If this is CBS’ last NCAA Tournament, I certainly hope that the next TV partner can match or surpass what the network has done. For the most part, CBS was on top of the action. There were late switches and there were some inexplicable switches. The craziest switch was during Sunday evening’s action as Xavier and Pittsburgh were coming down to the last tenths of a second with the Musketeers up by 3 ponits, as a ball went out of bounds in Pitt’s favor with :00.4 seconds left, CBS suddenly switched the Providence market to Texas A&M-Purdue. Granted, that game was going to the last shot, but had the tying shot for the Panthers went in, there would have been a revolt. As it was, the shot for the Panthers was short, but still, stay with the game when you have that little time left.
But when I have Mega March Madness on DirecTV and can also access March Madness on Demand either through my iPhone or my laptop, I can make my own switches and keep track of other games in progress through CBS’ scoreboard on top of the screen.
I did hear of late switches through Twitter, but when the complaints were posted, CBS then made the change to the game in question.
As far as the game productions, replays came up when called for. Most of the replays were from the proper angles to give perspective. As always, the production level is very high. Just the game, crowd cutaways to a minimum, let the game speak for itself and give us plenty of band shots.
The studio with Greg Gumbel, Greg Anthony and even Seth Davis is a well-oiled machine. In his second year as studio analyst, Anthony looks comfortable and gave strong opinions. Davis did a good job in explaining a controversial lane violation call against New Mexico. Greg Gumbel as traffic cop is one of the best hosts on TV, bar none.
Now to the announcing teams and we grade them from top to bottom.
Verne Lundquist/Bill Raftery, Providence – A+. Uncle Verne and Raft had one of the most exciting subregionals in the tournament. With three upsets, Providence gave the NCAA Tournament one of the biggest upsets with Ohio defeating Georgetown and also brought us our new darlings, St. Mary’s. With Raft’s raining down “ONIONS!” and Verne providing the proper prospective, this was easily the most entertaining announcing team of the tournament.
Gus Johnson/Len Elmore, Buffalo – A minus. Through no fault of their own, Buffalo was a chalk bracket. All of the higher seeds advanced and there were too many blowouts that prevented Gus from giving us his patented breathless calls. However, that didn’t stop Gus from being excited at the right moments and Len Elmore is as usual, his very good understated self. Had Gus and Len been in Providence or Oklahoma City, the calls would have been there. Oh well. Gus may have a chance for some good calls in St. Louis on Thursday.
Jim Nantz/Clark Kellogg, Jacksonville – A minus. Nantz/Kellogg will follow Duke throughout the tournament and while the Blue Devils were boring in their games, Jim and Clark did get Cornell which introduced itself to the nation this weekend. Jim allows the games to breathe. Clark is Clark and very comfortable in the lead analyst role. In two years, Clark has made me forget how abrasive Billy Packer has been courtside. Kellogg is very good and he and Nantz have formed a very solid team.
Ian Eagle/Jim Spanarkel, Milwaukee – A minus. Ian is another announcer who can rise to the occasion and is very entertaining. Did very well during the Xavier-Pittsburgh game on Sunday. He and Jim work well off each other.
Kevin Harlan/Dan Bonner, Oklahoma City – B. Kevin got to call the huge Northern Iowa upset over Kansas on Sunday, plus had the opportunity to call UNI’s win over UNLV Friday thanks to a late shot by Ali Farokhmanesh. Kevin is sometimes in love with his own voice and there are times when he inexplicably doesn’t get excited. Some fans on Twitter thought he was pro-Kansas during the UNI game, but I didn’t see that. Dan Bonner who does ACC games on Raycom shows that he can provide very good analysis as well.
Dick Enberg/Jay Bilas, New Orleans – B. There was the Old Dominion upset over Notre Dame that helped to kickstart the tournament on Thursday, but other than that, there wasn’t much excitement from the venue. Maybe it was the many empty seats that were clearly visible, but this subregional seemed to be quite dull. And Dick and Jay did their best to keep things flowing, but the games didn’t match this usually high quality announcing team.
Tim Brando/Mike Gminski, Spokane – B minus. Tim and Mike had two excellent second round games in Michigan State-Maryland which had four lead lead changes in the last minute and the Texas A&M-Purdue game which went into overtime. Tim did rise to the occasion and had some great lines like “The bank is open late in Spokane,” when a shot went in off the glass. Mike Gminski is a very good analyst and both Timmy B and G-Man have worked together on ACC games for Fox Sports Net and Raycom. While their chemistry is unmatched, Brando does tend to rely on the cliches too often. The hackneyed cliches are why this team hasn’t been given a higher grade.
Spero Dedes/Bob Wenzel, San Jose – C plus. On Thursday, Spero got to call a buzzer beater in his first NCAA Tournament game for CBS when Murray State upset Vanderbilt. Dedes represents the younger generation and shows promise to remain with CBS provided that it keeps the tournament beyond this year. I’ve not been a fan of Bob Wenzel’s over the years and that is the main reason as to why I can’t go higher than a C plus for this team.
And as for CBS’ coverage, I give the network an A minus for its coverage. Switches could have been handled better.
So that concludes this blogger’s thoughts on CBS
