Say hello to your new college basketball friend. Russell Crowe/Tony K/Jaws accessory set not included.

I've held forth on the relative merits of Dick Vitale in this space before. Despite all the great the guy has done for the game -- and the fact that he's a great guy himself -- modern-day Dick Vitale is a detriment to ESPN's college basketball broadcast team. He detracts from the experience. It's sad, but true.

Which is why college fans are, if only for one night, getting an incredible bargain from ESPN's production staff. They're switching the NBA and NCAA hoops announcers, meaning Vitale and Dan Schulman will be shipped off to call the NBA. In the trade, us NCAA people get Jeff Van Gundy, Mark Jackson and Mike Tirico. That is not a fair trade. At all. But I'll take it.

Why the change? ESPN says it's seeking to "cultivate hoops fans." OK then:

ESPN will announce today that for a Jan. 7 basketball doubleheader, its on-air crews will swap roles. NBA announcers Jeff Van Gundy, Mark Jackson and Mike Tirico will call Duke-Davidson, followed by Dick Vitale — who called ESPN NBA games in the early 1980s — and Dan Shulman on a Denver Nuggets-Miami Heat NBA game. ESPN executive Norby Williamson says it's "a natural progression to make connections between college and the NBA. We try to cultivate basketball fans." So, can we expect more on-air swaps? "We never say no to anything," he says.

OK, I'll admit it: ESPN creeps me out a little bit. Beyond the obvious profits to be made, why is it the network's job to "cultivate basketball fans?" Don't basketball fans already exist in droves? Is it not a popular sport, at least in the U.S.? This isn't soccer, you know? Plenty of people will watch without the weird gimmicks and unprovoked evangelism.

Anyway. For one merciful night, no Dick Vitale. Screw the means -- that's an end we can all agree on.

Related: College Basketball Media