CBS Final Four coverage needs multi-channel play-by-play

Do I really have to listen to Jim Nantz and Clark Kellogg during the Final Four broadcasts? Hello, Mute button.

Why can’t they broadcast the Final Four like NASCAR or even The Masters, with multiple channels simultaneously but with different broadcast teams? Or even broadcast the same channel with multiple audio channels to choose from?

So instead of being forced to listen to Jim Nantz and Clark Kellogg, we could choose to listen to Dick Enberg, Gus Johson, Ian Eagle, or possibly Verne Lundquist. Better yet, we could flip back and forth just for the pure entertainment of it all.

Maybe I don’t want to listen to a Duke promoter, or the guy who is calling the game from the “this is what Butler needs to do to win the game” angle. Maybe I want to choose the bias I want to listen to, not the one CBS is forcing down my throat.

And while I’m at it, maybe someone from Fox Sports could look into the same thing for the football playoffs. I can’t tell you how many times I would beg to hear Kenny Albert’s (or anyone else’s) voice over Joe Buck and Troy Aikman during the NFC playoffs on Fox. Maybe they can get Darryl Waltrip and Mike Joy to do an alternate NFL broadcast opposite of Joe and Troy. At least they would make Cowboy’s games interesting to listen to.

Mr Pressbox Out!!

mrpressbox.wordpress.com
www.twitter.com/mrpressbox
foxsports.community.com/mrpressbox

Northern Iowa detonates ticking Kansas timebomb

The Northern Iowa Panthers upset the Kansas Jayhawks. No doubt about it. They busted brackets like a professional demolition crew. They shocked America. But anyone who paid any attention to Kansas Jayhawks this season saw this coming a mile away.

Kansas escaped the jaws of defeat several times this season. Even Corey Thibodeaux of the University Daily Kansan called it on Friday (March 19). “For whatever reason, Kansas constantly causes a ruckus among its fans and coaches by its revolting play to start games. Putting everyone through a 12-4 deficit against 16-seed Lehigh Thursday was evidence enough.”

The only difference is that every other time they got off to a lackadaisical start, Coach Bill Self found a way to rally the boys and remind them exactly who they were.

The Jayhawks were the epitome of “playing down to the their opponent” because they were obviously so much more talented than their opponents, but they egos got in the way. They were the best team in the country and they knew it. That was the problem. They believed they could coast through games and turn it on with 10 minutes to go in the second half and still put out the win against weaker opponents.

But not Saturday.

As Gregg Doyel of CBS Sports put it, they decided they wanted to win the game about a minute too late. The buzzer had already sounded when they decided that they wanted to take the game, and their opponent, seriously.

This is the NCAA Tournament people!! Upsets and bracket busters are why people watch – why the tournament is one of the most watched sporting events in the world every year. It’s the upsets like Villanova and Kansas the make the world go ’round.

And this is exactly why we do NOT need to increase the field to 96 teams, despite what the NCAA says. As shocking as it is, UNI upsetting Kansas makes sense. UNI is a good team that beat an overconfident Kansas team that didn’t respect its opponent. There is no need to dilute the pool.

And one last shot … anyone who calls them a senior college basketball writer should not be so apologetic when a top seed gets what they deserve for being cocky and apathetic in the NCAA tourney. Did Jeff Goodman even watch a Kansas basketball game before the tournament? And what journalism school did this “senior writer” attend when his whole argument is; “Sure Kansas did this … But ….” and “Sure Kansas did that …. But …” Really?? That’s all you got? And they pay you for that?

I threw my tournament bracket in the trash, and that’s OK. I would rather watch compelling basketball than win my pool any day. Maybe that’s because I never play in paid tournament pools. Here’s to more exciting games!

Mr Pressbox Out!!

mrpressbox.wordpress.com
www.twitter.com/mrpressbox
foxsports.community.com/mrpressbox

86 the 96 idea – NCAA tournament expansion idea gets Major #Fail grade

On the biggest college football day between the National Championship and Spring practices (the NFL draft doesn’t count), let’s talk some college basketball.

Some knuckleheads got the great idea to expand the college basketball tournament – one of the greatest sports inventions since the forward pass – from its 64-team format to a 96-team mega-format.

What idiot on what planet thought that was a good idea? I know who; some moron who thought adding 32 more teams would generate millions of dollars in added revenue for college basketball.

WRONG! And here’s why.

The 64 teams (ok, Mr Technical, 65) already scrape the barrel of the mid-majors with borderline competition for the major conference champions. Yes it is exciting to see a #2 seed upset by a #15 seed. But that #15 seed is usually a good team from a small college and small conference. They deserve their shot in the spotlight, but no one takes them seriously for a chance to win the whole tournament. That’s why they are seeded against the top seeds – to lose early and go home.

The NIT is filled with all the bubble teams that had a shot at making it, and that tournament is horrible. People don’t watch it on TV or at the venues. What once used to be the pinnacle of college basketball, was replaced by the current tournament (and its subsequent revisions) and is now relegated to a “feel good” for some of the mediocre teams who managed to break .500.

