The NCAA Tournament through Sunday is averaging a 6.7 overnight rating across CBS, TBS, TNT and truTV, marking a record figure for the first week of the event (dating back to CBS gaining exclusive tournament coverage in '91). That figure includes the First Four last Tuesday and Wednesday. This year’s tourney rating is up 6% from a 6.3 overnight during the same period last year. Coverage for games on Saturday and Sunday averaged a 7.3 overnight, which marks the bets opening weekend in 22 years. That figure is up 7% from last year’s opening weekend. Saturday’s coverage alone drew a 7.4 overnight, marking the best first Saturday audience on record. Saturday’s first primetime window, which included N.C. State knocking off No. 1 seed Villanova, drew a 10.3 overnight, marking a record for that window. The late Saturday primetime window, which included North Carolina-Arkansas and Notre Dame-Butler, drew an 8.9 overnight, also setting a record for the window. (Austin Karp, Assistant Managing Editor).
RUNNING UP THAT HILL: In N.Y., Richard Sandomir wrote analyst Bill Raftery during Friday's Michigan State-Georgia game "was the same amusing and insightful guy he had been beside Verne Lundquist for 15 years," but fellow analyst Grant Hill was "underwhelming and not acutely analytical." Raftery during his first tournament game alongside Hill and play-by-play announcer Jim Nantz "routinely gave the first analysis" when plays ended. While Raftery "gave his prescriptions for X’s and O’s, Hill often seemed to sit back, waiting too patiently for the proper moment to speak." Occasionally, a comment by Raftery "offered an invitation to Hill to join in, but too often he did not." Hill "was at his best after commercial breaks, when he had a few minutes to plan what he would say about a strategy or about whether Michigan State was seeded too low at No. 7 in its region." Their second game, Virginia-Belmont, "was different for Hill," who "sounded comfortable, as if his jitters were gone." He "more often offered the first post-play analysis." Viewers "heard his relief," and his sense of humor "emerged" (N.Y. TIMES, 3/21). SI.com's Richard Deitsch wrote Hill "is clearly a work-in-progress." He too often "came off like a guest breaking up a two-man party" between Nantz and Raftery. He is also "not helped by a soft voice when the crowd noise is great." But Hill "will get better" (SI.com, 3/22).
WHAT GAME ARE YOU WATCHING? In N.Y., John Healy notes Charles Barkley during halftime of yesterday's Wichita State-Kansas game commented Kansas F Cliff Alexander was "playing pretty good." However, Alexander "did not suit up on Sunday" and "did not even travel with the team." He has not played since Feb. 23 amid an NCAA investigation (N.Y. DAILY NEWS, 3/23). YAHOO SPORTS' Kyle Ringo wrote, "Mistakes happen. No one is perfect. We've all been there." But Barkley "ought to be more prepared than to make a mistake like that." This is the "price we pay for CBS/Turner choosing to hire big names to cover the tournament instead of analysts who pay attention to the college game all season and know it inside and out" (SPORTS.YAHOO.com, 3/22).
KUDOS FROM THE OPENING WEEKEND: SI.com's Deitsch wrote the best broadcasting call of the opening two rounds "came from Brian Anderson, who has been terrific once again" during the tournament. Anderson "was sensational" on Notre Dame’s Round of 32 OT win over Butler, as he was a "broadcaster fully in command of the pace of the game as well as the game’s big moments and officiating decisions." Meanwhile, Deitsch "liked" what he saw from studio analyst Mateen Cleaves the "limited times" he saw him (SI.com, 3/22). In N.Y., Phil Mushnick wrote he would add Steve Lappas "to the Jim Spanarkel List: Guys you would enjoy sitting next to at basketball games." During Xavier-Ole Miss on Thursday, two Ole Miss players late in the game while down 15 points "came down, two-on-none, when the dribbler, instead of scoring the easy two, threw the ball up for the trailer to catch in midair, then slam it." The trailing player "let the ball bounce" before grabbing it and laying it in. Lappas exclaimed, "This is an NCAA Tournament game! You shouldn’t do that in any game! Just lay the ball in the basket!" Lappas during a replay "remained incredulous: 'That is a terrible play! ... Something like that I can’t stomach. This is the NCAA Tournament, not the playground!'" (N.Y. POST, 3/22).
LONG DAY AT THE OFFICE: In L.A., Tom Hoffarth reported a "case of chronic bronchitis" left announcer Verne Lundquist "sounding worse for wear just before he circled back Saturday ... to call the UCLA-UAB and Kentucky-Cincinnati third-round games" after calling four games Thursday. Lundquist said of the recovery process, "I can certify that it does not [get any easier]. The first time I had to do this kind of thing with a crew was 1999. At the end of the day, that last half of the fourth game, you pray that it's competitive because then that gets you energized." He said of Thursday evening, "We didn't really limp out of the arena until 1 o'clock (Friday morning) because after the last game is over, we have to do a dot-com report, a summation of all four games. And at that point, you almost can't remember who played in the first game" (L.A. DAILY NEWS, 3/22).
WE ALL SCREAM FOR LIVE STREAMS: March Madness Live has seen 54 million live streams of NCAA men’s tourney games through Sunday, marking a record for the event. The 54 million streams during the first three rounds are up 7% compared to the same period in ’14. There have been 11 million hours of video consumed on MML, up 8% to date (Karp).
