CBS's Billy Packer and Jim Nantz addressed Memphis' no-foul faux pas late in regulation only in passing Monday night.
In the studio, Clark Kellogg did a more thorough job analyzing it.
But the ESPN crew, led by Bob Knight himself, really went after Memphis and coach John Calipari on SportsCenter. It was good stuff, and they were right, of course.
Just wondering, though: Would they have reacted the same way if the same sins had been committed by a more popular member of the coaching fraternity, say, Coach K?
Thinking . . . thinking . . . thinking . . . um, NO!
Comments (5)
why wasnt cbs studio show at the final four? francesa said it was financial reasons. well didnt cbs show the game? that doesnt make sense. espn was there.
i'm not denying the packer/espn acc bias, but i don't think coach k would have made the same mistake cal did.
Calipari smirking and joking around the past two weeks to every talking head about his team not making free-throws would not be a problem needed to be stifled at some point. That said if Cal were ever to throw it in, I'd love to have him be an analyst. Heck, I would love to just have him wired for an entire game rather than hearing Nantz's cliches and Packer talking about games from 50 years ago that wouldn't even register as interesting factoids to put in Trivial Pursuit.
Cal is a great recruiter, not a great coach. And, as we have seen in the past at UMass and the grad rates, he doesn't have the smartest players around either.
If this was Packer's last game at the Final four, i hope he doesn't let the door hit him in the butt on his way out.
Hey, comedy ...
After dumping millions in management & on-air talent salaries all over the country the last few weeks, CBS would've looked pretty bad sending a big crew to the Final 4. Nothing the studio crew did in the NYC studio was different from what would've happened on-site.