The Slice: Hoosier daddy?

SALT LAKE CITY – For the vast majority of basketball fans, the NCAA Tournament is a TV show.

And Zags rooters hope their favorite reality program turns out to be a series with several more episodes.

The come-from-behind victory over scrappy Xavier here Thursday night staved off cancellation for the time being.

But really, what’s the difference between watching an NCAA first-rounder on the set and being there in person?

Let’s check today’s college basketball Top 25.

When you’re actually at the game …

25. You see a lot of the cheerleaders and dance teams because they come out and do their thing when TV timeouts interrupt the flow of the game. These commercial breaks are a bit like a rash that keeps coming back.

24. “There’s an energy that you don’t get from watching it on TV,” said Eric Carlton, one of two drummers in the Gonzaga Pep Band. “You can feel it.”

23. You don’t hear an announcer say, “In a moment, we’ll be taking you to … .” You stay with the game being played in front of you.

22. You get to see a woman wearing a headset brushing dandruff off the shoulders of the dark-suited CBS announcing duo.

21. You get to watch the pre-game warm-ups, which are often one of the best times to appreciate remarkable athletes in almost any team sport.

20. That horn that announces substitutions? Sometimes it is so loud, the surface of your plastic seat seems to vibrate.

19. You don’t keep hearing that CBS NCAA tourney jingle in your head for the rest of your waking hours.

18. You can look up and notice that the lighting array in the ceiling of the Huntsman Center here looks like the bottom of the alien mothership in the movie “Close Encounters of the Third Kind.”

17. You get to see the Xavier cheerleaders spell out the name of their school by lying on the court and writhing into the configuration of the letters.

16. You are reminded that most real people don’t say things like “He’s got the quickness to put the ball on the deck.”

15. You get to hear the arena public address guy mispronounce the names of several GU players.

14. You can’t turn down the volume if you want to make a cell-phone call while one of the bands is belting out “Gonna Fly Now” or “School’s Out.”

13. Nobody refers to “Cingular at the Half” 17,000 times.

12. Seeing the looks on the faces of the losing players in person makes you think, “You know, I could go over and put an arm around his shoulders.” (Except that he’d be way too tall.)

11. People-watching possibilities are limited only by the quality of your distance vision.

10. “You get to live it,” said Patrick Ross, the other drummer in the GU Pep Band.

9. People don’t say “Game reset” in real life.

8. Big momentum swings (or at least the crowd’s collective reaction to them) feel like a tangible, physical thing when you’re there in person.

7. Actually being there is the original Hi-Def.

6. You don’t have to sit through the NCAA’s self-serving promos.

5. You get an actual feel for the size of the arena. The Huntsman Center has 15,000 seats, all with chair-backs.

4. Did I mention TV timeouts? Instead of car commercials, you get to watch the teams waiting for the cue to resume play. People at the game really ought to boo. But maybe most of us are resigned to accepting that money calls the shots.

3. You remember that 15,000 bodies in one room create a singular smell.

2. Unlike in your living room or office, the sound of your own voice (should you be moved to yell) is swallowed up by the volume of the full-throated masses.

1. When Adam Morrison was hitting the ball against his forehead after that victory-clinching rebound near the end, some fans down low could swear they could hear those celebratory thuds.