Courtesy USA Today

(March 17, 2009) The NCAA tournament selection show was predictably straightforward. But for a show aimed at fanatics, it wasn't exactly passionate.
CBS' Jim Nantz, on a conference call after the show Sunday, suggested the NCAA has done a better job lately explaining its selection rationale. Given that, he says, "There was nothing there where you could say, 'What were they thinking about?' "

But CBS, which rarely changes the top of its on-air lineup, had some big debuts. Clark Kellogg teamed with Nantz in replacing gone-but-not-forgotten Billy Packer. Nantz, understandably, referred to Kellogg as "Billy" during Sunday's Big Ten title game. And Greg Anthony, teaming with Seth Davis, replaced Kellogg in the studio. Kellogg was fine but didn't offer the idiosyncratic on-air opinions that Packer did — provoking days of fan buzz and, sometimes, derision.

Sunday, Anthony didn't say much of anything that anybody would want to debate. Lucky for CBS, Davis was ready to say something less than obvious, including picking Virginia Commonwealth to upset UCLA and saying Wisconsin wasn't even a "bubble" team. Off-air Sunday, Anthony was candid: "I got to be honest — I was horrible." At least he didn't say he couldn't make an evaluation until he saw the tapes.

For ratings, CBS made out pretty well at the margins. Wisconsin and Arizona, big state schools from marquee leagues, squeaked in and probably will draw more casual viewers than just-misses such as Creighton and Saint Mary's. ESPN's Dick Vitale says Saint Mary's got a "raw deal."

But CBS can use any help it can get. Last year's NCAA games averaged 5.6% of U.S. TV households — the only time that average has slipped below 6% except for 2003 NCAA coverage, interrupted by U.S.-Iraq war reporting.

CBS announcer assignments (by game site): Nantz/Kellogg (Greensboro, N.C.), Verne Lundquist/Bill Raftery (Dayton, Ohio), Dick Enberg/Jay Bilas/Carter Blackburn (Philadelphia), Kevin Harlan/Dan Bonner (Portland, Ore.), Ian Eagle/Jim Spanarkel (Miami), Gus Johnson/Len Elmore (Minneapolis), Tim Brando/Mike Gminski (Kansas City, Mo.), Bob Wenzel/Craig Bolerjack (Boise).