March Madness will be a little bit different this year. And,quite honestly, it should be much better.
For years, different parts of the country received a game ofinterest in their region. Meanwhile, three other games were beingplayed at the same time in other parts of the country, but theywere games you didn’t get to see.
ESPN perfected “whip-around” coverage, strategically switchingto great finishes around the nation. That was an art that, for themost part, escaped CBS when it took over coverage.
This year, that all changes. No whip-around, no feature game, nomissing your favorite team. When the NCAA tournament tips offThursday, every game will be shown in its entirety.
Like always, though, starting times will be staggered. Forexample, games Thursday and Friday start at 9 a.m., 9:30 a.m.,10:30 a.m., 11 a.m., 11:30 a.m., noon, 12:30 p.m., 1 p.m., 1:30p.m., 3 p.m., 3:45 p.m., 4 p.m., 4:15 p.m., 6:15 p.m., 6:45 p.m.,6:55 p.m. and 7:15 p.m. The trick is knowing which game is on whichchannel.
CBS has forged a partnership with Turner Sports, so games willbe on CBS, TNT, TBS and truTV. Everyone gets CBS, so that’s not aproblem. TNT and TBS are in more than 100 million homes. If youwatch TV, you should know where to find TBS and TNT on your dial.Both are available on basic cable.
Some might not be familiar with truTV. But it’s available in 92million homes, so chances are you get it on basic cable and don’teven know it.
CBS will carry the NCAA selection show at 3 p.m. Sunday. Afterthe NCAA announces the 68 tournament teams, programmers from CBSand Turner will decide which network gets which game.
“Our goal is to get the best distribution to all networks,” saidSean McManus, president of CBS Sports, dispelling the thought thatCBS would hog the best games.
“Really, who knows what the best game is going to be? If you’rewatching a 20-point blowout on CBS, we’ll tell you to go to TNT orTBS where there is a two-point game in progress. Likewise, TBSbroadcasters could tell you to go to CBS for a two-point game.
“We’ll have some switches for buzzer-beaters, but all thenetworks are obligated to carry its game in full. So the viewer hasthe power to switch. It’s no longer a network decision on what gameyou get.”
David Levy, the head of Turner Sports, said the best games couldcome down to the luck of the draw.
“The distribution could come down to logistics at certainarenas,” Levy said. “It may come down to what network is already ina building broadcasting games.
“But with 16 games on the first two days, there needed to befour networks.”
McManus said ESPN was in the wings, waiting to steal the NCAAtournament from CBS, which has carried the event for twodecades.
“ESPN has a huge passion for college basketball, does a goodjob, and was very aggressive in pursuing this deal,” McManus said.”ESPN is enormous competition because it does a great job oncollege basketball.
“We realized we couldn’t go alone on this. That’s why we struckthe deal with Turner.”
There will be a CBS look to all the games. The graphics, whichhave been updated, and music will be the same on all fournetworks.
“It will be seamless for the viewer,” Levy said.
Hoop scoop
— Jim Nantz will be the lead announcer for CBS while MarvAlbert, Turner’s lead NBA voice, will be the No. 1 guy for Turnerduring the early rounds of the NCAA tournament.
— The NCAA tournament starts with games at 4:30 and 6:30 p.m.Tuesday and Wednesday on truTV. In the expanded 68-game field,those have been dubbed “First Four” games. Two of them will featureshowdowns between teams playing for two of the No. 16 seeds. Theother two will feature the last four of the 37 at-large teamsselected to the tournament. This is the first time in tournamenthistory the last at-large team will be revealed by the selectioncommittee.
— Nantz will call those games for CBS along with Clark Kelloggand Steve Kerr. The trio will also work the Big Ten title gameSaturday.
— ESPN has the women’s selection show at 4 p.m. Monday. ESPN,ESPN2 and ESPNU will carry a large number of women’s NCAAtournament games.
