The NBA on NBC is back, so can we get a Jefferson Pilot-themed broadcast, please?

After a 23-year hiatus, the NBA on NBC returns tonight to tip off the 2025-26 season. The network is going all out to celebrate, from hiring Michael Jordan as a special contributor to bringing John Tesh on the Today Show for a live performance of “Roundball Rock.” For anyone who watched basketball in the 1990s, there are few things as iconic as that theme song, which immediately conjures memories of the Chicago Bulls and Los Angeles Lakers dynasties.

NBC is betting big on basketball, airing 100 regular-season games and a good chunk of the postseason, including the Western Conference Finals, on the main network and its streaming app, Peacock. With ESPN and Amazon Prime also competing for viewers now that TNT is out, the network decided to lean in on nostalgia by resurrecting the “NBA on NBC” brand, and wisely so. The NBA will never dominate the ratings like the NFL, but I bet a fair number of casual fans will tune in tonight for the doubleheader, if only to hear the intro and see Jordan, whom Mike Tirico will interview during halftime of the first game, the Houston Rockets vs. the Oklahoma City Thunder.

College basketball, specifically the SEC, should follow suit. Since Mark Pope was hired, ’90s nostalgia has taken over the Bluegrass, with fans shelling out money for throwback/vintage gear, Rick Pitino coming back into the fold, and the famous denim uniforms set to make their debut (return?). As we embark on the 30th anniversary of Kentucky’s 1996 championship run, I want more, specifically, a Jefferson Pilot-themed broadcast for at least one SEC game.

Credit for this idea belongs to Adam Luckett, who has been banging the drum for Jefferson Pilot’s return on KSBoard. For our younger readers, Jefferson Pilot/Raycom Sports was home to SEC Basketball and Football in the ’90s and ’00s. From the three Daves (Dave Rowe, Dave Neal, and Dave Baker) to Tom Hammond, Larry Conley, Brad Nessler, Joe Dean Jr., Mike Gminiski, and Bob Kesling, Jefferson-Pilot’s broadcasts were chicken soup for a generation of SEC fans’ souls.

2008 marked the final season in which SEC games were broadcast by Jefferson Pilot Sports, Lincoln Financial Sports, and Raycom. In 2014, the SEC Network was launched, bringing with it around-the-clock coverage of the conference thanks to ESPN’s massive deal with the league. Anytime you want to know anything about the SEC, all you have to do is turn your TV to the SEC Network or pull it up on the ESPN app, which is crazy to those of us who used to stay up late to watch Kentucky Football games on tape delay. All that coverage is amazing, comprehensive, and glossy, which is why sometimes, all you want is a grainy feed with Tom Hammond and Larry Conley on the call and an intro that sounds like it’s coming through a tin can.

The timing couldn’t be better. Retro broadcasts are all the rage right now, with CBS recently celebrating the 50th anniversary of The NFL Today with a throwback edition of the pregame show, complete with broadcasters in costume, throwback uniforms, and Brent Musberger. The SEC is coming off its best basketball season yet, with a record 14 teams making the NCAA Tournament. The Kentucky-Arkansas rivalry is back, thanks to John Calipari’s move to Fayetteville. The Razorbacks got the best of the Cats in Calipari’s return to Rupp last season. This year, Kentucky heads to Fayetteville on Saturday, Jan. 31, for a 6:30 p.m. showdown at Bud Walton Arena.

College Gameday will probably go to Fayetteville for that matchup, with Jay Bilas and Dan Shulman on the call for ESPN. It’s a game so big that ESPN could easily do an alternate broadcast on SEC Network+ with Dave Baker (who still does the official UK pregame show) and Dave Neal, right? Bring Joe Dean Jr., too, to deliver his dad’s famous “String Music” catchphrase. The Florida games are big too, the first matchup in Gainesville slotted for ABC on Feb. 14 and the regular-season finale on ESPN or ESPN2 on March 7. You’re telling me we can’t get an alternate broadcast for a showdown of the two SEC favorites, one of which is the defending national champs?

If that’s too much, just give us a Tuesday or Wednesday night game against a lower-tier opponent, which honestly feels more appropriate. Kentucky hosts Texas at 7 p.m. ET on Wednesday, Jan. 21. It’s already slotted for the SEC Network. By then, the denim unis will probably have made their debut, so Pope won’t mind bringing them out again. The old Civic Center Shops are long gone, but we can hold a pop-up in the Central Bank Center, with booths for Kentucky Korner, Old Kentucky Chocolates, Yesterday’s, and Mr. Kan’s Chinese Restaurant, and the KSR Pregame Show set up in the middle. We can even checker the Rupp Arena seats with t-shirts of their old colors: yellow, blue, and orange.

Who’s with me? I’ll even buy the Dr. Pepper and Golden Flake.