Billy Packer listened calmly while the crowd chanted his name.
Packer, a college basketball analyst for CBS, incurred the ire of St. Joseph’s fans and coach Phil Martelli when he said on the network’s NCAA selection program that the Hawks were not worthy of the No. 1 seed in the East Rutherford regional. Packer said they hadn’t played enough top-shelf competition.
As the Hawks were polishing off fourth-seeded Wake Forest, Packer’s alma mater, on Thursday night at the Continental Airlines Arena, Packer could only smile after working the game.
After all, this is not the first time he has gotten himself into a pickle with certain college basketball fans.
About 25 years ago, Packer similarly riled up fans of another school, Indiana State, when he suggested it was not worthy of a No. 1 poll ranking.
In February 1979, Packer and partner Al McGuire were working a regular-season game in which Duke knocked off then-No. 1 Marquette.
Asked by Dick Enberg at the conclusion of the broadcast who should be No. 1 in the next poll, McGuire said unbeaten Indiana State should get the nod.
“You have to be kidding,” Packer said on the air. “I said, `Who have they played?'”
The fans in Terre Haute were so angry with Packer that he was pulled off a planned broadcast of a game between the Sycamores and Wichita State.
In the end, Indiana State, like St. Joseph’s, did its talking on the court.
Larry Bird led the top-seeded Sycamores to the Final Four, where they lost the title game to Magic Johnson’s Michigan State squad.
Nelson will try to do the same Saturday night when the Hawks face second-seeded Oklahoma State in the East Rutherford final. Any predictions from Packer?
“I don’t predict games,” he said. “I have fun.”
