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College Hoops' Latest Dynasty Nantz, Packer Begin Ninth Final Four Together. By George Stahl NEW YORK (AQB)--Few things have remained the same over the past 25 years - my uncle's car, Dick Clark's hair and Billy Packer announcing the men's college basketball championship. Packer, in a feat unmatched in sports broadcasting, will broadcast his 25th straight NCAA Championship on television this weekend. To put that into perspective, none of the athletes he will be describing Saturday are old enough to have heard Packer's call on his first championship game in 1975 between UCLA and Kentucky. Nor are they old enough to have heard his second, third or, possibly, his fourth championship broadcasts. But while my uncle's Chevy consistently slips gears, Packer - in his 18th season with CBS - is still going strong with Jim Nantz, his play-by-play partner for the past nine years. Packer and Nantz have created a dynasty unseen in college basketball since John Wooden's UCLA. Along with Packer's 25 years of championship coverage, Nantz already has called the play-by-play on more network broadcasts of Final Four games than any other announcer in history. The two are currently the second-longest tenured broadcasting team, behind only former CBS announcers Pat Summerall and John Madden, now on Fox. Packer said in a conference call Thursday that his pairing with Nantz is like a "successful marriage." "You have to have somebody that you respect for his knowledge of what you're doing, and then you have to have somebody that you enjoy spending time with. Jim's not only a personal friend, but he's someone that I have respect for in terms of his professionalism as a sportscaster and his passion and love for the game." Bob Dekas, CBS' coordinating producer of NCAA basketball, said, "Not only is their chemistry great, but it's important to what we do every year. The Super Bowl rotates, the World Series rotates, but you always see the Final Four on CBS. People are comfortable with them, and they're used to it." As for the games this weekend, Nantz doesn't see an all Big Ten final between underdogs Michigan State and Ohio State. "I would be surprised if both of the underdogs prevailed," Nantz said. "But these things happen here." While Nantz wouldn't predict the winners, he did make this prognostication. "I think Michigan State-Duke will be a closer game than Ohio State-UConn." Packer agreed, arguing that the Spartans style of play matches up well against Duke. He said Michigan State is comfortable with a low-scoring game in the 60s, is a good rebounding team, can limit the number of Duke shots, can play a halfcourt game and has a strong point guard in Mateen Cleaves. "I think in Cleaves, Michigan State has the most physical point guard in the U.S. "If somebody is going to do it, they certainly are in position to do well." Packer said. "I agree with Jim that Michigan State is in much better shape than the general public is giving them." Kosovo concerns: CBS said that while it will be prepared to interrupt Final Four coverage to update viewers on the situation in Kosovo, should events warrant it, the network does not expect that will be necessary. While no one surely can predict what will happen, CBS News spokeswoman Sandy Genelius said, early indications from military analysts and government officials are that the bombings will take place over three days, meaning they should be over by Saturday, when bad weather is in the forecast for Yugoslavia. CBS recently had to juggle simultaneous coverage of a major news event and a major sports event, and did a nice job with it. In December, CBS had to balance President Clinton's impeachment vote with a football-important game between the New York Jets and the Buffalo Bills. Click here to read ArmchairQB.com's review from that day of CBS' coverage. Broadcast notes: CBS changed its mind and said Dean Smith will not be part of its Final Four coverage. Utah coach Rick Majerus will stay at Utah next year and with studio announcers Greg Gumbel and Clark Kellogg this week. ... The pregame show, which starts at 4 p.m. ET, will feature a coaches roundtable that includes Majerus, Steve Alford and Mike Jarvis. ... CBS will use 16 cameras, six unmanned robotic cameras and two super slow-mos to cover the action Saturday and Monday. ... Connecticut and Ohio State tip off at 5:42 p.m. ET, followed by Duke and Michigan State 30 minutes after that, at approximately 8:17 p.m. ... The championship begins 9:18 p.m. ET Monday. Back
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