regular season package) beginning in

1982 Events January * January 1 – In Malaysia and Singapore, clocks are adjusted to the same time zone, UTC+8 (GMT+8.00). * January 13 – Air Florida Flight 90 crashes shortly after takeoff into the 14th Street bridges, 14th Street Bridge in ...

, they continued with TVS through 1983, wrapping up with the ACC Tournament Final (which NBC had traditionally wrapped up their coverage with, by this point). After TVS went back to broadcasting separate, regional games beginning in 1983–84 (in the 1986–87 season for instance, NBC carried several

Pac-10 The Pac-12 Conference is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference, that operates in the Western United States, participating in 24 sports at the NCAA Division I level. Its College football, football teams compete in the NCAA D ...

telecasts on a regional basis), NBC was left to pick up the games that CBS did not want (save for the ACC Final) for the rest of the 1980s. During this period, NBC's promotional slogan for its game broadcasts was "College basketball, it's the ''stuff'' Saturdays are made of!" Another slogan that NBC used in game promotions was "Sunday ''come on home'' to college basketball on NBC!" On January 27, 1985, Jim Valvano (who was still the NC State coach) called a game between

and

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...

alongside Bob Costas for NBC after coaching a game the previous day. On January 25, 1986, NBC had planned regional coverage of

LSU Louisiana State University (officially Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as LSU) is a public land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The university was founded in 1860 near ...

Auburn Auburn may refer to: Places Australia * Auburn, New South Wales * City of Auburn, the local government area *Electoral district of Auburn *Auburn, Queensland, a locality in the Western Downs Region *Auburn, South Australia *Auburn, Tasmania *Aub ...

in the 1 p.m. (Eastern) time slot (with

Jack Givens Jack "Goose" Givens (born September 21, 1956) is an American former professional basketball player. He played college basketball for the Kentucky Wildcats, earning consensus second-team All-American honors. He led the team to the 1978 NCAA Men' ...

as analyst). However, that game was postponed due to a

chicken pox Chickenpox, also known as varicella, is a highly contagious disease caused by the initial infection with varicella zoster virus (VZV). The disease results in a characteristic skin rash that forms small, itchy blisters, which eventually scab ...

epidemic on the

campus, so NBC went national with the Louisville @

Kansas Kansas () is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its capital is Topeka, and its largest city is Wichita. Kansas is a landlocked state bordered by Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the ...

game (called by Jay Randolph and Bucky Waters). NBC used Pete Maravich on a few late season games such as DePaul @

on March 1 alongside Don Criqui. Dick Enberg did not call a college basketball game for the 1989–90 season until February 24 ( Georgia Tech @ Notre Dame).

Decline (1990–1998)

With CBS and

gaining strength in the 1990s, all NBC could put together was a 4–5 game package featuring a then-mediocre Notre Dame program. By the 1992–93 season, NBC only broadcast two games, both involving Notre Dame (a February 6 contest against

Duke Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and sovereign princes. As royalty or nobility, they are ran ...

, and a February 13 contest against

). NBC was seeing much more success with its broadcasts of Notre Dame football games than the team's basketball telecasts by this point. On February 22, 1992, Al McGuire called his last game for NBC (

@ Notre Dame). CBS signed McGuire for the NCAA tournament. In the 1993–94 season, NBC only aired one game, which was

@ Notre Dame on February 5. Don Criqui called that particular game alongside John Andariese. As previously mentioned, the season prior, NBC only carried two games,

@ Notre Dame on February 6 (which Don Criqui called with

Quinn Buckner William Quinn Buckner (born August 20, 1954) is an American former professional basketball player and coach. He played collegiate basketball for the Indiana University Hoosiers, and won a national championship in 1976. He was a captain of both ...

