Cbs Hits Its Stride Headin’ To The Final Four

As the Elite Eight was whittled during the weekend to three top-seeded teams and Cinderella Arizona going to the NCAA Final Four this weekend in Indianapolis, CBS Sports coverage found its rhythm.

Particularly sharp was the work of veterans Sean McDonough doing play-by-play and Al “Kiss ‘n’ Dance” McGuire doing analysis - albeit not paired as a team - and rapidly maturing Clark Kellogg doing studio analysis.

Topping off a solid menu from CBS’ announcing duos at the regionals and the studio “committee” headed by Pat O’Brien was a deliciously precooked “Road to the Final Four” feature Sunday. It set the moves and moods thus far in the tournament to music - none better than the action edited to fit Queen’s rock rhapsody.

Plum: Like a normally reliable starter who gets in foul trouble early, McGuire started out of sync in this tournament. But he found his groove in Saturday’s Minnesota-UCLA game.

He didn’t hesitate to criticize what he saw as bad officiating and bad play, such as someone “shooting like a mason.” He editorialized that college players should go to the Olympics rather than NBA players. And after Minnesota won, he planted a kiss on the cheek of coach Clem Haskins, who reciprocated. Then Al joined player Miles Tarver in a sort-of “hip-hop meets the twist.” Dances with Gophers?

Dumb: Analyst Billy Packer couldn’t seem to shake the Kansas Loses Blues, as he suggested Sunday that sometimes winning is “not about who’s the best team in the nation.”

He’ll have to get over it. Unlike Kansas, Packer is advancing to the Final Four as CBS’ lead analyst with play-by-plan man Jim Nantz.