Dick Vitale, ESPN's longtime college basketball analyst, announced Monday that he will rest his voice for the rest of the season in preparation for planned vocal surgery. He stated that he intends to return to broadcasting at the start of the 2022-23 season, which would be his 43rd for the network.

Vitale, who returned to work in November after battling two types of cancer in 2021, said on ESPN's Front Row that he was diagnosed with Dysplasia and ulcerated lesions of the vocal cords and will require surgery. "An even longer T.O., Baby!" will be required. "He'll have to shut down for the rest of the season," he wrote, referring to one of his famous phrases.

“So, while I’m heartbroken that I won’t appear on ESPN for the rest of this season, I’m encouraged by the progress,” he wrote. “In fact, it appears that by resting my voice for the past three weeks, I’ve reduced the inflammation by 60 percent. Let’s hope the added rest will help it heal some more, and things will look even better when I go for my next follow-up visit on Feb. 16. Once the inflammation heals, we will set a date for surgery.”

In 2008, Vitale was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame as an unabashed fan of the game and a former coach who has called over 1000 games for ESPN and ABC. His emotional return to ESPN to announce the Gonzaga-UCLA game in November was as much talked about as the showdown between the nation's top two teams.

In 2021, the 82-year-old underwent surgery to remove melanoma, but was diagnosed with lymphoma two weeks afterwards. "No doubt these past five months have been emotionally and physically frustrating," he wrote today, thanking his physicians and " the calls, texts, and social media expressions of encouragement from friends, colleagues, fans, media and members of my ESPN family."