Sports on the Air
CBS delivers in early rounds
Now that the inevitable debates over whether mid-majors got enough NCAA men’s tournament bids are over, it is time to argue about something that affects all college basketball fans in Western New York as March Madness begins.
Is CBS sending Channel 4 the most desirable early-round games today and Friday when four games are often played simultaneously?
Looking at today’s and Friday’s schedule, CBS has gotten it mostly right. It considers Western New York Big East country.
Channel 4 will carry Connecticut’s game with Chattanooga at around 2:50 p. m. today after carrying the game between LSU and Butler (which played at HSBC Arena in 2007) at 12:20 p. m. That’s fine.
The only questionable decision is at 7:20 tonight when Channel 4 will primarily carry Villanova’s game with American instead of Clemson- Michigan. The Wolverines are coached by John Beilein, the former Canisius College coach with local roots. And that game figures to be a closer one than Villanova-AU.
The tip times for games played simultaneously in the first round today and Friday are staggered by 5-15 minutes in the hopes that CBS will capture many last-second shots. This also enables CBS to move away from blowouts to tighter games. Fans with DirecTV can pay to watch all the games and everyone can watch for free on the Internet.
At around 9:30 tonight, CBS plans to send the Duke-Binghamton game here. No argument there. Duke is a big TV draw and this area has its share of Binghamton students and graduates.
The choice of Friday’s afternoon opener was a no-brainer. Syracuse, a Big East team that features Niagara Falls products Jonny Flynn and Paul Harris, will be seen against Stephen F. Austin at 12:15 p. m. on Channel 4. If the Orange advances, Sunday’s second-round game against the Arizona State-Temple winner will air at 12:10 p. m. on Channel 4.
All four of the second games Friday afternoon involve Eastern teams with local followers. CBS is sending Channel 4 Pitt of the Big East against East Tennessee State. If the Panthers romp, CBS can switch to a game involving West Virginia, Temple or Cornell.
The early Friday night game on Channel 4 features the ACC’s Boston College (which used to be in the Big East) and USC. The smart choice for the nightcap is Siena, which bounced Niagara in the MAAC final, against Ohio State, one of three Big Ten teams playing at that time.
CBS College Sports, which has been on a sports tier, is being placed on a regular digital tier by Time Warner Cable during the tournament. This will enable all TWC regular digital subscribers to see the two first-round games on Channel 130. The first one at 4:45 p. m. today features Mississippi State and Washington. The second one at around 7 p. m. Friday features top-seeded Louisville and Morehead State.
If for no other reason than Clark Kellogg has replaced Billy Packer as the lead analyst alongside play-by-play man Jim Nantz, CBS’ coverage of the Final Four should be more fun this time around. Packer was an excellent X’s and O’s analyst, but humor wasn’t his thing.
While Packer was constantly alert for changes from man-to-man to zone defenses, Kellogg can be in a zone of his own. Occasionally, Kellogg tries too hard to deliver a clever saying but at least he doesn’t take things too seriously.
In a conference call, Nantz sang Kellogg’s praises without criticizing his good friend Packer, who called his last final a year ago and now is doing hoop analysis for a program on Fox Sports Net. Nantz expects the broadcast to be different.
“It’s a different rhythm because everyone has their own style,” said Nantz. “But it has been an easy transition. Clark is so smooth and so prepared and so passionate about the game.”
“It will be an adjustment for folks,” acknowledged Kellogg. “But change is inevitable.”
Kellogg has been replaced in the studio by former UNLV and NBA star Greg Anthony. The opinionated Anthony has had many good moments during the season teaming with Seth Davis and host Greg Gumbel, but he had a head-shaking moment on the conference call.
Discussing Syracuse, Anthony said coach Jim Boeheim played a lot of guys in the Big East Tournament. He actually only went beyond seven players when three fouled out and he couldn’t play with only four.
Davis made the most surprising prediction on CBS’ selection show Sunday, saying that the tournament’s top seed, Louisville, would be upset in its region by Wake Forest.
The Cardinals’ road to the top seed wasn’t exactly a tough one. They won the Big East tournament by beating Providence in the quarterfinals, a tough Villanova team in the semifinals and an exhausted Syracuse team in the championship game.
“Louisville is a great team,” said Davis. “When I look at their body of work I do sort of wonder why would they lose by 33 points to Notre Dame, which didn’t even make the tournament.”
Kellogg added somebody had to be the No. 1 seed.
“At the end of the day, it’s prestigious, but it’s not winning you any games,” said Kellogg.
There is no debating that.
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