Jim Nantz on calling college basketball: “More good stories than I ever have a chance to tell”

With Selection Sunday this weekend, we’re roughly a week away from the 2017 NCAA Tournament tipping off, which means Jim Nantz will be calling quite a bit of basketball for CBS Sports over the next month. If he wasn’t already excited about calling college basketball during the sport’s signature event, last Sunday’s telecast of the Purdue-Northwestern game and the excitement in Evanston’s Welsh-Ryan Arena reminded Nantz why he loves college hoops so much.

Nantz spoke to The PostGame’s Jeff Eisenband during CBS Sports/Turner Sports NCAA Tournament Media Day, and the atmosphere at Northwestern was foremost on his mind, calling it the “top five greatest atmospheres of everything.” Considering all the sporting events that Nantz has covered during his career in broadcasting, that puts last Sunday’s game in some rather select territory.

“[…] we got the PA scripted, to let them know, to warn them, that hey, in 30 seconds, CBS is going to be coming on the air. The place fell with a little silence. All of a sudden, it’s rolling, and as soon as people saw CBS on the air, people had chill bumps. Grant [Hill] said he had chill bumps. He could hardly even contain himself. It was nuts. Good to see your other alumni, buddies of mine, guys like [Michael] Wilbon, [J.A.] Adande, Teddy Greenstein. They came by the table. It was like 19-year-old kids who were back in college again. It was really, really sweet.”

Fans who may not have watched college basketball through most of the season, jumping on during the NCAA Tournament, might not always remember that they’re watching a different sport, especially in regards to the age and experience of the athletes competing. Does Nantz ever experience the same transition in going from calling professional sports such as the NFL to college basketball? Nantz told Eisenband that he constantly reminds himself of that, but the environment of the game, along with talking to players who may not have a pro sports future, he’s calling usually makes that clear.

“Well, I think the biggest thing is I always remind myself, they’re just kids. Northwestern showed us again last week that these are young people who are about to embark on their lives. I know, when I say goodbye to them, the seniors, if they stick around that long, I’m most likely never going see them again. Your kids at Northwestern, even the Purdue kids, I went to the shootaround, there’s a lot more good stories than I ever have a chance to tell or that anybody ever knows. But I think the biggest difference is the atmosphere. There’s an emotion to it. It’s an emotional thing.”

Another transition that viewers and fans may not think about — especially if they follow college basketball or golf, but not necessarily both — is that Nantz goes right from calling NCAA Tournament games and the Final Four to covering The Masters every year. Does he go into golf mode, studying up as soon as the national championship game has been played? It’s a hard game of catch-up, said Nantz

“I try to celebrate Monday night with my CBS team. And the next day, when I get on the ground, I have to really catch up because I have access to the players on Tuesday and Wednesday. The problem for me is that all the players want to talk about is the basketball tournament and I want to talk about golf. And here’s the paradox. During the tournament, you meet with the coaches, they all want to talk about The Masters when I want to talk about basketball.”

The rest of Nantz’s interview is worth a read, covering a variety of topics including trying to be objective when his friend Fred Couples is playing. Nantz begins calling NCAA Tournament games for CBS next week, partnered with analysts Grant Hill and Bill Raftery. CBS’ coverage of The Masters begins April 8.

[The PostGame]