Dick Vitale to Call 1st CBB Game in Nearly 2 Years for Cooper Flagg, Duke vs. Clemson

Beloved college basketball announcer Dick Vitale is famously known for using the term "Diaper Dandy" to describe star freshmen players.

He will get to see arguably the best Diaper Dandy in the entire sport on Saturday when he returns to broadcasting for the first time in approximately two years.

ESPN announced Monday that Vitale will join Dave O'Brien and Cory Alexander at Clemson's Littlejohn Coliseum for the Tigers' game against star freshman Cooper Flagg and the Duke Blue Devils.

The announcement came shortly after Vitale released a message on social media inspiring others to believe in themselves:

As ESPN noted, Vitale's last game assignment was on the international broadcast of the men's national championship game between UConn and San Diego State in April 2023.

He has dealt with four different types of cancer during the last 3.5 years and most recently underwent surgery in the summer of 2024 when cancer was shown during a biopsy of a lymph node in his neck. However, he revealed he was cancer-free on Jan. 8.

ESPN noted he was diagnosed with lymphoma in 2021 and vocal cord cancer in 2023 after he previously announced he was cancer free in 2022. He then announced he was cancer-free again in November 2023.

Vitale was initially scheduled to return for the Jan. 25 game between Duke and Wake Forest, but that was postponed because he was hospitalized following a fall in his home.

Yet he announced on social media that he was "making great strides" and didn't require surgery.

His return comes for a critical ACC game between the first-place Blue Devils and second-place Tigers. Duke is undefeated at 11-0 in conference play, while Clemson is right behind at 10-1.