2024-25 Announcer Thread
- Thread starter MChambers
- Start date
CrazyNotCrazie
Member
He did this at least twice - I noted it in the chat. Haters only hear his negativity towards Duke and conveniently ignore anything positive he might say. Selective hearing. Perhaps I have selective hearing in that all I hear are those whining about Bilas and it drives me nuts. He is far from perfect. He is over-exposed by ESPN so he has become a walking cliche. He makes mistakes. But he does not deserve all of the wrath he gets here.
Yea, I agree with you here, CNC, and I'm no fan of JB, as mentioned in another thread). In my mind, his lack of bias towards Duke (if you want to call it that) is the least of his issues. Listening to last night's game, I realized (again) how much air time Jay takes up. I actually feel sorry for his play-by-play companion. I'm of the school that "less is more" and we don't need every single play to be analyzed ad nauseum. Viewers can watch the game and pretty much figure out what is going on. Basketball is not rocket science.
Phredd3
Member
Well, shoot, I thought I was pretty balanced with my comment. I guess maybe it's just a taboo topic now.
g111m1c
Member
He’s often right, but he’s also frequently wrong. He’s a smart guy but he doesn’t seem to broadcaster-adjudicate many calls correctly. Often wrong, but never in doubt.
That shot to the face and head of (wasn't it Sion?) would've been played repeatedly on Sportscenter and lots of other media outlets had it been a Duke player doing it to an opponent. Very easy flagrant call.
HereBeforeCoachK
On Holiday
It is patronizing, and just helps propagate the myth that "Duke gets all the calls" - over compensation is ALWAYS a bad look.
Indoor66
Well-known member
My complaint with him, as have said before is that he talks too much. He should study Verne, the master of the pause. Every event in a game does not demand commentary.
My main objection to JB too, Indoor. He needs to take the "less is more" lesson in broadcasting school.
g111m1c
Member
There was a big NCAA tourney game a couple years ago (Furman beat Virginia) called by Kevin Harlan, Stan Van Gundy, and somebody else. Furman hit a 3pt after they stole the inbounds pass, and that put them up by 1 with about 2 seconds left. After a moment, Harlan motioned to Van Gundy and the other commentator to just be quiet and let the moment, including the crowd noise, speak for itself.
Jay Bilas could find more opportunities to do just that, but specially when there are huge, loud moments at Cameron.
Matches
Member
Dan Bonner was the 3rd. And Harlan had pretty much already blown his lungs out screaming.
Not that I think that clip is hilarious and watch it every few weeks for a laugh. (There’s also a version set to the song from Titanic that I also do not watch.)
HereBeforeCoachK
On Holiday
Verne was the master, period....dude had amazing career with some of the biggest moments in sports...the Laettner game, as it's called, the 106 yard KO return Auburn versus Bama...and the week before that Auburn's hail mary pass to beat UGa....and in golf, he had Tiger's hang on the lip chip on the 16th.....etc....
brevity
Member
You watch the video clip every few weeks, but you thought we should find it ourselves? Here you go, everyone:
(I like this version because it includes Dan Bonner, and most of them crop him out and zoom in on Stan Van Gundy's stunned expression.)
Haven't been on this site in years, just came here today to see if anybody else was as irritated by Bilas as I was, particularly over his doubling and tripling down on the obvious flagrant. I'm so done with that guy. I'd almost rather have an unapologetic Carolina homer like Kenny Smith calling a Duke game than listen to Bilas contort himself endlessly to avoid the appearance of bias.
kako
Member
IMO Bilas at first perhaps didn't see the arm hit the head. Sometimes it's hard to catch, I could give him that. His angle from the rafters isn't the TV angle. However, also IMO Bilas always wants to look like the smartest guy in the room. And he is loathe to admit he's wrong. So he didn't admit it. True, it was a basketball play. But you still can't hit someone in the head at all these days, both in the public eye and in the rulebook. In this case I think it was more his ego than any effort to avoid an appearance of bias. But yes, SMH over this.
I don't think he's the worst color guy out there (I'll still take him over Alexander), but I don't like him that much.
9F
sagegrouse
Member
And Jack Nicklaus's birdie putt on 17 to win the 1986 Masters, IIRC.
g111m1c
Member
But Schulman told Bilas, perhaps multiple times, that there was contact to the head. Bilas shrugged it off as the defender trying to go for the ball; that may have been his intent, but his execution resulted in him hitting the head of a defenseless player driving the hoop with two feet off the ground. Bilas went on to comment something to the extent of how it’s more difficult for James to land (one foot, two feet, blah blah doesn’t matter). He was wrong. It’s be so much better if he would admit when wrong instead of trying to double down and find some technicality to justify his initial position.
Indoor66
Well-known member
Well, later in the 2nd half he second guessed Duke getting an out of bounds call for action directly in front of the Auburn bench. There is no way he could see the play from the crow's nest. (Neither could the TV camera.)
brevity
Member
I was about to respond in the negative, but the more that I think about it, the better of an idea it becomes... IF you have a broadcast partner who is willing and able to make Kenny Smith miserable for the entire game.
"So the game in Chapel Hill just finished, and your Tar Heels got blown out by Alabama, 94-79. Do you wish you had been assigned that game instead?"
"I'm looking at tonight's box score, and I can tell that Carolina's frontcourt is just not getting the job done, which anyone could have predicted in the offseason. You played with guys like Brad Daugherty, Dave Popson, Scott Williams... have you talked to them about the precipitous drop in big man quality? What would you give to see one of them on this year's team? Or how about someone like, uh, Kevin Salvadori? If he were playing now, could he resurrect this UNC squad?"
"If you recall, the Crimson Tide ended UNC's season in the Sweet 16 last year. Tell me, did it bother you to see that RJ Davis was no more effective tonight than he was back in March?"
"Speaking of RJ Davis, it's my understanding that his NIL package broke the team's tiny budget, and pretty much precluded them from attracting a true center in the transfer portal. You're a former UNC guard. Do you think you could get away with substandard performances if you had been paid this much back when you were playing? Wait... were you getting paid? I know the ACC tended to turn a blind eye to whatever Dean Smith was doing."
You see, I would watch that over Dan Shulman and Jay Bilas, and I don't even have a problem with them. Just two hours of grilling Kenny Smith, throwing in the occasional comment about the action in Cameron. You'd probably need to find an NC State guy to really commit to the role.
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