Your Sweet Sixteen Announcing Schedule

Sunday, March 22, 2009


Only one low seed has made it through to the Sweet Sixteen (Arizona....sorry about that whole you shouldn't be in the Tournament thing), but that doesn't mean the games won't be good. The matchups are stellar, and here's a list of who will be calling the games in the four different regions....

THURSDAY, MARCH 26

Connecticut vs. Purdue (Glendale, 7pm)- Dick Enberg, Jay Bilas
Pittsburgh vs. Xavier (Boston, 7:30pm)- Verne Lundquist, Bill Raftery
Memphis vs. Missouri (Glendale, 9:30pm)- Dick Enberg, Jay Bilas
Duke vs. Villanova (Boston, 9:30pm)- Verne Lundquist, Bill Raftery

FRIDAY, MARCH 27

Louisville vs. Arizona (Indianapolis, 7pm)- Gus Johnson, Len Elmore
Oklahoma vs. Syracuse (Memphis, 7:30pm)- Jim Nantz, Clark Kellogg
Kansas vs. Michigan State (Indianapolis, 9:30pm)- Gus Johnson, Len Elmore
North Carolina vs. Gonzaga (Memphis, 10pm)- Jim Nantz, Clark Kellogg

14 Comments:

I should go down to Lucas Oil and say hi to Gus.

JFreak said...
Mar 23, 2009, 12:36:00 AM  

Is it just me or has Gus Johnson seemingly been ripped off? Even though Indy has our only double-digit seed in the Sweet Sixteen, it seems to me that it is the least compelling region of the four. Just my take it on it, I'm sure at least someone disagrees with me.

But at the same time, though, I feel like it's a point not worth making because GuJo in Indy the most sense when you consider that he is technically on the 4th team. You've got Nantz and obviously he's going to be in Memphis with all of the marquee matchups. Verne and Raft seemingly always end up in the northern areas, Dick Enberg is generally out west (him being placed in Philly made very little sense, especially seeing as CBS likes to keep him out west as much as possible), and then all that's left is GuJo in Indy. So what I am saying is that he is most likely screwed (and we in turn are most likely screwed out of something dramatic) but at the same time, the screwing makes perfect sense. Yeah. That's it.

/Don't queston how my mind works. It is a mystery even to me sometimes...

Justin F. said...
Mar 23, 2009, 12:48:00 AM  

I think Michigan State/Kansas is one of the better matchups of the tournament. I think that matchup will be pretty damn compelling compared to something like OU/Syracuse or UNC/Gonzaga.

JHitts said...
Mar 23, 2009, 2:25:00 AM  

Does the fact that this year's bracket is chalk bolster the point about the BCS? I hope not.

/seriously, I'm not trying to threadjack

Mar 23, 2009, 4:59:00 AM  

note to self...avoid Indy...douchebaggery alert - do not go to restaurants

questionmark said...
Mar 23, 2009, 5:51:00 AM  

Is it me, or does Bill Raftery always go to games that has more east coast schools. He was in Dayton which had two number one seeds from Big East. Now he is in Boston where Pittsburgh, Duke, and Villanova all from the East Coast.

pattywagon said...
Mar 23, 2009, 10:27:00 AM  

Is this Gus's first Sweet 16 appearance?

GMoney said...
Mar 23, 2009, 10:42:00 AM  

GMoney, he was on the call when Gonzaga choked away the West regional game against UCLA a couple years ago. Almost positive that was Sweet 16 2 vs 3.

TomahawkFlop said...
Mar 23, 2009, 11:01:00 AM  

Gus is indeed the number four team, he will be moved up soon as I believe Enberg is on his way out, I would like to see either Eagle or Harlan move up. As much as Nantz is great, the star team for CBS has to be Verne Lundquist and Bill Raftery. In the end in less than ten years, the tournament will be on ESPN.

Unknown said...
Mar 23, 2009, 11:16:00 AM  

@ TomahawkFlop: Yes, that was indeed the Sweet Sixteen. And also, his "the slipper still fits call!" when Gonzaga upset Florida 10 years ago was also in the Sweet 16, IIRC.

Justin F. said...
Mar 23, 2009, 11:31:00 AM  

I was hoping that Lundquist/Raftery would be one of the teams. I am not disappointed.

UnHoly Diver said...
Mar 23, 2009, 4:17:00 PM  

No complaints on the announce pairings. I do question CBS' wisdom in putting two Big East powerhouses UConn and Pitt on at the same time. I would have switched the days of the Glendale and Indianapolis games. I realize with five Big East teams in the Sweet 16 you have to put two of them on at the same time. Louisville however is still hard to think of as a "Big East" team except in name only so it would have made the most sense to pair them with one of the others.

birdmantd said...
Mar 24, 2009, 4:45:00 PM  

Hey JFein,
Enberg used to call UCLA games in the Wooden era. And UCLA played 'Nova for the title in '71 That's why he probably ended up in Philly.

Also, Raft lives in Jersey. Maybe that's why he's "up north". Don't know where Verne lives. Maybe "up north"?

Unknown said...
Mar 24, 2009, 8:09:00 PM  

I think the days of the regional sites was determined in advance.

The only year GuJo hasn't called the Sweet 16 was two years ago when James Brown muscled his way in there.

If the tournament does move to ESPN, there would be rioting in the streets if ESPN didn't find a way to bring GuJo on board (with the added bonus of having a larger audience hear him calling college football than he gets now calling the NFL).

Would he still be #4 then? Because three of the four Sweet 16 color men work for ESPN, it's pretty easy to see what the teams would be for the Sweet 16, assuming no one else leaves or enters: Musberger/B. Knight, Nessler/Bilas, Shulman/Raftery, G. Johnson/Elmore. I could actually see Johnson/Elmore passing Shulman/Raftery in that scenario; I don't see Johnson and Raftery being teamed for the same reason CBS would never do so, especially if ESPN keeps most of the tournament on ABC.

(Incidentially, the other four first-two-round teams would be M. Patrick/Vitale, Franklin/Fraschilla, and then if games stay on ABC, I think Disnergy strikes to preserve teams for the NIT and Women's Tourney and promote the NBA, meaning the last two teams are Tirico/H. Brown and Breen/M. Jackson/J. Van Gundy - any NBA time slots on Friday or Sunday would be taken by the Tourney anyway. Otherwise it's Sean McDonough and Terry Gannon paired with Jimmy Dykes and Stephen Bardo in some order.)

Morgan Wick said...
Mar 25, 2009, 3:30:00 AM  

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