Even the college basketball world took a momentary pause to digest Kate Middleton's cancer announcement on Friday ... with CBS interrupting its NCAA tournament coverage to bring the news to fans.
With around five minutes remaining in the FAU vs. Northwestern game ... Norah O'Donnell came on the screen to inform CBS' audience that Middleton had just revealed she's been diagnosed with cancer.
The broadcast then played around 30 seconds of Middleton's video explaining her prognosis.
BREAKING THE NEWS X / @KensingtonRoyal
O'Donnell spoke on camera for roughly a minute more .