
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, April 4, 1990                   TAG: 9004040227
SECTION: SPORTS                    PAGE: B5   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Jack Bogaczyk
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

TV RATING RANKS GAME 11TH

CBS Sports received a 20.0 national Nielsen rating for Monday night's telecast of Nevada-Las Vegas' NCAA Tournament championship rout of Duke, the network reported Tuesday.

The 20.0 (percentage of U.S. TV homes tuned to the game) ranks the UNLV-Duke final 11th among NCAA championship games, and was 6 percent below the 1989 final, Michigan's overtime victory over Seton Hall. The highest-rated championship game was the 1979 Michigan State-Indiana State title game, with a 24.1, in a game that featured Magic Johnson and Larry Bird.

Because the number of U.S. homes with TV has risen over the years, the Vegas-Duke final ranked fourth among NCAA championships in homes viewing, with 18.4 million. The top three finals in homes are Villanova's victory over Georgetown in 1985 (19.8 million), last year's Michigan-Seton Hall game (19.26 million) and North Carolina State's last-second victory over Houston in 1983 (18.58 million).

Ratings for CBS Sports' coverage of the entire tournament won't be available until Thursday.

by CNB