In the category of Big Dances, inviting Notre Dame to the NCAA basketball tournament makes as much sense as inviting Mother Teresa to the Smart Bar, according to analysts Bucky Waters of NBC and Billy Packer of CBS.
”It seemed contradictory with what they were saying about the end of the season,” said Waters, who worked Saturday`s regular-season finale between the Irish and De Paul. ”I just didn`t see how, if De Paul won that game, they could take Notre Dame and not De Paul. They had to take them both.
”Their records were similar. Even looking at Notre Dame down the stretch, their big win over Missouri was diluted by (the Tigers`) end of season and Syracuse wasn`t a (tournament) champion in their league. They were big wins, but that had to be really splitting hairs.”
Packer strongly hinted politics, caused by the school`s controversial football contract with NBC, probably helped put the Fighting Irish into the tournament.
”If anything, the (selection) committee was in a Catch-22 situation,”
he said. ”If they leave Notre Dame out, some people would say that it was a backlash against Notre Dame because of the football deal. Considering that, psychologically there may be some guys who said we better put them in or that`s what people are going to say about us.
”I`m sure there was some strain there in terms of the Notre Dame situation. If I were on that committee, I`d have had some strain, too, because no matter which way you went there would have been people asking that question.”
Because, otherwise both commentators were baffled by the selection process-and the reasons given by selection chairman Jim Delany.
”Notre Dame got an opportunity to win on national television at Syracuse, and I realize that`s a huge victory against a quality team,” Packer said. ”And they won it on a last-second shot. A lot of weight was given to that Syracuse game.”
And, obviously, so was the Irish`s victory over then-No. 1 Missouri a couple of weeks ago.
”You shouldn`t put a lot of weight on that Missouri game, because Missouri has really been reeling over the past few weeks,” countered Packer. ”They (the Tigers) really weren`t the nation`s No. 1 team when they played them.”
But it should have been settled on the court, where De Paul won both its contests against Notre Dame in the past three weeks.
”What`s a better indication of who`s a better club than playing someone head-to-head?” asked Packer. ”I mean, that`s what the NCAA tournament is all about. And they (the Blue Demons) played them twice, once at their place and once at Notre Dame, and they won both games. Either both of them in or neither one of them in. I would have voted for both.”
Almost as baffling was the No. 10 seed given the Irish in the relatively weak Southeast Regional.
”That one was never explained,” Waters said. ”Again, with the logic of end-of-season performance, you tick off some disappointing losses at home and, to me, it boiled down to head-to-head. Add in the degree-of-difficulty in the De Paul schedule, and the two teams are very comparable.”
Waters, who will be in Richmond to work for NCAA Productions for the first-round games, will run into Notre Dame again Friday.
”I`m sure they`ll be happy to explain that No. 10 seed,” Waters said.
”It`s really quite amazing.”
– Best feature: CBS` Andrea Joyce on the death of Loyola Marymount star Hank Gathers and its repercussions.
– Best interview: Loyola Marymount star Bo Kimble telling NBC`s Marv Albert about Gathers` medication problems: ”I guess he reduced it too much and tragedy happened.” . . .
– Worst production: CBS` coverage of the World Figure Skating Champions on Saturday night, from camera work that brought too many closeups and not enough replays (why not educate those non-fans on the difference between a triple toe-loop and a triple lutz?) to the annoying commentary of Scott Hamilton (who not only told what jump was coming up but then screamed when it was executed). Only the features of Pat O`Brien and the play-by-play work of Verne Lundquist carried the program.
– Ratings profile: ”The NCAA Championship Selection Show” on WBBM-Ch. 2 Sunday had a remarkable 11 Nielsen overnight rating with a 23 share, remarkable because that`s better than any college basketball game did all year. Elsewhere, the World Figure Skating Championships on WBBM Saturday night had a 13.5/23, beaten by entertainment programming on both WMAQ-Ch. 5 and WLS- Ch. 7. Another surprise was the Purdue-Michigan State Big 10 championship Sunday on WGBO-Ch. 66, which had 2.4/7, comparable to the 2.6/7 for the ACC championship on WMAQ later that day.
– Kudos to WFLD-Ch. 32`s Ken McReynolds and sports anchor Bruce Wolf. McReynolds last Thursday had a feature on former Collins High School star Antoine Davidson`s attempts to put his life back in order after serving a prison term for robbery. While other local sportscasts waste time on such
”sports shorts” and press conferences, McReynolds and Wolf attempt to search out news stories.
