CBS’ Big Ten title game led all conference tournament championship game telecasts with a 2.4 overnight for Michigan State’s 66-62 win over Purdue yesterday afternoon. However, that figure is down from a 2.6 overnight for Wisconsin’s win last year in OT over MSU. The Michigan-MSU final in ’14 also drew a 2.4. Meanwhile, the ACC’s second go at a Saturday night men’s basketball championship game drew a 1.8 overnight rating for North Carolina’s 61-57 win over Virginia on ESPN. That figure is down sharply from a 2.3 overnight for Notre Dame-UNC last year, and down from a 2.2 overnight for UVA’s win over Duke on a Sunday afternoon in ’14. ESPN also drew a 1.5 overnight for Kansas' win over West Virginia in the Big 12 title game on Saturday night, down slightly from a 1.6 for Kansas-Iowa State last year. Following "Bracketology" last night, ESPN drew a 1.1 overnight for the “Fantastic Lies” documentary. The rating for the “30 for 30” film on the Duke lacrosse scandal was down from a 1.6 overnight for “I Hate Christian Laettner” last year, but even with a 1.1 overnight for “Requiem for the Big East” in ’14 (Austin Karp, Assistant Managing Editor).
PROTECT THE VALUABLES: In L.A., Tom Hoffarth wrote the Pac-12 Networks "didn't serve the national basketball community well by hoarding eight of its 11 games" in the men's tournament for its own network and then "having the rest" on FS1. The Pac-12 Networks, with "about 12 million viewers mostly on Time Warner Cable and Dish Network, understandably has to protect its valuables this time of year." But the recent AT&T merger with DirecTV has "regrettably seemed to only make things murkier with renewed negotiations" (L.A. DAILY NEWS, 3/13).
FLAIR FOR THE DRAMATIC: In N.Y., Phil Mushnick writes ESPN's Jay Bilas early in the North Carolina-Notre Dame ACC semifinal game Friday "simply noted UNC was forcing ND to start its offense far from the basket, an applicable, useful and repetitive truth to help explain UNC's 78-47 win." In 25 "plain words or less, Bilas nailed it." Meanwhile, Fox' Gus Johnson throughout Saturday's Seton Hall-Villanova Big East title game "was more annoying than usual, slathering every possession with dramatic intonations." Mushnick: "So eager to put his signature on telecasts he scribbles all over them" (N.Y. POST, 3/14).
