''College Basketball on USA'' is the de facto title for the USA Network's coverage of NCAA men's basketball. During the 1980s, USA's telecasts were produced in association with Mizlou TV Sports. Beginning in 2022, a majority of Atlantic 10 basketball games that previously aired on

NBCSN NBCSN was an American sports television television channel, channel owned by the NBC Sports Group division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It originally launched on July 1, 1995, as the Outdoor Life Network (OLN), which was dedicated t ...

will air on USA Network. These games will be 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 ...

History

1980s coverage overview

USA aired games from the Big East Conference leading up to their coverage of the 1983 Big East tournament. USA also had rights to games from the Big Ten, ACC, and the old

Metro Conference The Metropolitan Collegiate Athletic Conference, popularly known as the Metro Conference, was an NCAA Division I athletics conference, so named because its six charter members were all in urban metropolitan areas, though its later members did n ...

. Regular season games aired on Thursday nights or Saturdays under the title of ''College Basketball...'' followed by the corresponding year during the season such as ''College Basketball '87''. The games were subject to local blackouts. By this time, USA was airing games involving the Southeastern Conference (such as the Mississippi and Mississippi State) and games featuring UTEP and Wyoming. USA also aired the

National Invitation Tournament The National Invitational Tournament (NIT) is a men's college basketball tournament operated by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). Played at regional sites and traditionally at Madison Square Garden (Final Four) in New York City ...

including the finals from

1985 The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** The Internet's Domain Name System is created. ** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a ...

–

1988 File:1988 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The oil platform Piper Alpha explodes and collapses in the North Sea, killing 165 workers; The USS Vincennes (CG-49) mistakenly shoots down Iran Air Flight 655; Australia celebrates its Australian ...

. Howard David, Bill Raftery, Steve Grad, and Duane Dow were among the commentators used by USA. USA also employed Al Albert, Mal Campbell, Eddie Doucette, Jim Karvellas, Al Trautwig, Pat Scanlon,

Bruce Beck Bruce David Beck (born September 18, 1956) is the lead sports anchor at WNBC. He is in his 25th year with News 4 New York. He is also the host of Sports Final, WNBC's popular Sunday night sports show. Beck is the host and sideline reporter for N ...

, and Pete Maravich. Sometimes, the play-by-play announcers would work with each other and even do color. On January 24, 1984, Al Albert, working for USA network, called what

Syracuse Syracuse may refer to: Places Italy *Syracuse, Sicily, or spelled as ''Siracusa'' *Province of Syracuse United States *Syracuse, New York **East Syracuse, New York **North Syracuse, New York *Syracuse, Indiana * Syracuse, Kansas *Syracuse, Miss ...

fans call the greatest game in the

Carrier Dome The JMA Wireless Dome, originally the Carrier Dome (1980–2022) and colloquially called "The Dome," or more recently "The JMA Dome," is a domed sports stadium in Syracuse, New York. Located on the campus of Syracuse University in the University ...

ever.

faced

Boston College Boston College (BC) is a private Jesuit research university in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts. Founded in 1863, the university has more than 9,300 full-time undergraduates and nearly 5,000 graduate students. Although Boston College is classifie ...

, and the teams were tied 73-73 after a missed free throw by Boston College's Martin Clark. Sean Kerins passed the rebound to

Pearl Washington Dwayne Alonzo "Pearl" Washington (January 6, 1964 – April 20, 2016) was an American professional basketball player. He was a , guard. Early life Washington grew up in the Brownsville section of the New York City borough of Brooklyn, where ...

who took three steps and made a half court shot to win the game. Albert's call lives in infamy as The Greatest Play By Play Call in the Carrier Dome ever: "Washington, two seconds, OHHHH! 'The Pearl' hits it ..at midcourt." Syracuse University basketball fans call that the greatest nine words in Syracuse history.

2020s coverage overview

Currently

holds the rights to 35 men's and women's Atlantic 10 basketball games. As previously mentioned, beginning with 2022, the majority of these games will air on the USA Network.

2022 schedule

References

External links