This directing thing is tiring, yet exciting.
It’s now more than a half an hour since Syracuse put the finishing touches on the second round of the 2011 NCAA Men’s Division I Basketball Championship. The Orange pulled away from the Indiana State University Sycamores, which needed the paler blue jerseys sported by Larry Legend circa 1979 to contend with Syracuse, in particular big man Rick Jackson, who owned the paint.
With CBS partnering with Turner Sports on a new 14-year, $10.8 billion deal, every March Madness minute is now available to fans on TV. For the first time in the tourney’s 27-year history, each game has its own national window. So, instead of waiting for CBS to make the call on what game you were watching under its solo, wraparound format, the viewer, with remote in hand and perhaps flanked by an IPad and computer, can stay abreast of all the contests by switching channels. Who knew one would get to play NCAA tournament director?
I spent the better part of Friday night on TruTV, channel 58 on my Cablevision dial, hoping the announce team of Excitable and Erudite, better known as Gus Johnson and Len Elmore, would get to do their thing. In the third window on TruTV, Xavier never put its offense together and Marquette won handily, without having to fend off a sustained run.
And despite the bevy of no-look passes and one beautiful, English-laden, no-look shot from ISU’s bearded ballhandler Jake Odom, Johnson never truly got the chance to amp up, as he did during the waning moments of George Mason’s come-from-behind win against Villanova in the afternoon session. No doubt, Johnson’s call of that frantic finish got the blood and smiles flowing across the nation.
Unfortunately, the rest of the Friday-night slate also lacked the drama of its Thursday-tourney predecessor, leaving me to hit the remote and alternately summon CBS and Jim Nantz and Clark Kellogg on channel 2, TBS with Marv Albert and Steve Kerr on channel 39, and TNT with Bob Wenzel and Spero Dedes on channel 37, in search of compelling action. It wasn’t often located.
Indeed, with the Illini crushing former coach Lon Kruger’s UNLV squad by a 39-16 count with 2:30 remaining in the half, Kerr said he “wouldn’t be mad if you changed the channel. This is a demolition.” You can go against the conventional TV directive of “keep it here” when you sell the tournament to advertisers — as CBS/Turner have — based on an aggregate audience. I adhered to Kerr’s recommendation, turning back only once or twice to Illini-UNLV in the second half, which I’m wagering included Albert uttering the phrase “extensive garbage time” at some point. The 73-62 final was the result of the Rebels adding window-dressing points down the stretch.
Things weren’t that much better for Wenzel/Dedes on TNT, where VCU, which took out USC in a First Four match, scrambled on defense, out-quicked and outshot an overmatched Georgetown, 74-56. Catapulted by runs at the end of the half and just after intermission, VCU cruised ahead and never looked back.
On the broadcast beat, Nantz and Kellogg had UNC-LIU in the evening opener. It was great to watch the Blackbirds fly on a 14-0 run to knot matters at 33, just past the midway point of the first half. The spurt was fueled in part by two offensive interferences calls on the ACC stalwarts, the first of which prompted this explanation from Kellogg about the basket nullification: “any piece of the pumpkin hovering over the cylinder.” But UNC’s superior talent and size would enable it to easily move ahead, only to see Long Island make a bucket or three to keep it reasonably close. But you knew where this was one was going: the Tarheels won handily 102-87, in an entertaining, if not really competitive contest.
Similarly, during the CBS nightcap, Washington held a 10-point lead over Georgia for most of the second half. However, looking at the score box (throughout the telecasts, the graphic revealed what was in play on the three other networks, with the fourth rotating between final results and the upcoming schedule) atop the screen, I saw that the SEC entry had climbed within eight inside the two-minute mark and my remote switching proved unTru– from 58 to channel 2. Missed free throws and turnovers against the press gave the Bulldogs a final fling. It was, as Kellogg pointed out, one made more difficult by this generation’s Isaiah Thomas (no, not Jim Dolan’s buddy) deflecting an outlet pass that nonetheless yielded a three-point attempt that would have tied matters and incited true Madness. Alas, the banker fell short.
Overall, the night did as well because the on-court NCAA action didn’t fully inspire - at points, I turned to MSG Network where the Knicks choked another one away, this time against the Pistons, and watched Federer and Nadal engage in a doubles match on Tennis Channel. Still, it was cool to be in charge of the clicker and determine the time spent with each NCAA contest. I’m hoping the remote takes me to better tournament places over the weekend.
