The commentary toward the last of the game made me mute the game for about ten minutes. Discussing. I wanted to enjoy the game and the commentary wasn't about the game. This made me so angry. I loved an appreciated Webber's success, but what the H*** just happened here. Stop trying to make Bruce Webber something that he is not. Best of luck to him. But, I'm not entertained or enlightened by his commentary or analysis.
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Huh... That's uhhhh, that's a lot of residual anger for Bruce Weber. It's been 13 years, we're coming off an Elite 8 season, I think it's time to let it go that Weber didn't meet your expectations for coaching performance after '05 (or perhaps you hated him then too as that's what most of the stories were about tonight that you wanted to mute). But even if you don't, 2 parting thoughts:
1. Do you have any idea how difficult it is to call a massive blowout and attempt to keep people both entertained and not embarrass a far far far weaker opponent? When there was great plays, ball movement, or really high effort, they'd talk about it and try focusing on different players, but then you still have another 12 minutes of game time. Most broadcast teams would be talking about every other highly ranked team or the topic of the day at that point. Something like, "Boy Bruce, this Illini team sure has a lot of young talent, and if we're talking young talent, you've gotta just be excited by Duke. What's your take on Duke and how far do you see them going this year?"
2. Do you really expect an analyst who was a former coach of a team who took that team all the way to the National Championship and coached a team a few points away from a perfect season to not be asked about that team or give stories about that team or when he was coaching at the school? I mean come on. Every game J Leman calls for Illinois they ask him questions about his time here and laud him. Every time Bardo comes here they do the same. You really expect the network not to do that in a near 60pt beatdown?
Oh and one final thing, I thought the stories Bruce told were entertaining and pretty hilarious. I'd also say that no matter what people may think of him as a coach, he's been a great color guy for BTN. Every game I've seen him do, he's done a great job breaking down the game, giving insights, and been a knowledgeable and entertaining listen. And him and Hall made a fantastic team tonight in my opinion. With Hummel gone, they should be the BTN A team in my opinion.