Last month, I gave you my College Basketball TV Awards for the 2012-13 regular season. As promised, I’ll provide you with the NCAA Tournament Edition featuring my picks for Final Four, Regional Final and First Week levels. Those not worthy and there will be a couple, will get the infamous Carton of Chinese Cigarettes handed out from the 2008 Summer Olympics in Communist China.
I’ll provide the awards first for play-by-play, then game analysts, reporters and finally the studio.
PLAY-BY-PLAY
Final Four Level
Marv Albert, Ian Eagle, Kevin Harlan — Marv is Marvelous. The man is a Hall of Fame announcer and during the Michigan-Kansas game, was able to pick up on the Wolverines’ comeback late in the second half and his call of Trey Burke’s three pointer to tie the game was perfectly understated.
Ian Eagle showed his versatility in calling NCAA Tournament games on both TV and radio. Does both well and allows the action to come to him. Ian had a very good call of the Davidson-Marquette game that went down to the wire.
Kevin Harlan was outstanding especially as Ohio State’s Aaron Craft hit a jumper with :02 in its Sweet Sixteen game against Arizona.
Regional Final Level
Brian Anderson, Verne Lundquist, Jim Nantz — Having this trio in the Tournament shows some very good depth on the CBS/Turner Consortium. Brian Anderson is a rising star. Calls games on Big Ten Network during the winters, then moves to his best sport, baseball for the Milwaukee Brewers and TBS Sunday Afternoon games. Could easily be on a Regional Final team down the line.
What can you say about Uncle Verne Lundquist that hasn’t already been said? He and Bill Raftery form one of the fun broadcast teams and you know that Verne plays the perfect straight man to Raft. He’s perfect at the Regional Final level.
Jim Nantz is perfect here. He would go higher except that he calls only one to two regular season games a season, yet he’s on the “A” team that goes to the Final Four. Nantz calls a good game, but I think there are several announcers who are better.
First Week Level
Tim Brando — Tim is good, but sometimes falls back on cliches. He’s perfect on the ACC Tournament on the Raycom-produced ACC Network. A nice fit with long-time partner Mike Gminski.
Carton of Chinese Cigarettes
Spero Dedes — Dedes provided some real lackluster and sleep-inducing calls. When Harvard upset New Mexico, Dedes failed to rise to the occasion and when the game ended, he gave us quite a forgettable call. His partner, Doug Gottlieb overpowered him at times.
ANALYSTS
Final Four Level
Clark Kellogg, Steve Kerr, Bill Raftery — Clark Kellogg knows his stuff and provides good analysis of the action. He’s able to spot trends and finds the right words. He also stepped up during the Louisville-Duke game when Kevin Ware broke his leg in a horrific sequence. And as Jim Nantz tried to collect himself in the minutes following the injury, Kellogg did his best to describe the emotions on the court.
When Steve Kerr found out that he was going to call the NCAA Tournament three years ago, he found work with Fox Sports to call Sunday night Pac-10 games and quickly got re-immersed in the college game. It was that preparation that puts him on the Final Four Level. And teamed with Marv Albert for the first two weeks of the Tournament, Kerr provides some really good tidbits especially during Michigan-Kansas.
Bill Raftery is the Mayor of College Basketball. Perfectly teamed with Uncle Verne Lundquist, Raft provides great anecdotes, one-liners and always knows when to use his signature “ONIONS!” call. I’d love for Raft to call a Final Four on TV, but you can always hear him on radio for the event.
Regional Final Level
Len Elmore and Jim Spanarkel — Len was the last ESPN exclusive holdover to remain on the Tournament after Turner came on board. Jay Bilas wasn’t kept and while Bill Raftery also works for ESPN, he does games for CBS during the regular season, pulling a rare network double. Elmore when Reggie Miller doesn’t step all over him, provides some salient points. He really could work solo with Kevin Harlan and doesn’t need Miller along side.
Jim Spanarkel works very well with Ian Eagle. It’s hard to believe that they’ve worked 17 previous tournaments together and they’re a very good team. Spanarkel was on top of trends especially when Marquette was coming back on Davidson in the second round.
First Week Level
Dan Bonner and Mike Gminski — Both ACC Network veterans, Bonner and Gminski are perfect analysts for the first weekend of games.
Carton of Chinese Cigarettes
Doug Gottlieb and Reggie Miller — Gottlieb will harp on points to where you want him to shut up. Reggie Miller must have pictures on a network executive somewhere as he’s a terrible analyst. I understand calling NCAA Tournament games was a dream for Gottlieb, but CBS/Turner should pull the plug on him working games next year. As for Miller, he’s basketball’s version of Marcelo Balboa, a person who makes statements just to hear himself talk and makes ridiculous points.
REPORTERS
Final Four Level
Jamie Maggio, Rachel Nichols, Craig Sager
Regional Final Level
Lewis Johnson, Marty Snider, Tracy “The Wolf” Wolfson
First Week Level
Allie LaForce, Otis Livingston
STUDIO HOSTS
Final Four Level
Greg Gumbel and Ernie Johnson, Jr.
Regional Final Level
Matt Winer
STUDIO ANALYSTS
Final Four Level
Greg Anthony
Regional Final Level
Seth Davis and Steve Smith
First Week Level
Charles Barkley and Kenny “The Jet” Smith — I understand why Barkley and Smith are there, but they’re much better on the NBA than college basketball. Charles’ candor on the NBA works against him on the Tournament as in the case where he harped against the Big Ten.
Carton of Chinese Cigarettes
Doug Gottlieb — Who else? Failed joke aside, Gottlieb has not differentiated himself from the pack. He overpowers people on the set. He comes off as abrasive as sandpaper.
So there you have the Awards for the 2013 NCAA Tournament.
