Recent comments by North Carolina men's basketball coach Roy Williams about ESPN's promotion of potential NBA lottery picks were debated on ESPN's "Around the Horn" yesterday, with the N.Y. Daily News’ Frank Isola saying one reason NBA fans watch the college game is to see NBA prospects. Isola: "This has been going on forever where you’re going to project how a guy who’s in college may do in the pros. Get used to it.” The Boston Globe’s Bob Ryan said, “ESPN is the best friend college basketball has ever had.” He noted Dick Vitale years ago "used to give us lottery pick, lottery pick. ... Roy didn’t say anything about that.” ESPN’s J.A. Adande: “It speaks to the problems that the sport has: It’s focused on one month, March, and also viewed through the prism of how good can these guys be in the league" ("Around The Horn,” ESPN, 2/1).
BACK TO THE FUTURE: Rick Reilly is returning to SI for one issue next month. The columnist who wrote for SI from '85-'07 was hired on a freelance basis to write one feature story for an issue in March. An SI spokesperson said the story will be written in Reilly’s "fun and irreverent” style, but he would not say what the topic would be. Reilly was a mainstay of the magazine, writing a column for its back page from '97-'07, when he left to join ESPN (John Ourand, Staff Writer).
BOWLED OVER: CBS Sports Network has reached a deal with the U.S. Bowling Congress to broadcast 23 events in '16 and '17, including the U.S. Open and 13 Pro Women's Bowling Association Tour tournaments. The deal will see live telecasts from all four majors on the PWBA Tour and the PBA Tour's U.S. Open (USBC).
