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List of National Invitation Tournament postseason broadcasters

From EverybodyWiki Bios & Wiki

The following is an overview and list of the announcers and television networks to broadcast the National Invitation Basketball Tournament (or the NIT).

Early coverage by CBS[edit]

From 1966-1975,[1] CBS provided national television coverage for selected games from the National Invitation Tournament. Before 1975, the NCAA only allowed one team per conference to play in the NCAA tournament. Therefore, the NIT got many top teams and was considered somewhat comparable in quality to the NCAA men's basketball tournament.

In the early part of this era (circa 1966-1968), CBS carried one game on the opening Saturday and the championship game the following Saturday. By 1969, CBS moved their first round coverage from Saturday to Sunday to avoid conflicting with the NCAA tournament regional finals coverage on NBC. In the process, the NIT title game went head-to-head with the NCAA consolation game. The same would be true on both counts for the next three years.

In 1973, CBS expanded their NIT coverage to four games. The March 17 game (Notre Dame-USC) went up against an NCAA regional final on NBC. Meanwhile, the March 24 game (Notre Dame-North Carolina) went up against the first NCAA Final Four game.

In 1974, CBS covered went from covering four to covering five games in the NIT. The March 16 doubleheader (Md E Shore-Manhattan and Purdue-North Carolina) went up against the NCAA regional finals on NBC. Meanwhile, the March 23 doubleheader (Purdue-Jacksonville and Utah-Boston College) went head-to-head against the NCAA Final Four.

In 1975, CBS did not cover any NIT games on the first weekend, but did carry the semifinals and finals. The March 22 doubleheader (Providence-St John's and Princeton-Oregon) went head-to-head with the NCAA regional finals.

Date Network Play-by-play announcer Color analyst(s)
1966 CBS Tom Kelly Frank Gifford
1967[2]
1968 Don Criqui Hallie Bryant
1969 Pat Summerall
1970
1971
1972
1973
1974 Rod Hundley
1975 Sonny Hill

ESPN's coverage[edit]

Date Network Play-by-play announcer Color analyst(s)
1989 ESPN Jim Kelly Bill Raftery
1990 Mike Patrick
1991 Tim Brando Larry Conley
1992 Sean McDonough Bill Raftery
1993 Ron Franklin
1994 Brad Nessler
1995
1996 Bob Carpenter
1997 Ron Franklin
1998
1999
2000
2001 Bill Raftery & Jimmy Dykes
2002 Fran Fraschilla
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008 Bill Raftery & Fran Fraschilla
2009
2010
2011 ESPN2 John Saunders
2012 ESPN Mike Patrick
2013 Bob Wischusen Bill Raftery & Bob Knight
2014 John Saunders Fran Fraschilla & Bob Knight
2015 Bob Wischusen
2016 Fran Fraschilla
2017
2018 ESPN2
2019 ESPN
2020 Canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic
2021 ESPN John Schriffen Fran Fraschilla
2022
2023
2024 Mike Corey

Radio[edit]

ESPN's 10-year contract not only gave ESPN the entire NIT on TV. It also gave ESPN Radio the rights to provide national radio broadcasts for the NIT during that 10-year span. When the NCAA acquired the NIT, the NIT radio rights became part of the NCAA Radio Network contract and moved over to Dial Global, which would rename themselves Westwood One in September 2013.

Date Network Play-by-play announcer Color analyst(s)
2002 ESPN Radio Doug Brown Bob Valvano
2003
2004
2005 Marc Kestecher
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012[3] Dial Global Bob Papa Steve Lappas
2013[4] Brad Sham
2014[5] Westwood One John Tautges Kelly Tripucka
2015[6] Dave Ryan
2016 Scott Graham
2017 Brandon Gaudin
2018 Lance Medow
2019 Jon Crispin
2020 Canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic
2021 No broadcast due to the tourney being in Texas instead of New York
2022 Westwood One Brandon Gaudin Ben Braun
2023 J. B. Long Casey Jacobsen
2024 Cooper Boardman Will Perdue

References[edit]

  1. A complete TV schedule with announcers for the NIT from 1966-1975
  2. "Observations on the 1967 NIT final footage on MSG Vault". Classic Sports TV and Media. 1 July 2012. Retrieved 29 March 2013.
  3. "Stanford vs. Minnesota; Men's NIT Championship Game". Westwood One. 29 March 2012. Retrieved 29 March 2012.
  4. "Baylor vs. Iowa; Men's NIT Championship Game". Westwood One. 4 April 2013. Retrieved 4 April 2013.
  5. "Minnesota vs. SMU; Men's NIT Championship Game". Westwood One. 3 April 2014. Retrieved 3 April 2014.
  6. "Men's NIT Championship Game". Westwood One. 2 April 2015. Retrieved 2 April 2015.


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