NCAA tournament 2011 — running thread

[JayFarrar]

Arkansas-Little Rock and Asheville were a good way to start the tournament.
Overtime game that wasn't decided until the final seconds. Quality

Random broadcast observations
* As a non-NBA watcher, are Charles Barkley and Kenny Smith always this hilarious? The whole rif they did on U.S. Reed and Barkley graduating from high school in 1981 was pretty damn funny.

* The University of Arkansas-Little Rock was called "UALR, ALR, UNLR, LRU, Arkansas, ALRU, Little Rock and Arkansas -Little Rock University." I might have missed a couple as well.

• Somebody at the studio screamed "ha haa" when they were talking about Gus Johnson calling tomorrow's night games.

• Who is the sportswriter wearing a bow tie on press row and is directly behind the golf whisperer?

* Non broadcast but who else isn't doing their brackets until these first four games are over?

 

[Bob Cook]

Yes, Smith and Barkley are that funny. Even if you don't like the NBA, it's worth watching TNT's show.

Also, UAB doing nothing to disprove it doesn't belong.

And did I hear correctly that Barkley laid some smack down on Jay Bilas?

 

[dixiehack]

UAB finding out what happens when you play a crap first 10 minutes against someone with more muscle than SMU or Kent State.

 

[Quakes]

I'll agree about Barkley and Smith. I rarely watch the NBA before the playoffs start, but sometimes I'll stumble across the TNT postgame show late at night and watch it just to hear them.

That said, it seems like the way they're going to broadcast this is overkill. Why do they need to be in New York and Atlanta? Why do we need Greg Gumbel and Ernie Johnson hosting at halftime, and analysis from Seth Davis and Greg Anthony and Barkley and Smith? (And why do they have Barkley and Smith paired with Gumbel, and Davis and Anthony paired with EJ, instead of the other way around?)

 

[dixiehack]

TruTV makes broadcasting the MLB playoffs on ABC Family look inspired.

 

[MileHigh]

Barkley and Smith have great chemistry.

Also: I'm so sick of Clark Kellogg already. Just shut up. Adds nothing to the broadcast except trying to be hip with stupid sayings. Just break down the game.

Thankfully, the 1A team (Gus and Len Elmore, tied with Uncles Vern and Bill) is tomorrow.

This three-man courtside crew are all over themselves, and it hurts that Kellogg is part of that team. Terrible.

 

[suburbia]

Barkley and Smith have great chemistry.

Also: I'm so sick of Clark Kellogg already. Just shut up. Adds nothing to the broadcast except trying to be hip with stupid sayings. Just break down the game.

Thankfully, the 1A team (Gus and Len Elmore, tied with Uncles Vern and Bill) is tomorrow.

This three-man courtside crew are all over themselves, and it hurts that Kellogg is part of that team. Terrible.

While Gus and Len Elmore may be the best team, Nantz, Kellogg and Kerr is still considered the top team by CBS and will be doing the Final Four. Unfortunately.

 

[lisa_simpson]

I'll agree about Barkley and Smith. I rarely watch the NBA before the playoffs start, but sometimes I'll stumble across the TNT postgame show late at night and watch it just to hear them.

That said, it seems like the way they're going to broadcast this is overkill. Why do they need to be in New York and Atlanta? Why do we need Greg Gumbel and Ernie Johnson hosting at halftime, and analysis from Seth Davis and Greg Anthony and Barkley and Smith? (And why do they have Barkley and Smith paired with Gumbel, and Davis and Anthony paired with EJ, instead of the other way around?)

Right now, everyone's in Atlanta; they'll split up after tomorrow's games.

If I'm EJ, I'm thankful that I get to work with Seth Davis and Greg Anthony; he has to work with Chuck and Kenny all the damn time. Might as well make life a little interesting.

 

[MileHigh]

Barkley and Smith have great chemistry.

Also: I'm so sick of Clark Kellogg already. Just shut up. Adds nothing to the broadcast except trying to be hip with stupid sayings. Just break down the game.

Thankfully, the 1A team (Gus and Len Elmore, tied with Uncles Vern and Bill) is tomorrow.

This three-man courtside crew are all over themselves, and it hurts that Kellogg is part of that team. Terrible.

While Gus and Len Elmore may be the best team, Nantz, Kellogg and Kerr is still considered the top team by CBS and will be doing the Final Four. Unfortunately.

