Billy Packer`s personal ”Road to the Final Four” took a quick detour through Chicago last weekend.
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And while the CBS Sports basketball analyst is headed into his favorite part of the year-the NCAA tournament-this hasn`t been the best of seasons for college hoops.
From Illinois to North Carolina State to Maryland to Florida, a whiff of scandal has wafted through the air.
Won`t CBS` new contract with the NCAA for $1 billion add to the temptations of rules breaking?
”It was a legitimate business deal for CBS and for the colleges to fund their minor sports,” Packer said. ”Now it depends on how the money`s used.” Packer said he would like to see the NCAA put ”a cap on winning no higher than it is.”
NCAA Executive Director Dick Schultz has gone so far as to propose every tournament team receive only $50,000. Currently, the minimum payout is $250,000 with more than $1 million going to the tourney winner.
”I don`t think Dick can get that through” Packer said. More likely, he added, is the possibilty of a cap on where the tournament money is now, with the rest of the funds steered toward academics.
”It`s a responsiblity the schools have to undertake immediately,”
Packer said.
Packer doesn`t feel, however, the NCAA has a responsibility to expand the tournament from the present 64 teams.
”It includes almost every team now,” he said. ”Of the 290 (Division I schools), we have all but two leagues that have the postseason tournament.”
Then, adding fuel to speculation independents such as De Paul and Notre Dame may be near conference ties, Packer said, ”You have a limited number of independents that, by the time that contract is initiated, will be eliminated.”
The new NCAA-CBS contract takes effect next season.
”We basically have a completely open tournament now,” Packer continued. ”It doesn`t necessarily make sense from the purity of basketball, but it makes sense from the standpoint that 64 is a nice number to work with.”
And Packer predicted the NCAA tournament selection committee will have a difficult chore reaching that number by 5:30 p.m., Chicago time, Sunday.
”There aren`t as many teams this year outside the power conferences
(such as the Big 10, Big East and the ACC) that look like they belong in,”
Packer said. ”A lot of the non-power conferences (Sun Belt, Atlantic 10) are basically one-team leagues. There may not be as many big-name teams on the bubble as there have been in the past. There aren`t going to be as many people saying they really belong there.”
– Best lines of the weekend: Raycom basketball analyst Greg Kelser on Ohio State 7-foot center Bill Robinson: ”He`s got five fouls and he`s willing to use them.” . . . CBS play-by-play man Brent Musburger: ”(Syracuse`s) Stevie Thompson approaches the free-throw line like most of us approach the dentist`s chair.”
– Best coverage of N.C. State scandal: ”NBC Sports Update” with interviews by an unusually aggressive Bob Costas of principals from the New Jersey police chief invesigating the charges to former Wolfpack player Bennie Bolton, who denied everything, saying ”I`d have to be a prostitute to sell myself for a measly $1,000.” The only problem NBC ran into was its halftime report Saturday ran over into the first four minutes of the second half of the Missouri-Notre Dame game, missing Tigers coach Norm Stewart`s controversial benching of his starters.
Runner-up: CBS, with a live interview with beleagured coach Jim Valvano, who, like Bolton, denied everything. ”I never want to give the impression I want to put distance between myself and the problems,” said Valvano, who turned down similar interview requests from the other networks that led to charges of favoritism. A CBS Sports official, however, denied a deal was made.
”Maybe he was just more familiar with our people,” said Susan Kerr, a network program director. ”He has his own way of doing things. Prior to his
(recent) problems, Jim Valvano was considered a good television personality. Now, we have to ask, has that perception changed?”
ABC, which broke the point-shaving allegation story earlier in the week on its ”World News Tonight,” hardly touched on its ramifications, airing only excerpts from Charles Shackleford`s press conference on Saturday`s ”Wide World of Sports.”
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– Best shots: Notre Dame coach Digger Phelps smiling and hugging his players near the end of their rout of Missouri. . . . Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim trying to hide behind an assistant coach on Billy Owens` game-tying free throw against Georgetown. . . . Indiana coach Bobby Knight not letting assistant Dan Dakich get in the way of screaming at Hoosier freshman Pat Graham.
– Best opinions: NBC basketball analyst Al McGuire on Stewart`s benching of his regulars: ”I never tried to teach by losing, I always tried to teach by winning.” . . . NBC golf analyst Johnny Miller: ”If you`re going to do some choking, you`re going to do it on Sunday.”
– Worst opinion: CBS golf analyst Ken Venturi, just before Greg Norman`s winning chip shot at the Doral Open: ”He`s gotta take the flag out (of the hole).”
– And don`t forget the Big 10 title game between Purdue and Michigan State will be carried on WGBO-Ch. 66 at 11 a.m. Sunday. ABC, which tried to snag the showdown, settled for Illinois-Indiana at 1 p.m. Sunday on WLS-Ch. 7.
”We felt an obligation to Raycom,” said Mark Rudner of the Big 10 office.
The Iowa-Michigan clash will be the second game of the Raycom double-header at 2 p.m. Saturday on Ch. 66.