Men's college basketball on television

Men's College basketball on television includes the broadcasting of college basketball games, as well as pre- and post-game reports, analysis, and human-interest stories. Within the United States, the college version of basketball annually garners high television ratings.

Televising the games allows alumni to follow their alma mater's team, as well as competing schools and top-ranked schools nationally. Not all games are televised. Coverage is dependent on negotiations between the broadcaster and the college basketball conference or team. In general, major programs will be televised more often than smaller programs. The televised games may change from year-to-year depending on which teams are having a strong season, although some traditional rivalry games are broadcast each year. Major match-ups between top-ranked teams or major rivals are often broadcast nationally. Some games are traditionally associated with a specific event or holiday, and viewing the game itself can become a holiday tradition for fans.

History

The first televised college basketball game occurred during the "experimental" era of television's broadcasting history, when a game between Fordham University and the University of Pittsburgh was broadcast on February 28, 1940, from Madison Square Garden.^[1][2]

Broadcast rights

Networks

In addition, some regional syndicators broadcast games on over the air television. Most notably Raycom Sports, and ESPN Plus syndicate their games to broadcast stations.

Raycom in the early 1990s paid ABC $1.8 million for six weeks of network airtime of 26 regional games. The format allowed Raycom to control the games and sell the advertising.^[3]

Cable stations

Regional cable networks have long devoted coverage to one or two conferences. The Pac-12 and Big 12 have had deals with Fox Sports Net since 1996, which airs games on its regional family of networks.

The Mountain West Conference has entered into an arrangement with CBS Sports Network to develop a new regional network called "the Mountain" or "mtn" that is devoted to broadcasting the league's games.^[4] The contract also calls for at least 7 games a year to air on Versus. The Big Ten has a similar regional network, with the Big Ten Network having made its debut in August 2007. Texas has their own deal which created the Longhorn Network in fall of 2011, and the Pac-12 will have their own Pac-12 Network beginning in the fall of 2012. While BYU has BYUtv, it is not a separate deal that created a regional sports network.

ESPN

ESPN has been airing regular season games since 1980, ESPN2 since 1993, ESPNU since 2005, and to a lesser extent ESPN Classic will show fewer games per season.

College basketball has been a staple for nearly the whole history of ESPN. Scotty Connal, then-vice president of the all-sports network in Bristol, Conn., offered Dick Vitale a position, shortly after being fired from the Detroit Pistons. The coverage of college basketball and the early rounds of the NCAA Tournament increased both college basketball and ESPN's credibility.^[5]

Current lineup

By home team

• CBS: ACC, Big 12, Big Ten, Big East, Pac-12, SEC
• ESPN and ESPN2: ACC, Big 12, Big Ten, Big East, MAC, Pac-12, SEC, Sun Belt, WAC, and WCC
• ESPNU, ESPN Classic, ESPN3 and ESPN Plus: ACC, Big 12, Big East, MAC, MEAC, SEC, Sun Belt, SWAC, WAC, and WCC
• FSN: Pac-12 and ACC
• CBS Sports Network: Mountain West Conference, Conference USA, Atlantic 10 Conference, and Patriot League
• MountainWest Sports Network (mtn.): Mountain West Conference
• Big Ten Network: Big Ten
• Raycom Sports: ACC
• BYUtv: BYU, BYU-Hawaii, and West Coast Conference
• Longhorn Network: Texas
• Pac-12 Network: Pac-12
• FX and Fox: Share Pac-12 Men's Tournament beginning in 2012-2013 with ESPN.
• Versus/ NBC Sports Network: 7 games from the MWC regular season as well as the MWC men's and women's basketball championships. Versus also has day games for the inaugural Paradise Jam Tournament.
• HD Net: Night games for the inaugural Paradise Jam Tournament.

Postseason

NCAA Tournament

In 1974, Brent Musburger started using the term March Madness when describing the tournament.^[6]

In 1991, CBS received exclusive rights to the entire tournament for the first time. Previously, ESPN had aired early round games. Beginning in 2011, CBS will share the early tournament rounds with TBS, TNT, and TruTV. The Final Four will alternate between CBS and TBS starting in 2016.^[7]

NIT

The ESPN family of networks currently air the NIT games.

CBI

HDNet carries select games from the CBI.

CiT

Fox College Sports provides all games from the CiT on the FCS Broadband service, except for the championship which is shown live on FCS Pacific.

Announcers

Current lineup (for 2011-12)

CBS (NCAA Tournament) (for 2011-2012}

1. Jim Nantz or Verne Lundquist or Ian Eagle and Clark Kellogg and Steve Kerr
2. Spero Dedes and Greg Anthony
3. Marv Albert and Steve Kerr
4. Verne Lundquist or Ian Eagle and Bill Raftery
5. Gus Johnson and Len Elmore
6. Kevin Harlan, Reggie Miller and Dan Bonner
7. Ian Eagle and Jim Spanarkel
8. Tim Brando and Mike Gminski
9. Spero Dedes and Bob Wenzel

ESPN/ESPN2 (for 2011-12)

