From Newsday...

[Vinny Natale <vnatale@map.com>]

Pitino Fills Void As NCAA Analyst

Steve Zipay

ON THE OUTSIDE looking in. It's an unusual position for Rick Pitino.

His ego crushed by losing game after game, his Celtics players and the 
Boston fans, Pitino resigned as coach in January only 3 1/2 years into a 
10-year contract. After being romanced by Nevada-Las Vegas and most 
recently, by Louisville, Pitino accepted an offer from CBS Sports to work 
as a game and studio analyst for the NCAA Tournament.

Pitino, whose coaching career has taken him from Providence to the Knicks 
to Kentucky to Boston, concedes that CBS is probably a way station.

"I don't know if there's a future in broadcasting; I've never done it," 
Pitino said yesterday. "If there's not a [coaching] job out there for me to 
take this year, I would love to stay part of the game as a broadcaster, but 
I have a lot to learn." To prepare for his part-time job, Pitino said he 
has been hunkered down in front of the tube full-time. "I've watched just 
about every single game on television, both college and pro, primarily 
because I'm down here in Miami with nothing to do," he said. "I'm a man 
totally unemployed. I play a little golf, but I'm on a street corner 
looking for friends down here. The one appreciation I have in watching 
broadcasters is how much they really know about the game. As a coach, I 
didn't think they knew anything about the game." Pitino will be paired with 
play-by-play man Tim Brando. His first telecast will be aired on CBS cable 
partner TNN from Dayton on Tuesday night, when the Nos. 64 and 65 seeds 
compete for the opportunity to play a No. 1 seed.

With Selection Sunday two days away, Pitino said: "As a coach, one thing I 
hoped for was not to get a team in-conference. I wanted somebody totally 
foreign to our style of play, someone who did not know our plays 
offensively or defensively." Given that, here are Pitino's assessments of 
some teams: "UCLA reminds me a little bit of Kentucky, with a little more 
experience.

They're coming on at the right time. I like UCLA and Maryland for the Final 
Four. Maryland has had a lot of adversity and risen to the occasion. They 
showed great character to come back to beat Duke at Duke. That builds great 
mental toughness coming into the Tournament. I love their guard play, I 
think UCLA has great shooting and I like pressing teams in the Tournament.

"With the Atlantic 10, they generally have great backcourt play; that's 
essential in the NCAA Tournament. We all remember the run Rhode Island got 
on a few years back. St. Joe's could certainly get on that. One thing I can 
tell you with the young players today: the younger, the more bravado they 
have. Every young ballplayer thinks Michael Jordan is a step too slow for 
them, and that's in his prime. I don't know if it's good or bad, but they 
have absolutely no fear at all." "I would love to see Georgia get in but I 
think they're going to need to win one game in the conference tournament to 
have a shot. I think the strength-of-schedule issue makes college 
basketball better for everyone. People that play these very soft schedules 
really hurt college basketball and hurt the ratings. But a team like 
Georgia that goes out and really earns it ... It sends a wonderful message 
that the record doesn't have to be overpowering. Just play a tough 
schedule." "Obviously, I have some bias in the way I say this, but 
Kentucky's very young and, like Georgia, has played an incredible schedule. 
If they fare well in the SEC, they're going to get their confidence going. 
If Kentucky can stay away from a walk-up type game, a low-scoring game 
where shooting is at a premium, I think they have a great shot at going 
far." "My mind is totally boggled with both Boston College and Providence. 
Both were picked to finish near the bottom of their conference. I just 
don't know how they're doing it. I know Boston College has terrific guard 
play; I know Providence also has great perimeter play, but their talent 
level is way behind.

But their quickness is a major factor, they penetrate great, play excellent 
defense and both Al Skinner and Timmy Welsh have done fabulous jobs." The 
Latest on Updates To eliminate what CBS Sports president Sean McManus calls 
"the only real consistent complaint we received," in recent years, that 
people don't get enough score updates, CBS will post a translucent graphic 
in the upper-left corner of the screen that will update, basket by basket, 
games in progress.

"We will still do our normal scores at the bottom of the screen and talk 
about the games that are over and upcoming games," he said. The graphic 
also will be useful when, in a blowout, CBS switches to another game and 
viewers still want to keep track of the previous game.

Heard Around...

Former Yankees and Diamondbacks manager Buck Showalter is joining ESPN's 
"Baseball Tonight" and "Baseball 2Day" on Sundays at noon as a studio and 
game analyst. Showalter will fill part of the role that Buck Martinez, now 
manager of the Blue Jays, filled last year ... At Fox, analyst Kevin 
Kennedy is the leading candidate to replace Steve Lyons on its Saturday 
pregame show hosted by Keith Olbermann ... MSG-produced broadcasts of 
Liberty games will move to WWRL (1600) from WJWR (620) beginning May 31.