Dick Vitale previously declined a standing invitation from CBS and TNT Sports to call an NCAA Tournament game.
An assist from Charles Barkley is finally making it happen this year.
Vitale and Barkley will call Tuesday night’s second First Four matchup in Dayton, Ohio, between Texas and N.C. State on truTV with Brian Anderson and Jenny Dell. It will be the second game this season that Vitale and Barkley have worked together, after the Indiana-Kentucky
game in December.
“This is happening because he (Barkley) worked a game on ESPN. Now I’m doing back the favor and giving them a game on their network,” Vitale said. “I had been offered chances in the last few years. Sean McManus (the retired chairman of CBS Sports) would call and say, ‘You shouldn’t end your career without doing an NCAA game, and we’ll let you do it on CBS.’ I appreciated it so much, but I told him the one thing I wanted on my resume was that I worked my entire career at ESPN. He was surprised but said he respected that.”
Vitale served as a studio analyst for ESPN’s NCAA Tournament coverage from 1980 through 1990. CBS took over the entire tournament in 1991 and began its partnership with TNT Sports in 2011.
Barkley has been a studio analyst for the NCAA Tournament and Final Four on CBS and TNT Sports since 2011. This is the first year he has appeared on ESPN; "Inside the NBA” airs on the network while being produced by TNT Sports.
“One of my goals for 10, 12 years was to call a game with Dick, and they (their bosses) would never let us do it,” Barkley said. “It was awesome to do Indiana and Kentucky, and I think it’s going to be even better this time. I’ve said this before, other than the Olympics, March Madness is the most impressive thing I have been a part of. It’s incredible.”
The longtime friends jelled quickly during the Dec. 13 game at Rupp Arena, which Kentucky won 72-60. The stakes will be higher for this game, though, with the winner facing sixth-seeded BYU in a West Region first-round matchup in Portland, Oregon.
Vitale said the Kentucky game with Barkley was one of his five greatest moments since becoming a television analyst in 1979. He called ESPN’s first college basketball game on Dec. 5, 1979.
“The thing is, it’s a lot of quick things that you aren’t prepared for," Vitale said. “We just react to the situation. That’s what I like: It’s not scripted at all.”
Barkley — who has contributed to Vitale’s Pediatric Cancer Fund — also appreciates that Vitale has come back to the airwaves after four fights with cancer in three years.
“One of the reasons I want to work with him is because we’re all so lucky because of basketball, and there’s never been a bigger cheerleader of college basketball than him. Basketball has given me everything in my life, so it’s pretty special,” Barkley said. “Sunday was exciting because the bracket was announced, but Tuesday is the official kickoff when the games begin.”
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AP March Madness bracket: https://apnews.com/hub/ncaa-mens-bracket and coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/march-madness
