1979 ncaa championship game tv ratings

Watching this game now reminds me how much more exciting the three point shot and the shot clock have made basketball. Many NCAA championship games have had more memorable finishes. But none have ever given a better preview of the future of basketball.

As I finish typing this review, it's just about 45 minutes until the tournament selection show begins. This time of year always takes me back to the great tournament moments of the past and this game is one of the most special. Was this review helpful?

Sign in to vote. Share this page:. Clear your history. UNC-Illinois Illnois-Louisville UConn-Georgia Tech UConn-Duke Georgia Tech-Oklahoma State 8. Syracuse-Kansas Syracuse-Texas 7. Kansas-Marquette 6.

Maryland-Indiana Maryland-Kansas Indiana-Oklahoma 9. Duke-Arizona Duke-Maryland Arizona-Michigan State 9. CBS Champ. Michigan State-Florida Florida-UNC CBS Early semi. Michigan State-Wisconsin 8. Duke-Michigan State UConn-Ohio State 9. Kentucky-Utah Utah-UNC Kentucky-Stanford Arizona-Kentucky Kentucky-Minnesota Arizona-UNC 9.

CBS Figures for national semifinals unavailable prior to Champ. Kentucky-Syracuse UCLA-Arkansas Arkansas-Duke UNC-Michigan Duke-Michigan Duke-Kansas UNLV-Duke Michigan-Seton Hall Kansas-Oklahoma Indiana-Syracuse Louisville-Duke Moran was watching the spectacle with former Columbia University basketball coach Jack Rohan who was to write a scouting report for the New York Times before the championship tilt. Rohan pointed to the tunnel where Pennsylvania was watching while waiting its turn on the floor.

The damage had already been done. Michigan State cruised to a halftime lead the following night en route to a win in the NCAA semis. When a story gets retold by people over a period of time different versions tend to emerge. In the case of Earvin Johnson becoming Magic Johnson, most all of the accounts I have seen are quite similar.

While Fred covered high school games directly, my workload prohibited leaving the studio most nights. I had to prepare late night sportscasts from my office while photographers along would shoot game clips. Very few NBA fans ever referred to him as Earvin. His parents were never overly fond of the name, particularly his mother who is quite religious. She felt such a term implied that her son could do things humans otherwise could not do.

As a basketball player such an implied term was clearly accurate! He learned to accept people around the world refer to him as Magic and it never affected him at all. It is arguably the most famous nickname in sports. One of the great thrills I enjoyed early in my career was calling high school basketball games on the radio. And when the Everett Vikings and Magic Johnson were playing, fans listened to the games in the mid-Michigan area because the gyms were always sold out.

In the middle s local television stations were just developing their hardware. Video tape news cameras were not in use yet and neither were satellite trucks. There was no cable television yet either. Because the old WJIM-TV studio was less than a mile away from the game site we found that we could get a live picture hook up with the equipment we did have. We had no trouble selling the broadcast to sponsors ad it was a big deal. We had no technical glitches which was phenomenal in my mind since all of our people involved with the telecast had no experience with such a production.

I suggested we should broadcast the MSU basketball games. He agreed. We could do it! We sold Michigan State on the idea for a very nominal rights fee because we told the school officials we were doing them a favor.

Since Jenison would be sold out with 10, fans, many more would be unable to see the games. We carried ten games during the season and eleven more the following year. We used our own crew of employees and we chartered a bus which took all of us to road games. Most of the telecasts were Big Ten games and our ratings were absolutely phenomenal. We never had one on-air glitch. My station was a hero to the community because we provided them free access to watching these marvelous Michigan State Players.

In , the basketball world did not know Dick Vitale the way he is known today. In that year, Vitale figured he was just about finished with the game and was discouraged with his lot in life to say the least. The network was being formed and one of the producers had heard Vitale give a speech several years earlier before his U of D Titans were about to play in an NCAA tournament game.

He almost did not accept the invitation, but for the encouragement of his wife Lorraine.