On December 15, 1973, ABC aired what is considered to be the first[2] telecast of a regular season college basketball game by a major broadcast network.
A feature of the afternoon episode of the program, ABC's Wide World of Sports, the game was a special presentation rather than the start of regular telecasts.,[3] and matched UCLA and North Carolina State in St. Louis).
This action greatly upset Chesley, who wound up selling the rights to the ACC Tournament final to ABC.
The game, called by Keith Jackson and Bill Russell, marked the first time Duke University's Blue Devils basketball team played on national television.
ABC's early regular season broadcasts were, for the most part, technically time buys from organizations such as Raycom[15][16][17][18] (particularly, around 1990–91) or sister network ESPN.
[21] In the 1987–88 season, ABC did not air any college basketball games during the last three weekends of February due to the network's coverage of the Winter Olympics.
[33][34] The first SEC game to air on ABC under this new agreement will be Sunday, February 16, 2025 which will feature a women's college basketball doubleheader.
ABC will also air an Atlantic Coast Conference men's basketball game during the 2024–25 season between Stanford and Duke, along with the Jimmy V Women's Classic between NC State and Louisville.
[35][36] Currently, Dan Shulman and Jay Bilas are the primary announcing team for men's college basketball, while Beth Mowins and Rebecca Lobo are the primary announcing team for women's college basketball, with Ryan Ruocco joining Lobo during the NCAA Tournament.
In the 1992–93 season, Terry Gannon filled in on a few games for Valvano, who at the time was battling cancer, which would ultimately claim his life in April 1993.
From 2010 until 2014, when ABC only aired the SEC men's basketball tournament, Brad Nessler and Jimmy Dykes served as the broadcast team.