The NCAA via CBS and Turner have their new lineups set up for the NCAA Tournament and I'm not a big fan. Sure, with Steve Kerr now as the head coach of the Golden State Warriors and Greg Anthony thrown off the networks for soliciting prostitution, there were going to be some changes.
Bill Raftery will be doing the Final Four with Jim Nantz. I'm fine with that. However, I don't see why that means those two must pair up for the entire tournament.
Sorry. I'm getting ahead of myself. Here is the pairings:
1) Jim Nantz / Bill Raftery / Grant Hill
2) Marv Albert / Chris Webber / Len Elmore
3) Verne Lundquist / Jim Spanarkel
4) Kevin Harlan / Reggie Miller / Dan Bonner
5) Ian Eagle / Doug Gottlieb
6) Brian Anderson / Steve Smith
7) Spero Dedes / Mike Gminski
8) Andrew Catalon / Steve Lappas
Back to Nantz and Raftery. Last year, Nantz called games with Greg Anthony during the first two weekends while Kerr was with Marv Albert. For the Final Four, Kerr joined the Nantz/Anthony booth and that worked well. Why couldn't they do that again this year?
Why couldn't Nantz work with Hill for the first two weekends with Raftery joining for the Final Four? Keep Raftery with Verne Lundquist! While I'm certainly not a fan of Lundquist anymore, his chemistry with Raftery is undeniable. Because they moved Raftery from calling games with Lundquist, it started a chain reaction that I feel didn't need to happen anyway.
Last year, Catalon was with Mike Gminski, Dedes was with Gottlieb and Eagle was with Spanarkel. They broke that up due to moving Spanarkel with Lundquist. Again, if you keep Raftery put until the Final Four, none of these changes are needed. I think a mistake by CBS/Turner.
I love the Harlan/Miller pairing. They do well together on NBA broadcasts and have done well previously in the NCAA tournament with Len Elmoer. So why add Dan Bonner ... who I also like ... to that mix? Bonner certainly does well on his own and did well with Anderson last year. Elmore now moves all the way up to the #2 announcing team with Albert and newbie Webber.
Webber is an interesting choice. He's really gotten good with his work at TNT but it will be interesting to see him deal with an NCAA tournament where his infamous timeout is part of lore. That's how most people remember him and it is certainly his mark on the tournament. The fact that he's all but distanced himself from the University of Michigan makes this a notable move.
In the end, will we even notice this? Some. The Lundquist-Raftery team is gone and the Eagle-Gottlieb pairing could get weird.
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