— There are 14 conference tournament championship games andeight semifinals on TV Saturday. The title games include the Big 12(3 p.m., ESPN), Mountain West (4 p.m., Versus), Pac-10 (3 p.m.,CBS), Western Athletic (7 p.m., ESPN2) and Big West (5 p.m.,ESPN2). There are four finals Sunday: Atlantic 10 (10 a.m., CBS),ACC (10 a.m., ESPN), Big Ten (12:30 p.m., CBS) and SEC (10 a.m.,ABC).
— There are four women’s finals Saturday and two Sunday.
Tournament warmups
There are two interesting NCAA tournament features on TV thisweekend.
At 6:30 p.m. Saturday, HBO airs “Runnin’ Rebels of UNLV” — a60-minute show on the Jerry Tarkanian era at Nevada-Las Vegas. It’sa typically well-done HBO piece that captures the rise and fall ofUNLV basketball — from the days when it was known as TumbleweedTech to the NCAA championship under Tarkanian in 1990.
Whether you like him or loathe him, I can tell you from personalexperience that he’s one of the most dynamic, caring men I’ve evermet. And he’s one of the best college basketball coaches ever.
The show is a very revealing look at Tark’s Runnin Rebels.
On Sunday at 6 p.m., ESPN premieres a two-hour special, “The FabFive.” The show chronicles Michigan basketball from its 1989 NCAAtournament championship under a young Steve Fisher to therecruiting of a freshman class of Jalen Rose, Juwan Howard, JimmyKing, Ray Jackson and Chris Webber — a group that become known asthe “Fab Five.” Fisher, now San Diego State’s coach, and BrianDutcher, Fisher’s Michigan assistant and his assistant now at SDSU,are prominent in the show.
And, like it or not, there is a great deal of commentary fromDick Vitale.
Keteyian re-ups
Armen Keteyian, a former San Diego State baseball player andreporter for the old Escondido Times-Advocate, signed a newmultiyear contract with CBS. Keteyian is CBS News’ chiefinvestigative correspondent. With Sean McManus back in sportsfull-time after a stint as head of both CBS Sports and News, thereis a good chance that Keteyian — an eight-time Emmy Award winner– will do more sports.
Start your engines
— Fox presents “The Daytona 500: The American Dream” at 10 a.m.Sunday. The 60-minute show is about Trevor Bayne’s historic winlast month.
— Darrell Waltrip signed a two-year deal with Fox that willkeep him on the network’s NASCAR coverage through 2014.
— The NASCAR Sprint Cup race on Fox last Sunday won the daywith a 5.3 rating and 4.1 million viewers. That’s up 29 percentfrom last year as NASCAR enjoys a ratings revival.
Ratings game
— Don’t think the Lakers are a national draw? Last Sunday’sshowdown with the Spurs in San Antonio did a 3.9 rating for ABCwith 3.0 million viewers.
— CBS aired the Duke-North Carolina men’s basketball game inprime time last Saturday, and it did a 3.2 rating with 2.5 millionviewers. Those are great numbers, but down 6 percent for the samegame last season.
— The final day of the PGA Tour’s Honda Classic on NBC did a3.2 rating with 2.5 million viewers.
— The NFL Network’s four days of coverage from the NFL combinewas seen by a network-record 6.6 million viewers. That’s up 27percent from last year and 78 percent from 2007, the first year thenetwork covered the event.
Around the dial
— Versus plans a “Celebrate the Irish” day on Thursday — St.Patrick’s Day. The day includes three Notre Dame football games:the 1992 “Snow Bowl” vs. Penn State at 2 p.m., the 2005 “Bush Push”game vs. USC and the 1993 game between No. 1 Florida State and theNo. 2 Irish.
— The MLS and Fox Soccer Channel have extended their nationalbroadcast-rights agreement through the 2011 season. FSC will carry31 regular-season games, starting with the Colorado Rapids-PortlandTimbers game on March 19. There will be 15 games on Friday nightsand 14 on Saturdays.
Contact staff writer John Maffei at 760-740-3547 orjmaffei@nctimes.com.