Agreed. Wasn't saying anything differently other than this team sucks, especially Kellogg.

 

[Quakes]

I may be in the minority on this, but I think Nantz is a pretty good play-by-play man. I like Lundquist and Johnson better, but I think Nantz is good. But I don't believe he's the best possible partner for Kellogg, who I think was a pretty good studio analyst and can be a very good game analyst. (Again, I may be in the minority there.) I also like Kerr as an analyst. But the three of them -- Nantz, Kellogg and Kerr -- don't seem to be as good as the sum of their parts. They're OK -- and it may be unfair to judge them after just a few games -- but not as good as a network's top team ought to be. I think dropping Kellogg or Kerr would help -- not because either one is bad, but because there seems to be too much duplicative analysis between the two of them.

 

[Cosmo]

As your resident Big South expert ... Matt Dickey has hit big shots like that all year long, so I'm not surprised he tied the game.

Also took great joy out of Kellogg saying that "Dickey's bouncy" after Dickey scored off the dribble once.

 

[deskslave]

Is it me, or does Florida State show up in a 7-10 or 8-9 game (that I never know how to pick) every damn year?

 

[Cosmo]

They occasionally appear in a 5-12 game, and you know damn well to pick the 12 if that's the case.

 

[Ben_Hecht]

Barkley and Smith have great chemistry.

Also: I'm so sick of Clark Kellogg already. Just shut up. Adds nothing to the broadcast except trying to be hip with stupid sayings. Just break down the game.

Thankfully, the 1A team (Gus and Len Elmore, tied with Uncles Vern and Bill) is tomorrow.

This three-man courtside crew are all over themselves, and it hurts that Kellogg is part of that team. Terrible.

While Gus and Len Elmore may be the best team, Nantz, Kellogg and Kerr is still considered the top team by CBS and will be doing the Final Four. Unfortunately.

It'll be time to turn down the sound and opt for Radio Anything as opposed to that gross malignancy.

 

[Big Circus]

Elmore is fantastic. He should be allowed to do the Final Four as a reward for putting up with Mike Patrick the rest of the year.

 

[qtlaw]

Once again, it is revealed that without exceptional guard play, you're toast in NCAA basketball.

I live next door to St. Mary's College, a NCAA Tourney snubbee, and watched they play Kent St. last night in the NIT. Place is packed, crowd is rocking. They have Mickey McConnell, the league MVP but the Kent St. players made St. Mary's look slow, especially their (Australian) guards. Too bad because SMC played very well as a team but it was a game where athleticism >>> teamwork.

 

[Blitz]

Not to sound like a homer, but UT-San Antonio being just a 4 or 5 point fav against Alabama State seems odd. The Roadrunners should win this one by more than 5.

Also, Mary McCloud Bethune's namesake school is 20-point dog to overrated Va. Tech.
That one might not happen but Va Tech's not overly good IMHO.
Other teams that should have also been left out of NCAA include Tennessee, Villanova, UAB.

 

[Jesus_Muscatel]

Elmore is fantastic. He should be allowed to do the Final Four as a reward for putting up with Mike Patrick the rest of the year.

I was a kid in the D.C. area when Len Elmore played for the Terps.

Tom McMillen was the prized recruit, the guy who was gonna help Lefty made Maryland the, uh, "UCLA of the East." Lenny was the banger from NYC, a rough-and-tumble guy much like Buck Williams was a few years later.

Tommy and Lenny both went on to considerable success after basketball. Elmore's a cool cat.

 

[farmerjerome]

Barkley and Smith are great.

I have low expectations, since every time I turn on ESPN someone is picking Syracuse to go to at least the Elite 8. The guarantees a second-round exit. Obviously they haven't been forced-fed a diet of Scoop Jardine all season like I have.

And finally **** Time Warner and TruTV. Dr. J went out and spent a huge chunk of change on a new TV for the tournament. Now we're stuck watching the Orange on this craptastic channel Friday night. At first I thought it was our TV, then I watched the last part of last night's game on our little TV upstairs and it was just as awful. It was like watching basketball under water.
For Christs' sake, Time Warner owns TruTV. A little help, perhaps?

 

[albert77]

You know, if Conference USA wanted to earn a little respect for itself, going 0-4 on the first night of postseason competition was not the way to go about it. And thanks a lot to UAB for making Jay Bilas and the ESPN boys look very right with their craptastic performance against Clemson in the NCAA play-in game.