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🏒 Bettman sounds off. After a strong Winter Olympics for American hockey, NHL commissioner Gary Bettman has been on quite the press tour. Over the weekend, Bettman joined The Varsity podcast at Puck, where he said the league is not looking to consolidate its local, in-market game rights. Bettman also expressed hope that Paramount’s acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery would be “very good” for the NHL.

🏎️ Fox IndyCar fail. Fox’s broadcast of the Good Ranchers 250 IndyCar race this weekend in Phoenix was heavily criticized by fans online, especially the network’s strange decision to leave the leaderboard off the screen for long stretches of the race.

🇺🇸 UFC panic. The highly anticipated UFC 326 event coming up in June at the White House has already suffered a setback, as Dana White announced at a press event that one of the fights on the yet-to-be announced card has fallen through.

🏀 Fratello, Davis honored. This year’s Curt Gowdy Media Award honorees at the Basketball Hall of Fame will be headlined by former NBC analyst Mike Fratello and CBS college hoops commentator Seth Davis.

Spring means basketball. And because we are in the NBA and WNBA’s latest broadcast rights packages, basketball will feel very different on television this spring.

Networks are still getting settled with their new announcing rosters, but there’s not much more time to tinker. The NCAA tournaments start next week, and the stretch run of the NBA season is here.

If you’ve missed the musical chairs or want to know who to have an ear out for while you watch basketball the next couple of months, here are 9 names to track:

Prime Video embraced an interesting strategy with its NBA commentators this season, with analysts alternating between the studio and the broadcast booth. While Nash has become a voice of authority in the studio and boasts strong name recognition, it is the booth where he shines.

Nash called last Thursday night’s game between the Lakers and Nuggets alongside Ian Eagle and Stan Van Gundy. He is a producer’s dream. Not only was he the point guard for the game-changing Seven Seconds Or Less Phoenix Suns in the 2000s, but he was also an NBA head coach as recently as 2022.

If any of the retired players are to rise to calling top games at Amazon (which will air a conference finals in alternating years under its NBA deal), it will likely be Nash or Wade.

The former NFL wide receiver has had a rollercoaster last few months at CBS under new Paramount Skydance ownership. Burleson lost two NFL Today teammates, J.J. Watt and Matt Ryan, and suddenly faced rumors that his job was in jeopardy on CBS Mornings.

Then, suddenly, Burleson got a major new opportunity in the NCAA men’s basketball tournament and a vote of approval from CBS management for the morning show. Burleson will fill in as a studio anchor in the early rounds of the tourney before Ernie Johnson takes over for the Final Four. Already a crossover star, Burleson now gets a chance to cover a sport outside his own on the biggest stage.

Williamson did not have much of a runway in her new job before the NCAA women’s basketball tournament. As the new anchor of women’s basketball College GameDay and the tourney studio show, Williamson has big shoes to fill.

Elle Duncan earned high praise for her work in the role over the past several years. So far, Williamson has displayed a similar balance of authority and fun. Joined by returning analysts Andraya Carter and Chiney Ogwumike, Williamson is in a position to succeed.

Rivers caught my attention recently for a video in which he announced he would no longer host his podcast in order to focus on broadcasting. The former Duke and NBA guard said he worried he would not earn the respect of industry figures if he let takes fly on his show.

Instead, Rivers has all his focus on calling games for NBC. The network’s On the Bench crew has operated as its No. 2 booth this season, leaving Rivers and his more experienced partner Robbie Hummel in a prime position to call big games.

In a unique setup, Grady calls NBA games for both NBC and Amazon. As the No. 3 for both networks, Grady may not work deep into the postseason. But he is one of the most talented basketball broadcasters working right now, with a deep base of knowledge and a keen sense of big moments.

Grady deserves to keep climbing the mountaintop and will get more playoff calls than ever before this season to show why.

Malone just started calling games for ESPN the past few weeks, as the Worldwide Leader deals with the loss of suddenly important NBA game analyst Jay Bilas to the slog of March. Likely out of need more than anything, ESPN is turning to Malone for some big calls to close the regular season.

With all the in-season tournament games and lots of early-round playoff inventory, ESPN may need to lead on Malone as its No. 3 color commentator. He is a natural. The recent experience coaching great teams goes a long way, but the same honesty that made Malone great in press conferences is serving him well in the booth as well.

After a remarkably quick rise at TNT the first go-round, becoming a top NBA game analyst by his early 40s, Webber is back on the college side. If he can lean into his connection from the Michigan years and avoid the frustrating generalities that plagued his first stint calling NBA games, Webber can be one of the standouts of the NCAA tournament.

It remains incredible how strong White is as an analyst, given that she doubles as a top WNBA coach, now calling plays for Caitlin Clark in Indiana. But the former point guard-turned-head coach has dabbled with ESPN and the Big Ten Network for years, allowing her to develop chops as a broadcaster.

The result is (in addition to a slight conflict of interest) that NCAA women’s tournament viewers get White’s insights to go with at the best time of year. If she ever gets tired of coaching, White would be an incredible successor to Rebecca Lobo or Debbie Antonelli at the Worldwide Leader.

The Chicago Bulls hosted a takeover by the basketball YouTuber Jesser at a recent home game. The NFL has partnered with iShowSpeed for a live-streamed flag football game the night before the past two Super Bowls. And TikTok just signed a new, broader deal with MLB.

Content creators and streamers are increasingly integral to how fans watch and consume sports.

Emmanuel Morgan of the New York Times joined our podcast, The Play-By-Play, to discuss his reporting on this crossover and where it’s headed from here.

Watch the episode on YouTube, or listen on Spotify/Apple.

Forget the Miami Ohio debate, Bruce Pearl wants two (2!) MAC teams in the NCAA tournament!

Dick Vitale hammered Kentucky all weekend:

Adam Wainwright may or may not be using the Fox WBC booth to bolster his political bona fides for a future political campaign:

Shaq found out about the Celtics’ seventh man on Sunday:

“If you’re not worth a darn, they’re not going to attack you. Some programs are not worth attacking.” - North Carolina GM Michael Lombardi, defending the Tar Heels against the onslaught of bad headlines that have plagued the program since Bill Belichick took over.

“No superstar Caitlin Smith … no Lisa Blunder.” - TNT Sports basketball analyst Bruce Pearl, absolutely nailing his promo for TNT’s broadcast of Iowa women’s hoops.

“…I think your husband is an extremely great example of how you do that, which is just by being freaking normal, just engaging in normal football conversations with me. And it is not about being a weird performative ally.” - Mina Kimes, telling Kylie Kelce why Jason Kelce is such a strong teammate at ESPN.

“…I think if you’re a legitimate basketball fan, if you love hoops and the athleticism and the skill level, then it’s hard not to be an NBA fan.” - CBS and Amazon announcer Ian Eagle, expertly breaking down the differences between pro and college hoops.

The college football recruiting media industry has been engaged in a near-constant Cold War for over a decade, as subscription sites have competed for writers, subscribers, scoops, and overall supremacy. Recently, though, things have been heating up, and it’s palpable.

For those unfamiliar, current On3 and Rivals CEO Shannon Terry effectively created the college football recruiting service industry as we know it, founding all three major players in the ecosystem. For over two decades, Terry has been at the center of the industry, for better or for worse, connecting all the competing sites together through his history with each of them.

Click to read more from Awful Announcing's Kevin Harrish about the strange series of disagreements between 247 Sports and the On3/Rivals conglomerate that Terry currently runs.