Two ESPN Talents Shine in Buildup

Close, dramatic games make sports entertaining on TV, but sports programming also includes an abundance of talking heads and studio shows.

In the past few days, the preponderance of that programming has focused on college basketball – and on-air experts with accurate opinions and a passionate perspective often prove entertaining as well.

In the midst of all that jabbering, two people have stood out -- Joe Lunardi, the hardest-working man on TV at this time of year every year, and Jay Bilas, who brings a refreshingly honest, if sometimes grumpy, perspective to filling out the NCAA Tournament field.

Lunardi’s expertise and opinions resonate because he works hard and inevitably gets things right. Plus, he’s honest, telling ESPN viewers during an update early Saturday that deciding between the final teams in the tournament this year was a matter of sorting through generally bad fruit.

Likewise, Bilas often provides a rare voice of dissent, as opposed to hype, in regard to rounding out the tournament field. With 68 teams making the cut this season, Bilas knows what’s at the bottom does not matter and he’s not afraid to voice that opinion.

Many teams and moments will shine once the tournament begins, but before it even starts Lunardi and Bilas have been two of the stars.

Conversely, ESPN’s Hubert Davis has been so-so in the studio, an energy drain at times with little information.

He has not been the worst college basketball on-air offender in the past week, though. That honor goes to former coach Bobby Knight, and not only because he unleashed an on-air profanity last week.

Even worse was what started as a possibly great TV moment that became silliness. Last week, during a “Gameday” segment, Knight focused on Ohio State after it was noted that OSU coach Thad Matta had reached out to the legendary coach for help with his team’s defense.

Viewers were told Knight had shared a defensive drill with Matta -- and that they would see that drill as well. When Knight walked to the dry-erase board, it seemed like an interesting coaching moment would follow.

Instead, he diagramed a drill that was simply a five-on-four, which he said forced the four to play better defense. Knight called it his favorite defensive drill. Huh? Kind of a letdown actually. That was it?

Coach-of-the-Year candidate Matta could not come up with that himself? Instead of taking away insights from Knight, viewers were left wondering why the coach of the nation’s top-ranked team needed help dreaming up that drill.