) and

@ Notre Dame on February 13. In the meantime, NBC also aired the

Wooden Classic The John R. Wooden Classic was an annual college basketball event hosted by the Honda Center in Anaheim, California. Named after coach John Wooden, the event featured a December neutral-site doubleheader until its final two editions, which were si ...

from 1994 to 1996, as well as occasionally showing non-Notre Dame related games such as those between the

Oklahoma Sooners The Oklahoma Sooners are the athletic teams that represent the University of Oklahoma, located in Norman. The 19 men's and women's varsity teams are called the "Sooners", a reference to a nickname given to the early participants in the Land Run ...

and

Kansas Jayhawks The Kansas Jayhawks, commonly referred to as simply KU or Kansas, are the athletic teams that represent the University of Kansas. KU is one of three schools in the state of Kansas that participate in NCAA Division I. The Jayhawks are also a mem ...

in 1991,

Virginia Cavaliers The Virginia Cavaliers, also known as ''Wahoos'' or ''Hoos'', are the athletic teams representing the University of Virginia, located in Charlottesville. The Cavaliers compete at the NCAA Division I level ( FBS for football), in the Atlantic C ...

and

North Carolina Tar Heels The North Carolina Tar Heels are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The name Tar Heel is a nickname used to refer to individuals from the state of North Carolina, the ''Tar Heel ...

in 1992, Syracuse Orange- West Virginia Mountaineers in 1997 and 1998, and the

Boston College Eagles The Boston College Eagles are the athletic teams that represent Boston College, located in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts. They compete as a member of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I level (Football Bowl Subdivisio ...

and

Georgetown Hoyas The Georgetown Hoyas are the collegiate athletics teams that officially represent Georgetown University, located in Washington, D.C. Georgetown's athletics department fields 23 men's and women's varsity level teams and competes at the National C ...

in 1998. For the 1995 edition of the Wooden Classic, ABC regionally televised the first half of the doubleheader ( Villanova vs.

) with

Roger Twibell Roger Claude Twibell is an American sportscaster, who most recently calling Arkansas State Red Wolves football broadcasts on ESPN+ in 2018. In 2019 he served as a commentator for the international broadcast of the Masters Tournament. He has work ...

and Dick Vitale on the call. At approximately 3:45 pm. Eastern time, NBC broadcast

vs.

for the second half with Don Criqui and Bill Walton on the call. On December 7, 1996, the first game of the Wooden Classic doubleheader (

Utah Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to it ...

vs.

Arizona Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...

) tipped off at 1:45 pm, but NBC joined the action in progress at 2 p.m. for most of the country. This time, Don Criqui and Bill Walton were joined by

Ann Meyers Ann Meyers Drysdale (born Ann Elizabeth Meyers; March 26, 1955) is an American former basketball player and sportscaster. She was a standout player in high school, college, the Olympic Games, international tournaments, and the professional level ...

on commentary. NBC's final men's college basketball broadcast to date was a February 28, 1998 contest between Notre Dame and the

Providence Friars The Providence Friars are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent Providence College, located in Providence, Rhode Island. They compete in the Big East Conference (NCAA Division I) for every sport except for ice hockey, where they compet ...

. NBC continues to maintain a broadcasting relationship with the university as it airs all Notre Dame football home games and select away games.

Coverage on cable and Peacock, Big Ten package (2011-present)

The NBC broadcast network does not currently televise any college basketball games. When

and NBC Universal merged in 2011, college basketball on

was integrated into NBC Sports with the channel's relaunch as NBC Sports Network (NBCSN) on January 1, 2012. In 2012, NBC Sports reached agreements to carry

(CAA) basketball and football on NBCSN and

Comcast SportsNet NBC Sports Regional Networks is the collective name for a group of regional sports networks in the United States that are primarily owned and operated by the NBCUniversal division of the cable television company Comcast. The networks were origina ...

(A-10) basketball on NBCSN, and renewed NBCSN's rights to the

for two additional seasons. By the late-2010s, NBC Sports had lost the CAA and Ivy League to other broadcasters. NBCSN continued its relationship with the A-10, which was most recently renewed in January 2021 under a multi-year deal. 25 regular season games are broadcast per-season, as well as selected games from the

Atlantic 10 men's basketball tournament The Atlantic 10 Conference men's basketball tournament is the conference championship tournament in men's basketball for the Atlantic 10 Conference (A-10). The tournament has been held every year since 1977. It is a single-elimination tournament, ...