If you add 32 more teams to the NCAA tournament, it’s like adding the NIT and the NCAA Tournament together, and then can you imagine the horrible talent featured in the NIT? And don’t for one second think that the NIT is going anywhere. It’s tradition will keep it alive.

And the only way for a field of 96 to work, and STILL keeping the Sweet 16, Elite 8, and Final Four rounds in tact is to incorporate an extensive series of byes or simply separating the top 32 from the bottom 64 until the 64 worked its way down to 32, which would then be merged and re-seeded with the top 32 and formatted like the current tournament. This would extend the series at least by one more unwatchable week of horrible college basketball. And here’s a news flash; no one would watch the tournament until the group was reduced down to the final 32 or even Sweet 16.

So technically, expanding the field would actually hurt the NCAA tournament’s pocketbook because you have to pay for the travel and venues of those extra games somehow, and minimal attendance numbers will not put the ledgers in the black.

So why mess with it? There is no good reason at all to mess with the current SUCCESSFUL formula.

I am totally OK with adding an extra “Bubble Buster Night” adding four more teams to the tournament, making four “play-in” games (one for each bracket) vice the current single “play-in” game. At least people would watch that. People would even attend the game, especially if you held all four games in one venue.

My suggestion is, if the NCAA wants to tinker with a postseason playoff tournament, spend the time and resources wisely and figure out a playoff system for the college football BCS series. Now that is what fans want. Listen!

Mr Pressbox Out!!

mrpressbox.wordpress.com
community.foxsports.com/mrpressbox
www.twitter.com/mrpressbox
pressbox.yardbarker.com

Related posts:
http://www.yardbarker.com/all_sports/article_external/Sources_96_Team_March_Madness_Is_8220Done_Deal_8221/2013949

blogs.dailyherald.com/node/3379

espn.go.com/blog/collegebasketballnation/post/_/id/3162/donovan-wouldnt-mind-tourney-expansion

espn.go.com/blog/collegebasketballnation/post/_/id/3111/ncaa-tournament-expanding

86 the 96 idea – NCAA tournament expansion idea gets Major #Fail grade

On the biggest college football day between the National Championship and Spring practices (the NFL draft doesn’t count), let’s talk some college basketball.

Some knuckleheads got the great idea to expand the college basketball tournament – one of the greatest sports inventions since the forward pass – from its 64-team format to a 96-team mega-format.

What idiot on what planet thought that was a good idea? I know who; some moron who thought adding 32 more teams would generate millions of dollars in added revenue for college basketball.

WRONG! And here’s why.

The 64 teams (ok, Mr Technical, 65) already scrape the barrel of the mid-majors with borderline competition for the major conference champions. Yes it is exciting to see a #2 seed upset by a #15 seed. But that #15 seed is usually a good team from a small college and small conference. They deserve their shot in the spotlight, but no one takes them seriously for a chance to win the whole tournament. That’s why they are seeded against the top seeds – to lose early and go home.

The NIT is filled with all the bubble teams that had a shot at making it, and that tournament is horrible. People don’t watch it on TV or at the venues. What once used to be the pinnacle of college basketball, was replaced by the current tournament (and its subsequent revisions) and is now relegated to a “feel good” for some of the mediocre teams who managed to break .500.

If you add 32 more teams to the NCAA tournament, it’s like adding the NIT and the NCAA Tournament together, and then can you imagine the horrible talent featured in the NIT? And don’t for one second think that the NIT is going anywhere. It’s tradition will keep it alive.

And the only way for a field of 96 to work, and STILL keeping the Sweet 16, Elite 8, and Final Four rounds in tact is to incorporate an extensive series of byes or simply separating the top 32 from the bottom 64 until the 64 worked its way down to 32, which would then be merged and re-seeded with the top 32 and formatted like the current tournament. This would extend the series at least by one more unwatchable week of horrible college basketball. And here’s a news flash; no one would watch the tournament until the group was reduced down to the final 32 or even Sweet 16.

So technically, expanding the field would actually hurt the NCAA tournament’s pocketbook because you have to pay for the travel and venues of those extra games somehow, and minimal attendance numbers will not put the ledgers in the black.

So why mess with it? There is no good reason at all to mess with the current SUCCESSFUL formula.

I am totally OK with adding an extra “Bubble Buster Night” adding four more teams to the tournament, making four “play-in” games (one for each bracket) vice the current single “play-in” game. At least people would watch that. People would even attend the game, especially if you held all four games in one venue.

My suggestion is, if the NCAA wants to tinker with a postseason playoff tournament, spend the time and resources wisely and figure out a playoff system for the college football BCS series. Now that is what fans want. Listen!

Mr Pressbox Out!!

mrpressbox.wordpress.com
community.foxsports.com/mrpressbox
www.twitter.com/mrpressbox
pressbox.yardbarker.com

Related posts:
http://www.yardbarker.com/all_sports/article_external/Sources_96_Team_March_Madness_Is_8220Done_Deal_8221/2013949

blogs.dailyherald.com/node/3379

espn.go.com/blog/collegebasketballnation/post/_/id/3162/donovan-wouldnt-mind-tourney-expansion

espn.go.com/blog/collegebasketballnation/post/_/id/3111/ncaa-tournament-expanding