CBS' coverage of Saturday's Kentucky-Louisville and Kansas-Ohio State Final Four games averaged a 9.0 fast national Nielsen rating, marking the highest-rated national semifinals since '05. The 9.0 also is up 1% from last year's 8.9. The earlier game, Kentucky-Louisville, averaged an 8.4, up 1% from an 8.3 for last year's Butler-VCU contest. The second game earned a 9.6, also up 1% from the comparable UConn-Kentucky game in '11. The 9.6 represents the best rating for that window since the '05 North Carolina-Michigan State game (CBS Sports).
CBS DROPPED THE BALL: In Tampa, Tom Jones writes one of the “worst things a network can do is miss live action because it is showing a replay.” That is why it was “completely inexcusable for CBS to miss much of the final 2.9 seconds" of Kansas-Ohio State Saturday.” With 2.9 seconds left, OSU G Aaron Craft “tried to purposely miss a free throw and grab the rebound but was called for a lane violation.” CBS “showed a replay of the call,” and while that aired, Kansas "inbounded the ball.” By the time CBS “realized what was happening and switched back to live action, there was just more than a second left and Kansas was holding the ball.” Jones: “Essentially, CBS missed the end of the game. That cannot happen” (TAMPA BAY TIMES, 4/2). USA TODAY’s Michael Hiestand writes the final seconds of Kansas-Ohio State game “offered a textbook example of why you always focus on staying with (even confusing) live action first -- and get in the replays later.” This was a "cardinal rule violation” by CBS (USA TODAY, 4/2). Blogger Clay Travis wrote on his Twitter feed, "It's amazing that CBS managed to miss the entire final series of plays there. Stellar work, guys. Stellar." Awful Announcing wrote, "I can understand CBS caught off guard by Craft's quick FT, but no way you can miss the final couple seconds." SI.com's Richard Deitsch wrote, "Not a shining moment for CBS's production at the end of Ohio State-Kansas." Broadcasting & Cable's Ben Grossman wrote, "Wow, CBS getting murdered on Twitter for blowing the end of the NCAA game, and rightfully so. Beyond embarrassing." SBD's John Ourand wrote, "You almost never see a network blow it at the end of a big game like CBS just did. It is justifiably getting killed on Twitter."
NOT UP TO PAR: The TAMPA BAY TIMES' Jones writes it is “the little things that keep” CBS' coverage of the NCAA men’s basketball tournament “from being outstanding.” It just seems like CBS “gets locked into its plan and sometimes forgets to adjust to what the viewer might be thinking.” With 13:47 left in the first half of Kentucky-Louisville, Kentucky F Michael Kidd-Gilchrist “was called for a controversial charge.” And it was his “second foul of the game.” Jones: “But did we ever see a replay? No. The replay was obviously shown inside the arena because there was an audible outburst. Instead, CBS showed us a replay of a missed dunk” (TAMPA BAY TIMES, 4/2). Meanwhile, several people on Twitter noticed CBS' Clark Kellogg's insistance on not calling the basketball by its proper name. Missouri G Kim English wrote, “Clark Kellogg refuses to call a basketball a basketball. He only refers to it as rock, pill, orange or pumpkin.” Bleacher Report’s Dan Levy wrote, “Hot potato from Clark Kellogg. if you're counting at home, that's at least a few oranges, pumpkins and now hot potatoes #hungry.” Fox Sports Radio’s Pat O’Brien wrote, “If Clark Kellogg calls the ball a ‘pumpkin’ one more time, I'm switching to radio call.”
TOURNAMENT MISSES: Also in N.Y., Phil Mushnick wrote, “Memo to CBS/Turner: There is no better way to make college basketball halftime shows -- any halftime shows -- more unmanageable, more unlistenable, more wasteful and more forgettable than to have five- and six-man, ESPN-like panels. The one-and-done Tournament now features one-line-and-done studio shows” (N.Y. POST, 4/1). Mushnick today writes CBS using Kellogg, Jim Nantz and Steve Kerr during the same games causes listeners to “have their ears marinated the entire game.” Mushnick: “Why try to out-ESPN ESPN? What happened to trying to produce good, sensible TV? Why, if networks want to save money, create flesh piles? Why turn your in-game analysts into background noise? Why not allow television to be the star of TV?” (N.Y. POST, 4/2).
ORWELLIAN PROPAGANDA: In N.Y., Joe Nocera wrote again on the NCAA in his Saturday column, and noted there is an NCAA “ad that shows college athletes pumping iron, running sprints and playing games.” The voiceover, though, talks “not about athletic achievement but academic accomplishment.” Nocera: “How many times have you seen that ad? Hundreds of times? Thousands? It runs constantly, pounding home its relentless message.” It is also, “when you think about it, a deeply Orwellian exercise, propaganda intended to gloss over the essential hypocrisy that undergirds the tournament.” Then again, Orwellian propaganda “is what the NCAA does best” (N.Y. TIMES, 3/31).
