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03/16 15:00 CDT Dick Vitale and Charles Barkley will call their first NCAA
Tournament game together
Dick Vitale and Charles Barkley will call their first NCAA Tournament game
together
By JOE REEDY
AP Sports Writer
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."
___
AP March Madness bracket: https://apnews.com/hub/ncaa-mens-bracket and
coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/march-madness
