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-Villanova (at Raleigh), NBC, 2 pm, Curt Gowdy, Charlie Jones
St John's-Princeton (at Raleigh), NBC, 4 pm, Curt Gowdy, Charlie Jones
* Miami-Ohio-Notre Dame (at Carbondale), NBC, 4 pm, Jim Simpson
Thu 3/13 (regional semis) - local
* Davidson-St John's (at College Park), TVS, 7 pm, ??, ??
* North Carolina-Duquesne (at College Park), TVS, 9 pm, ??, ??
Marquette-Kentucky (at Madison), TVS, 8 pm, Connie Alexander, John Ferguson
Purdue-Miami-Ohio (at Madison), TVS, 10 pm, Connie Alexander, John Ferguson
* Drake-Texas A&M (at Manhattan), TVS, 8 pm, ??, ??
* Colorado St-Colorado (at Manhattan), TVS, 10 pm, ??, ??
* Santa Clara-Weber St (at Los Angeles), TVS, 10 pm, Dick Enberg, ??
* UCLA-New Mexico St (at Los Angeles), TVS, midnite, Dick Enberg, ??
Sat 3/15 (regional finals) - doubleheader (all regionalized)
North Carolina-Davidson (at College Park), NBC, 2 pm, Jim Simpson, Kyle Rote
Purdue-Marquette (at Madison), NBC, 4 pm, Curt Gowdy, Pat Hernon
Drake-Colorado St (at Manhattan), NBC, 4 pm, Jay Randolph, Bill Enis
UCLA-Santa Clara (at Los Angeles), NBC, 6 pm, Charlie Jones, Ross Porter
Thu 3/20 (Final Four) - single game (regionalized)
North Carolina-Purdue (at Louisville), NBC, 7:30 pm, Curt Gowdy, Jim Simpson
UCLA-Drake (at Louisville), NBC, 9:30 pm, Curt Gowdy, Jim Simpson
Sat 3/22 (consolation/championship)
North Carolina-Drake (at Louisville), NBC, 2 pm, Jim Simpson, Curt Gowdy
UCLA-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-Kansas, CBS, 1:30 pm, Don Criqui, Pat Summerall
Sat 3/22 - championship
Temple-Boston College, 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.