ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, March 1, 1997 TAG: 9703030100
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-4 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: On the Air
SOURCE: JACK BOGACZYK
``Wacky'' is one of Dick Vitale's favorite words. Expect to hear it more than a few times in the next nine days.
College basketball's ``Championship Week'' begins today at noon in Lynchburg, when Ron Franklin and Jimmy Dykes have the ESPN call of the Big South Conference tournament final from the Vines Center. That's the first of 21 conference tournament championship games on the two ESPN networks leading to NCAA bids.
``It's more competitive for bids this year than any year I can remember,'' Vitale said by phone a few days ago from Clemson, where he worked the ESPN telecast of North Carolina's victory over the Tigers. ``You're going to have teams just trying to solidify bids. You'll have others doing big-time damage to other teams. You'll have some knocking one another down, or out.''
Vitale will spend part of Championship Week in the ESPN studio before heading to the Greensboro Coliseum for the ACC tournament, where Virginia's NCAA bid may be in the balance when the Cavaliers begin play as the No. 6 seed Friday at 9:30 p.m.
``If Virginia loses to Maryland [Sunday, 1:30 p.m., WDBJ], Virginia is 6-10 [in the ACC],'' Vitale said. ``Who knows if that's good enough? I think Virginia deserves a bid. The ACC is the best league. That should mean something. If Virginia wins, I think it gets a bid. If it loses, it may need to win two in the ACC tournament to go.''
Vitale said the most intriguing conferences to watch in the next week will be the Big East, where the tournament at Madison Square Garden may decide at least two NCAA spots, and the Big Ten, which doesn't introduce a tournament until next year but has about eight schools hoping for NCAA trips.
``I think the Big East will get five,'' Vitale said. ``People will ask if that's justified. Well, the league isn't super like it was last year, when it lost seven of the first 30 players to go in the NBA draft. The question is which five will go. After Villanova and Providence, it's up in the air, although I think Syracuse's play recently puts Jimmy Boeheim in.
``In the Big Ten, you've got Iowa, Michigan and Wisconsin all bubble teams. I think the Big Ten will get five. Purdue struggled some out of conference, but beat Indiana twice and Michigan this week. I think Purdue goes. It's a real scramble.''
Vitale said the Atlantic 10 ``deserves'' five bids, too, unless Massachusetts ``loses to Temple and then goes out in the first round of the conference tournament. Rhode Island is on the edge, too. The other three [St. Joseph's, Xavier and Temple] are in.''
So, who in Dicky V's mind deserves bids from mid- and low-major leagues, if they're upset in conference tournaments?
``College of Charleston, from the TransAmerica has to go,'' Vitale said. ``They deserve a reward for long-term success. I like New Orleans, too, in the Sun Belt. It's a good club with some quality wins. If they lose, they might get one.''
Vitale said one thing is certain about the postseason: ``You're going to have more name teams in the NIT than usual,'' he opined. ``There will be Big East and Big Ten teams in there that usually aren't.''
BIG HIT: ESPN's first 1997 version in its continuing Emmy-winning series, ``Outside the Lines,'' hit an investigative homer Friday night when the network alleged a conspiracy to go on strike when Jackie Robinson broke baseball's color barrier 50 years ago.
ESPN spent 18 months working on the hour-long show. In one portion, ESPN's Keith Olbermann reported that the network spoke to 93 of Brooklyn's 107 opposing players from 1947 who are living. Players from at least Pittsburgh, Philadelphia and Chicago took a vote on whether to play. There also is evidence St. Louis took a vote, too. Of those teams, the Cubs were reported to be the only team on which an anti-Robinson vote could be confirmed.
A Cubs player, Dewey Williams, said the team was waiting for a call from Robinson's teammate, Dixie Walker, saying the former Negro League player had taken the field for the Dodgers, and then the Cubs were going to strike. Walker never called the Cubs' clubhouse, so they played - while Robinson did.
ESPN credited Cardinals great Stan Musial with keeping St.Louis on the field when he refused to go along with a planned walkout.
HOOPHEADS: CBS Sports has named its telecast talent for the network's exclusive NCAA Tournament coverage. Former Virginia forward and Staunton resident Dan Bonner, who has worked ACC, ESPN and CBS games this season, will team with play-by-play man Gary Thorne at a first/second-round site. It will be Bonner's seventh NCAA tourney for CBS.
Jim Nantz and Billy Packer return as the No.1 CBS team, although Packer will work a first-round game with Bob Carpenter while Nantz has the prime-time studio chores. Clark Kellogg will be the studio analyst. Pat O'Brien is the daytime studio anchor. The coverage begins March 13.
Other early round CBS teams are Sean McDonough-Bill Raftery, Gus Johnson-Quinn Buckner, Tim Brando-George Raveling, Tim Ryan-Al McGuire, Mike Gorman-Jon Sundvold and Ted Robinson-Derrek Dickey.
TUBE TALK: Although Sunday's Xavier-Virginia Tech basketball game is part of the Atlantic 10 network package, Tech coach Bill Foster's final home game won't be televised locally. Home Team Sports, which airs some A-10 games, has the ACC women's tournament final and the Colonial Athletic Association men's semifinals live Sunday. Tech's radio broadcast begins at 1:30 p.m. on network stations. ... The announcement of the NCAA Division III men's and women's basketball tournament pairings will air live Sunday at 8 p.m. from NCAA headquarters. The 64-team fields, expected to include both Roanoke College teams, are scheduled to be shown by Salem's Booth cable (Channel 18). ... Home Team Sports has hired Michael Reghi, 40, to replace Mel Proctor as the play-by-play man on Baltimore Orioles' telecasts. Reghi has been the Cleveland Cavaliers' voice since 1994, and also called some Indians baseball. Analysts Mike Flanagan and Jim Palmer will return for the Birds' 90-game HTS schedule.
LENGTH: Long : 103 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: (headshot) Vitaleby CNB