CBS has released the tip times and broadcast pairings for the Sweet 16 games...
Thursday, March 22
San Jose (Dick Enberg and Jay Bilas)
7:10 p.m. 1. Kansas vs. 4. Southern Illinois
followed by 2. UCLA vs. 3. Pittsburgh
San Antonio (Verne Lundquist and Bill Raftery)
7:27 p.m. 2. Memphis vs. 3. Texas A&M
followed by 1. Ohio State vs. 5. Tennessee
Friday, March 23)
St. Louis (James Brown and Len Elmore)
7:10 p.m.: 1. Florida vs. 5. Butler
followed by 3. Oregon vs. 7. UNLV
East Rutherford (Jim Nantz and Billy Packer)
7:27 p.m.: 2. Georgetown vs. 6. Vanderbilt
followed by 1. North Carolina vs. 5. Southern California
If I had to guess... the first Thursday game is a toss-up, but no question we'll get UCLA-Pitt for the second game. Hopefully there won't be too many fouls and we'll be able to catch the end of Memphis-A&M. As for Friday, everyone will start in St. Louis, but there's no question in my mind that we'll get the Georgetown and Carolina games. And if you had any doubt as to which regional is the best of the four, the announcer pairings should put that to rest right away.
Also, if you pay attention to broadcaster hierarchies over time (which I do, though I don't necessarily recommend it for one's health or social life), you might realize that Enberg, Lundquist and Nantz always do regionals and the fourth slot is sort of open. For the last two years, it's been Gus Johnson, and now it's James Brown (both have been paired with Len Elmore, by the way). It shows you how highly Brown is regarded that he gets the gig this year.
Brown last called NCAA Tournament games in 1994, which I am pretty sure was his last year at CBS before leaving for Fox. It was also the last time something rather particular happened to the Big 5.*
(And until St. Joe's made the Elite Eight in 2004, it might have been the last time Billy Packer had to deal with the local teams, though I don't know that for sure...)
Anyway, let the countdown to this year's Sweet 16 begin. It's going to be quite something.
* - Hat tip to friend of the blog Mark Greenspan, who has or has access to more archival footage of Big 5 games than you could possibly image.
Comments (1)
You're right Jonathan. Verne and Bill's San Antonio region looks to be the most exciting of them all. And with those two making the call, the telecast is sure to be equally exciting. Shame some decent games with Georgetown and UNC will have nantz and packer announcing.
Posted by Kibby | March 19, 2007 2:50 PM
Posted on March 19, 2007 14:50