CBS' Selection Show Rating Even With In '03; Mixed Reviews
CBS earned a 5.0/9 overnight Nielsen rating for last night's NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament Selection Show from 6:00-7:00pm ET, flat with last year's 5.0/9 (THE DAILY).
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Billy Packer Criticized For Being
"Disagreeable" About St. Joe's
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SELECTION SHOW REVIEWS: In DC, Matt Bonesteel writes CBS "did its best to kill whatever drama was left with two rather glaring production foul-ups" during the Selection Show. CBS aired the top half of the East Rutherford bracket "without first individually introducing each team. This made the live shot of Virginia Commonwealth celebrating after [Greg] Gumbel read the Rams' name kind of pointless." Also, Gumbel "said Duke when announcing Saint Joseph's path through its bracket." Bonesteel: "If there's one thing CBS needs, besides better production, it's some personality." Bonesteel adds of analyst Billy Packer, "Being contrary is fine, ... but being disagreeable and unlikable is something else entirely" (WASHINGTON POST, 3/15). USA TODAY's Rudy Martzke writes Packer was "outspoken as usual, ... questioning the No. 1 seed for Saint Joseph's and teaming with cohort Jim Nantz to point out how the Big Ten was shown `no respect.'" The comments "brought a rebuttal from Saint Joseph's coach Phil Martelli a few minutes later in a scene TV executives love." Martzke: "The inclusion of Packer and Nantz beefed up CBS' show, though [Clark] Kellogg and especially new studio analyst Seth Davis held their own." Meanwhile, on ESPN's "Bracketology" selection show that aired after CBS' selection show, analyst Dick Vitale "raised eyebrows by handing the committee an `A' on the basis of including midmajor teams that lost in conference tournaments" (USA TODAY, 3/15).
SHALL WE DANCE? Iowa AD and NCAA Tournament Selection Committee Chair Bob Bowlsby admitted that with the Big Ten and Big 12 championship games played late Sunday afternoon, the committee does not "have time to consider the outcome in setting the brackets." Bowlsby said, "It is not something that can be done in the last hour before the selection show goes on the air. We have to make a move at some point in the afternoon." Bowlsby acknowledged that the Big Ten, which airs its title game on CBS, and the Big 12 (ESPN), "benefit financially from the late afternoon games `and we have to take the downside that goes along with it.'" Big 12 Commissioner Kevin Weiberg said, "We're basically being told that we need to move our starting time. ... We have an existing contract that runs for another four seasons, so anything we would do would have to be done with the cooperation of our television partner." But ESPN Dir of PR Josh Krulewitz said, "If any of our conference partners raises concerns or is interested in engaging in discussions about scheduling, we certainly will explore options" (HOUSTON CHRONICLE, 3/15). In L.A., Larry Stewart writes Nantz "praised [Bowlsby] for admitting that the lateness of the Big 12 and Big Ten conference championship games Sunday had affected the seeding of the winning teams, Oklahoma State and Wisconsin." Nantz: "I thought he was being very forthright" (L.A. TIMES, 3/15). CBS' Kellogg added, "The NCAA should think about concluding the conference tournaments Saturday night, or get them over earlier Sunday" (Ft. Lauderdale SUN-SENTINEL, 3/15).
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