Charles Barkley, Dick Vitale receive backlash for Texas-NC State First Four broadcast
By Andrew Olson
Published:
Charles Barkley and Dick Vitale are broadcasting icons. Putting them together, however, on the broadcast of a First Four game in Dayton, did not appear to be the right call.
Barkley and Vitale joined Brian Anderson for Tuesday night’s Texas vs. NC State First Four game in Dayton. Fan and media reaction was largely negative to the 2 big names, as they didn’t seem interested in calling the NCAA Tournament game being played in front of them.
Here’s a small sample of the Barkley-Vitale reaction on social media:
A hoarse Brian Anderson tries to call Texas-NC State around Dick Vitale and Charles Barkley's NCAA basketball talk. Vitale attempts to get back on track after several minutes of NIL and transfer portal discussion. "Guys, we got a game going on!" pic.twitter.com/0B4hmQ8Khd
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) March 18, 2026
Brain Anderson trying to announce the game “NC State collects the rebound”
— Garrett Armbrust (@4thandsaturday) March 18, 2026
Charles Barkley “NIL is ruining college athletics!”
Brian Anderson “Texas takes a three and misses”
Charles Barkley “I’ve really been loving the NHL this season, man Texas should be up”
With all due respect, the Dick Vitale/Charles Barkley announcer booth is reaching new levels of unlistenable.
— Matthew Winick (@matthewwinick) March 18, 2026
They want us to treat the First Four like it’s part of the “real” bracket.
— Stewart Mandel (@slmandel) March 18, 2026
Meanwhile, 9 minutes left in a close game and Barkley/Vitale are just making picks for games on Thursday/Friday.
Unclear if they are watching the game.
Barkley and Vitale are using our March Madness game as a vehicle for their podcast
— Max Hofmeyer (@hoffy8121) March 18, 2026
Just turned volume up on this Texas-NC State game and Barkley and Vitale literally just spent two full minutes talking about other teams and games.
— Corey Clark (@Corey_Clark) March 18, 2026
Now they’re talking about the portal and fired coaches.
Crazy pairing those two together.
Not sure we need a Charles Barkley and Dick Vitale broadcast again.
— Will Thomas (@wthomassports) March 18, 2026
Really like them both but this feels like a failed experiment
Texas and NC State are fighting for their seasons and I can’t remember the last comment that was made about the game
Barkley & Vitale haven’t talked about the game in front of them for 15+ mins
— Locked On Wolfpack (@LO_Wolfpack) March 18, 2026
Tonight on TruTV:
— William Galloway (@Wm_Galloway) March 18, 2026
Brian Anderson: “rebound by Vokietaitas, that’s his 5th of the half”
Charles Barkley: “these players aren’t worth a fraction of what they’re being paid”
Dick Vitale: *makes reference to a blue blood school*
Anderson: “here’s Williams with it top of the key”
That's great that Charles Barkley and Dick Vitale get to do an NCAA tournament game together but would it kill them to talk about the game and not ramble about the transfer portal/NIL?
— stephen thompson (@stephenethom) March 18, 2026
I’m sorry, but Charles Barkley and Dick Vitale should’ve been a simulcast. I would enjoy listening to a podcast of them just yapping, but they’ve been talking like it’s a 20-point game.
— TSB (@TSBBracketology) March 18, 2026
And with Brian Anderson clearly under the weather, this broadcast is an absolute disaster.
Barkley and Vitale previously worked together on the broadcast for Indiana vs. Kentucky on Dec. 13.
Andrew writes about sports to fund his love of live music and collection of concert posters. He strongly endorses the Hall of Fame campaigns of Fred Taylor and Andruw Jones.
