Jim Williams, The Examiner
Feb 27, 2007 3:00 AM (4 hrs ago)
Current rank: # 6 of 16,095 articles
WASHINGTON - This time of year, you rarely find ESPN basketball analyst Dick Vitale at his home in Sarasota, Fla. Normally he is on the road, but I got lucky when I called the Vitale estate Monday and he was in the mood to talk about his favorite subject: college basketball.
He will help call the Duke-Maryland game on ESPN Wednesday night and had just gotten off the phone with Terps head coach Gary Williams.
“You know, I told Gary that according to the Vitale Bald Dome Index, Maryland is a NCAA Tournament team,” Vitale said. “The win over North Carolina was huge and Gary has his team playing well and Maryland is peaking at just the right time.”
» Vitale on the best team in the area: “It is Georgetown. They are back, baby. John Thompson III has that team playing as well as anyone in the country now. They play tough Big East defense and they have one of the best frontcourts in college basketball. Hey, they were the only team in the NCAA Tournament last year that gave Florida any trouble. The Hoyas are a legit title contender.”
» Vitale on expanding the NCAA Tournament beyond 65 teams: “I am against it. This is the perfect number, and after what George Mason did last year you can bet there will be more mid-majors in the field this year and that is a great thing for college basketball. There will be plenty of big conference coaches complaining on the Monday after Selection Sunday that they were wrongly left out. But the conference tournaments are their play-in games. If you are a bubble team you know you have to impress the NCAA. Do it in your conference tournament.”
Jim Williams is a seven-time Emmy Award-winning TV producer, director and writer.
Examiner
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