. NBCSN shut down at the end of 2021, after which

assumed its A-10 broadcasts (among other sports properties). In August 2022, NBC Sports announced that it had reached a seven-year deal to carry

Big Ten Conference The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference) is the oldest Division I collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representati ...

athletics on its platforms, which will include a package of Big Ten men's and women's basketball games on

Peacock Peafowl is a common name for three bird species in the genera ''Pavo (genus), Pavo'' and ''Afropavo'' within the tribe Pavonini of the family Phasianidae, the pheasants and their allies. Male peafowl are referred to as peacocks, and female pea ...

beginning in the 2023–24 season. Peacock will air up to 47 men's basketball games and 30 women's basketball games per-season (including 32 and 20 intraconference games respectively), as well as the opening night doubleheaders of the men's and women's conference tournaments. On September 15, 2022, NBC also announced that it will televise the Citi Shamrock Classic—an inaugural women's basketball showcase on November 12, 2022, between Notre Dame and

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

. It would mark NBC's first women's college basketball broadcast on its main network. On December 2, 2022, NBC's streaming service

will air the inaugural ''Peacock Classic'' featuring Baylor and Gonzaga, a rematch of the 2021 national championship game.

2021-22 schedule

2022-23 schedule

Announcers

Play-by-play

* Marv Albert * Len Berman * Bob Costas * Don Criqui *

Frank Fallon Frank Fallon (March 20, 1896,–November 29, 1973 in Boston, Massachusetts, aged 77) was a Boston sportscaster who served as a play-by-play announcer for the Boston Braves and was the public address announcer for the Boston Celtics, Boston Brui ...

* Frank Glieber * Curt Gowdy * Tom Hammond * Merle Harmon *

Joel Meyers Joel Meyers is an American sportscaster who is the play-by-play announcer of the New Orleans Pelicans of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He also is the lead host of "Above the Rim", which airs weekdays from 10am-1pm ET on SiriusXM NB ...

* Andy Musser * Jay Randolph * Jim Simpson *

* Barry Tompkins * Fred White

Color commentary

* John Andariese * Elgin Baylor *

James Brown James Joseph Brown (May 3, 1933 – December 25, 2006) was an American singer, dancer, musician, record producer and bandleader. The central progenitor of funk music and a major figure of 20th century music, he is often referred to by the honor ...

Dave Cowens David William Cowens ( ; born October 25, 1948) is an American former professional basketball player and NBA head coach. At , he played the center position and occasionally played power forward. Cowens spent most of his playing career with the Bo ...

Joe Dean Joe Dean (April 26, 1930 − November 17, 2013) is known as "Mr. String Music" and was the voice of Southeastern Conference basketball for most of the 1970-80s. In 2012, he was elected to the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame, as a contri ...

* Bill Enis *

Matt Guokas Matthew George Guokas Jr. (; born February 25, 1944) is an American former professional basketball player and coach. His father, Matt Sr. and uncle, Al, have also played in the NBA. Guokas and his father, Matt Sr., were the first father-son ...

Don Haskins Donald Lee Haskins (March 14, 1930 – September 7, 2008), nicknamed "The Bear", was an American basketball player and coach. He played college basketball for three years under coach Henry Iba at Oklahoma A&M (now Oklahoma State University). He w ...

* Tom Hawkins *

Steve Jones Steve or Steven Jones may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Steve Jones (English presenter) (born 1945), English musician, disk jockey, television presenter, and voice-over artist *Steve Jones (musician) (born 1955), English rock and roll guita ...

* Jerry Lucas * Pete Maravich * Al McGuire *

* Billy Packer * Ross Porter *

Lynn Shackelford Lynn Shackelford (born August 27, 1947) is an American former professional basketball player. A graduate of John Burroughs High School in Burbank, California, Shackelford earned 7 varsity letters in 3 years in basketball, baseball and golf. He w ...

* Jim Simpson * Fred Taylor * Gary Thompson * Jim Valvano * Bill Walton * Bucky Waters *

John Wooden John Robert Wooden (October 14, 1910 – June 4, 2010) was an American basketball coach and player. Nicknamed the Wizard of Westwood, he won ten National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) national championships in a 12-year period as head ...

Studio

* Bryant Gumbel *

* Al McGuire * Tim Ryan

Commentator pairings

As previously mentioned, NBC and TVS were partners in televising college basketball from 1975 to 1983. Typically on Saturdays, NBC and TVS would broadcast a regional slate of college basketball from the various conferences.

References

External links

* {{College Basketball on NBC 1969 American television series debuts 1998 American television series endings Basketball on NBC NBC original programming NBC 1970s American television series 1980s American television series NBC TVS Television Network NBCSN shows Mountain West Conference basketball