1. Brent Musburger, Bob Knight, and Holly Rowe (Big 12 Monday)
2. Sean McDonough, Jay Bilas, and Bill Raftery (Big East Monday)
3. Mike Tirico and Dan Dakich (Big Ten Tuesday)
4. Brad Nessler, Jimmy Dykes, and Shannon Spake (SEC Tuesday)
5. Jon Sciambi and Doug Gottlieb (Tuesday)
6. Dan Shulman, Dick Vitale or Jay Bilas, and Erin Andrews (ACC Thursday and Saturday Primetime)
7. Dave O'Brien and Stephen Bardo (Big Ten Thursday)
8. Brad Nessler or Rece Davis and Hubert Davis, Jimmy Dykes, or Kara Lawson (SEC Thursday)
9. Dave Flemming and Sean Farnham or Miles Simon (WCC Thursday)
10. Dave Pasch and Doris Burke (Big East Saturday)
11. Dave O'Brien and Dan Dakich (Big Ten Saturday)
12. Mark Jones and Fran Fraschilla (Big 12 Saturday)
13. Mike Patrick and Len Elmore (ACC Saturday)
14. Brad Nessler and Jimmy Dykes (SEC Saturday)
15. Carter Blackburn, Clay Matvick, or Dave Neal and Kara Lawson or Joe Dean Jr. (SEC Network)
16. Dave Armstrong, Mitch Holthus, or Brad Sham and Reid Gettys, Jon Sunvold, or Stephen Howard (Big 12 Network)
17. Mike Gleason and Bob Wenzel (Big East Network)

ESPNU (for 2011-12)

1. Dave Flemming and Sean Farnham (Monday Big 12)
2. Rob Stone and Jay Williams (Tuesday ACC)
3. Dari Nowkah and Dino Gaudio (Tuesday SEC)
4. Mitch Holthus and Miles Simon (Wednesday Big 12)
5. Carter Blackburn and LaPhonso Ellis (Wednesday Big East)
6. Anish Shroff and Adrian Branch (Thursday)
7. Doug Sherman and Tim O'Toole (Friday MAAC)
8. Jim Barbar and David Kaplan (Friday Horizon)
9. Mike Crispino and Bob Valvano (Saturday Big East)
10. Beth Mowins and Tim Welsh (Saturday)
11. Adam Amin and Brooke Weisbrod (Saturday)
12. Justin Kutcher and Dickey Simpkins (Saturday)
13. Jon Sciambi, Hubert Davis, and Allison Williams (Sunday ACC)
14. Mitch Holthus and David Kaplan (Sunday MVC)

FSN (for 2011-2012)

1. Steve Physioc, Marques Johnson or Larry Conley, or Steve Kerr and Rebecca Haarlow or Laura Mckeeman
2. Tim Brando or Rich Waltz, Mike Gminski, and Jenn Hildreth
3. Ron Thulin, Dan Bonner, or Miles Simon and Debbie Antonelli
4. Steve Physioc or Joel Meyers, Barry Tompkins or Kevin Calabro, and Don Maclean or Reggie Theus and Courtney Jones
5. Dan Mclaughlin, Chip Caray, or Bob Rathbun, Larry Conley, and Samantha Steele
6. Paul Sunderland, Sean Farnham, Patrick O'Neal, Josh Lewin, Ted Robinson, or Allen Hopkins and Sean Farnham, Michael Cage, or Dan Belluomini
7. Rich Waltz and Mark Wise or Bob Wenzel
8. Dave Barnett and Ernie Kent
9. Paul Sunderland and Brandon Granville and Nischelle Turner

CBS Sports Network (2011-2012)

1. Roger Twibell or Dave Ryan or Tom McCarthy and Pete Gillen
2. Dave Ryan or Don Criqui or Todd Harris or and Steve Lappas
3. Thad Anderson and Rich Zvosec or Greg Anthony
4. Greg Heister and Craig Ehlo and Francis Williams

Big Ten Network (for 2011-2012)

1. Dave Revsine and Dave Miller
2. Brian Anderson and Jim Jackson or Eddie Johnson
3. Eric Collins and Keno Davis
4. Gus Johnson and Shon Morris
5. Chris Denari and Dan Bonner
6. Tom Hart and John Laskowski
7. Wayne Larrivee, Quinn Buckner and Tim Doyle
8. Kevin Kugler, Greg Kelser and Kenyon Murray

Raycom Sports - ACC Network

1. Steve Martin and Mike Gminski
2. Tim Brant and Dan Bonner or Jason Capel
3. Tim Brando or Bob Rathbun and Mike Gminski

BYUtv (for 2011-12)

1. Dave McCann or Jarom Jordan, Steve Cleveland or Blaine Fowler, and Robbie Bullough or Lakia Holmes (BYU and WCC Tournament)
2. Lad Panis and Scott Lowe (BYU-Hawaii)

WAC Sports Network^[8]

1. Rich Celini or Dave Harbison and Dave Bollwinkel
2. Dave Harbison or Guy Haberman and Bob Donewald

Southland Conference Television Network

1. Lincoln Rose and Jim Haller

Famous calls or catchphrases

• "You are looking live at (insert stadium or arena)!" – Brent Musburger
• "It's Awesome Baby!" – Dick Vitale
• "(any team) will go man-to-man" - Bill Raftery

References

External links

• 1968-1981 College Basketball TV history