1976-77 College Basketball Season
Originally written by Jeff Haggar
Regular Season
Sun 1/2/77, #1 Michigan @ South Carolina, NBC, 1:30 pm, Dick Stockton, Billy Packer
Sun 1/2/77, Houston @ #8 UCLA, NBC, 4 pm, Dick Enberg, John Wooden
Sun 1/9/77, NC State @ #15 Maryland, NBC, 12:30 pm, Dick Enberg, Billy Packer
Sun 1/16/77, #19 Notre Dame @ #11 Marquette, NBC, 1:30 pm, Dick Enberg, Billy Packer
Sun 1/23/77, #10 UCLA @ Notre Dame, NBC, 1:30 pm, Dick Enberg, Billy Packer
Sun 1/30/77, #8 UCLA vs #7 Tennessee (at Atlanta), NBC, 1:30 pm, Dick Enberg, Billy Packer
Sun 2/6/77, #15 Providence @ #9 Louisville, NBC, 1:30 pm (regional), Curt Gowdy, John Wooden
Sun 2/6/77, #6 Marquette @ #12 Cincinnati, NBC, 1:30 pm (regional), Dick Enberg, Billy Packer
Sun 2/13/77, #5 Michigan @ Indiana, NBC, 1:30 pm, Dick Enberg, Billy Packer
Sun 2/20/77, #13 North Carolina @ Virginia, NBC, 1:30 pm (regional), Curt Gowdy, Billy Packer
Sun 2/20/77, Indiana @ Purdue, NBC, 1:30 pm (regional), Dick Enberg, John Wooden
Sun 2/27/77, #10 Louisville @ #9 North Carolina, NBC, 1:30 pm, Dick Enberg, Billy Packer
Sat 3/5/77, #1 San Francisco @ Notre Dame, NBC, 12:30 pm, Dick Enberg, Billy Packer
Sun 3/6/77, #19 Marquette @ #3 Michigan, NBC, 1:30 pm, Dick Enberg, Billy Packer
- For this season, NBC moved the national games to Sundays, starting with a doubleheader on 1/2. NBC provided split-national coverage of two games each on 2/6 and 2/20.
- NBC added a Saturday game on the last weekend of the season to show undefeated San Francisco. That weekend, Packer called 3 ACC tournament games in Greensboro on Thu 3/3, both ACC semis the next night, then went to South Bend to call SF-ND on Sat aft, went back to Greensboro to call the ACC title game that same night, and then went to Ann Arbor to call Marq-Mich the next day.
NCAA Tournament
Sat 3/12 (first round) - doubleheader
Marquette vs Cincinnati (at Omaha), NBC, 2 pm (regional), Marv Albert, Gary Thompson
UCLA vs Louisville (at Pocatello), NBC, 4 pm, Dick Enberg, Billy Packer
UNLV vs San Francisco (at Tucson), NBC, 6 pm (regional), Jim Simpson, Tom Hawkins
other NCAA Productions games
* Utah vs St John's (at Tucson), NCAAProd, 3:30 pm, ??, ??
* So Illinois vs Arizona (at Omaha), NCAAProd, 4:30 pm, ??, ??
* Idaho St vs Long Beach St (at Pocatello), NCAAProd, 6:30 pm, ??, ??
VMI vs Duquesne (at Raleigh), NCAAProd, 7 pm, Jim Thacker, Bones McKinney
Wake Forest vs Arkansas (at Norman), NCAAProd, 7 pm, Jay Randolph, Frank Fallon
* Kentucky vs Princeton (at Philadelphia), NCAAProd, 7 pm, ??, ??
North Carolina vs Purdue (at Raleigh), NCAAProd, 9:30 pm, Jim Thacker, Bones McKinney
Kansas St vs Providence (at Norman), NCAAProd, 9:30 pm, Jay Randolph, Frank Fallon
* Notre Dame vs Hofstra (at Philadelphia), NCAAProd, 9:30 pm, ??, ??
Sun 3/13 (first round) - doubleheader
Michigan vs Holy Cross (at Bloomington), NBC, 1:30 pm, Curt Gowdy, John Wooden
Syracuse vs Tennessee (at Baton Rouge), NBC, 3:30 pm, Dick Enberg, Billy Packer
other NCAA Productions games
* Detroit vs Middle Tenn St (at Baton Rouge), NCAAProd, 1 pm, ??, ??
UNC Charlotte vs Central Mich (at Bloomington), NCAAProd, 4 pm, Merle Harmon, Fred Taylor
Thu 3/17 (regional semifinals) - one game (regionalized)
North Carolina vs Notre Dame (at College Park), NBC, 8 pm (regional), Dick Enberg, Billy Packer
Michigan vs Detroit (at Lexington), NBC, 8 pm (regional), Curt Gowdy, John Wooden
Marquette vs Kansas St (at Oklahoma City), NBC, 8 pm (regional), Jay Randolph, Gary Thompson
Idaho St vs UCLA (at Provo), NBC, 11 pm (regional - west coast only), Jim Simpson, Tom Hawkins
other NCAA Productions games
* Kentucky vs VMI (at College Park), NCAAProd, 6 pm, ??, ??
* UNC Charlotte vs Syracuse (at Lexington), NCAAProd, 6 pm, ??, ??
* UNLV vs Utah (at Provo), NCAAProd, 8:45 pm, ??, ??
* Wake Forest vs So Illinois (at Oklahoma City), NCAAProd, 10 pm, ??, ??
Sat 3/19 (regional finals) - tripleheader
North Carolina vs Kentucky (at College Park), NBC, 12 pm, Curt Gowdy, John Wooden
UNC Charlotte vs Michigan (at Lexington), NBC, 2 pm (regional), Jim Simpson, Tom Hawkins
Marquette vs Wake Forest (at Oklahoma City), NBC, 2 pm (regional), Jay Randolph, Gary Thompson
UNLV vs Idaho St (at Provo), NBC, 4 pm, Dick Enberg, Billy Packer
Sat 3/26 (Final Four)
Marquette vs UNC Charlotte (at Atlanta), NBC, 2 pm, Dick Enberg, Billy Packer, Curt Gowdy
North Carolina vs UNLV (at Atlanta), NBC, 4 pm, Curt Gowdy, Billy Packer, Dick Enberg
Mon 3/28 (consolation/championship)
UNLV vs UNC Charlotte (at Atlanta), NCAAProd, 5:30 pm, Jim Thacker, Bones McKinney
Marquette vs North Carolina (at Atlanta), NBC, 8 pm, Curt Gowdy, Billy Packer, Dick Enberg
* any help on missing announcers appreciated
- NBC added first round Sunday coverage.
- For the first (and only) time, NBC aired a prime time regional semifinal game in 1977. (Side note: The Detroit coach was Dick Vitale.)
- NBC used a similar announcer pattern on the Final Four as in 1976, except this time NBC used all three on the title game. ESPN Classic re-aired both Marquette Final Four games during an Al McGuire tribute several years ago.
- NCAA Productions covered all games not televised by NBC.