1968-69 College Basketball Season
Originally written by Jeff Haggar
Regular Season
Sat 1/18/69, Houston @ #1 UCLA, TVS, 11:30 pm, Dick Enberg, Rod Hundley
- This was a rematch of the 1968 game. TVS often used this late night time slot for its nationally syndicated games which were played on the west coast.
NCAA Tournament
Sat 3/8 (first round) - doubleheader (first game national, second game regionalized)
Davidson vs Villanova (at Raleigh), NBC, 2 pm, Curt Gowdy, Charlie Jones
St John's vs Princeton (at Raleigh), NBC, 4 pm, Curt Gowdy, Charlie Jones
* Miami-Ohio vs Notre Dame (at Carbondale), NBC, 4 pm, Jim Simpson
Sat 3/8 (first round) - local
* Marquette vs Murray St (at Carbondale), TVS, 6 pm, ??, ??
* Duquesne vs St Joseph's (at Kingston, RI), TVS, 7:30 pm, ??, ??
* Colorado St vs Dayton (at Fort Worth), TVS, 8 pm, ??, ??
* Weber St vs Seattle (at Las Cruces, NM), TVS, 9 pm, Connie Alexander, ??
* Texas A&M vs Trinity (at Fort Worth), TVS, 10 pm, ??, ??
* New Mexico St vs BYU (at Las Cruces, NM), TVS, 11 pm, Connie Alexander, ??
Thu 3/13 (regional semis) - local
* Davidson vs St John's (at College Park), TVS, 7 pm, ??, ??
* North Carolina vs Duquesne (at College Park), TVS, 9 pm, ??, ??
Marquette vs Kentucky (at Madison), TVS, 8 pm, Connie Alexander, John Ferguson
Purdue vs Miami-Ohio (at Madison), TVS, 10 pm, Connie Alexander, John Ferguson
* Drake vs Texas A&M (at Manhattan), TVS, 8 pm, ??, ??
* Colorado St vs Colorado (at Manhattan), TVS, 10 pm, ??, ??
* Santa Clara vs Weber St (at Los Angeles), TVS, 10 pm, Dick Enberg, ??
* UCLA vs New Mexico St (at Los Angeles), TVS, midnite, Dick Enberg, ??
Sat 3/15 (regional finals) - doubleheader (all regionalized)
North Carolina vs Davidson (at College Park), NBC, 2 pm, Jim Simpson, Kyle Rote
Purdue vs Marquette (at Madison), NBC, 4 pm, Curt Gowdy, Pat Hernon
Drake vs Colorado St (at Manhattan), NBC, 4 pm, Jay Randolph, Bill Enis
UCLA vs Santa Clara (at Los Angeles), NBC, 6 pm, Charlie Jones, Ross Porter
Thu 3/20 (Final Four) - single game (regionalized)
North Carolina vs Purdue (at Louisville), NBC, 7:30 pm, Curt Gowdy, Jim Simpson
UCLA vs Drake (at Louisville), NBC, 9:30 pm, Curt Gowdy, Jim Simpson
Sat 3/22 (consolation/championship)
North Carolina vs Drake (at Louisville), NBC, 2 pm, Jim Simpson, Curt Gowdy
UCLA vs Purdue (at Louisville), NBC, 4 pm, Curt Gowdy, Jim Simpson
* any help on missing announcers appreciated
- 1969 was the first year that NBC covered the NCAA tournament (which consisted of just 25 teams at this time).
- NBC actually aired the consolation game nationally and the national semis regionally (which were on Thu nite).
- I am unsure whether Simpson worked solo on 3/8 or whether he had a color commentator alongside.
- Note: The ACC tournament final was held on the night of 3/8 (i.e. after the NCAA tournament began that afternoon!). The ACC winner was pre-slotted with a bye into the regional semis.
NIT
Sun 3/16 - first round
Boston College vs Kansas (at New York), CBS, 1:30 pm, Don Criqui, Pat Summerall
Sat 3/22 - championship
Temple vs Boston College (at New York), CBS, 2 pm, Don Criqui, Pat Summerall
- CBS moved its first round coverage from Saturday to Sunday to avoid conflicting with the NCAA tournament regional finals coverage on NBC. The NIT title game went head-to-head with the NCAA consolation game. The same would be true on both counts for the next 3 years as well.