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ESPN's Seth Greenberg Talks New "GameDay" Role, State Of College Basketball

As college basketball season commences, so too does coach-turned-analyst Seth Greenberg’s latest endeavor: joining ESPN's weekly on-site "College GameDay" telecast. In his third year on-air with the net, the former Virginia Tech coach anticipates the new flex scheduling for "GameDay" will result in a "Where’s Waldo?" effect among fans eagerly awaiting the announcement of the show’s next destination. But more than anything, Greenberg says he is thrilled to be returning to a place where he is "really comfortable -- and that’s inside an arena."

Q: Which aspect of joining "College GameDay" are you most excited about?
Greenberg: The interaction that we’re going to have between Jay Williams, Jay Bilas, myself, along with Rece Davis, who is the best point guard in all of sports when it comes to hosting a studio show. It’s real simple. If we’re having a good time, the viewers are going to have a good time. I think that’s the greatest thing that the football "GameDay" has. They’re very informative, but they’re so entertaining, too. To see the chemistry between Lee Corso, Kirk Herbstreit and Desmond Howard, you’re excited about turning that show on. Also, I’m one of the few guys who’s experienced "College GameDay" as a coach and as an analyst, so I have an appreciation for both sides. I understand what it means when the show comes to your campus, how important it is for your program and your institution. Just the energy that’s produced from "College GameDay" is exciting to me.

Q: Which current college basketball coach would make the best analyst?
Greenberg: Tom Izzo would make a really, really great analyst. He’s got a good way about him. He’s quick, sharp; he gets it. Rick Pitino and John Calipari would be terrific analysts, too. I think there are a lot of guys that, if they transitioned, they’d be very good at it. The thing they’d have to understand, though, is you’ve got to work on it just like you work on coaching. If you’re going to be in the studio for 85-100 days a year, you need to do your homework. You’ve got to spend time studying, knowing the teams, the players, the trends, what teams are emerging, what players are struggling, and you really need to grind at it every single day.

Q: Would compensating student-athletes widen the gap between the Power Five schools and the mid-majors?
Greenberg: The gap is already wide, and the reality is not everyone has a level playing field. But the teams that want to compete -- the Gonzagas, the Butlers, the VCUs of the world -- they are going to end up paying the cost of attendance. There’s nothing mid-major about how a Wichita State or a Villanova runs their program in terms of the way they travel, the amount they pay their coaches or the facilities they build. These schools will continue to conduct their business in the same way that people in the ACC or Big Ten do because that’s how they see themselves. Paying cost of attendance will become just one more thing that they now budget to stay competitive. What I think is going to happen, though, is within the leagues, there are going to be imbalances. Will the entire Atlantic 10, MAC, or Mountain West conferences pay the cost of attendance? You’d think they would, but that’s where there is going to be some discrepancy.

Q: How can college basketball increase exposure to grab the national spotlight early on in the season with so much attention focused on the NFL and college football?
Greenberg: Just by looking at attendance across the country, I know the average fan is not going to get excited until we get into league play. When I was coaching at Virginia Tech, you tried to use football to promote your basketball program. We’ve got to do the same thing on the national level, figure out ways to cross-promote college basketball using the energy from the College Football Playoff. ESPN creates made-for-television events that viewers will want to see early in the season when you talk about things like Rick Pitino vs. Richard Pitino, the Champions Classic, the ACC/Big Ten Challenge, the Battle 4 Atlantis, and so on, but we’ve got to find a way to educate our fans to take notice of these great games.

Q: Would it benefit the sport to have one opening night or weekend across the board?
Greenberg: In a lot of ways, Friday is the opening weekend. We go from 0 to 200-something games. But those opening games aren’t marquee matchups, because as a coach, you want to get your feet wet a little bit, and then play in the Champions Classic. I look at the Marathon in a lot of ways as the tipoff to college basketball, finishing off with tremendous double-headers with teams like Michigan State, Duke, Kansas, and Kentucky. At that point, it’s like, "Alright, let’s go."

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