#1990s #commercial #WTKR #1996 #NCAAFinalFour #collegebasketball #CBSSports #KentuckyWildcats #UMassMinutemen #JimNantz #BillyPacker #MicheleTafoya #AndreaJoyce #PatOBrien #QuinnBuckner
(c)1996 National Collegiate Athletic Association/CBS Sports-ViacomCBS/WTKR-E.W. Scripps Inc.
Ran across this transferring the tape that had Super Bowl XXX. This is the NCAA Final Four halftime report from the 2and national semifinal game between the top seeds in the Midwest and Eastern regionals in the Kentucky Wildcats and University of Massachusetts (or UMass) Minutemen at the Continental Airlines Arena in East Rutherford, NJ., with the Wildcats holding a 36-28 lead at the intermission (the Wildcats won 81-74 and eventually won it all by defeating Syracuse {who defeated Mississippi State earlier that night} 76-67 to clinch the National Championship)
Calling the action were Jim Nantz and Billy Packer, with Michele Tafoya (who during the Midwest Regional Finals between Kentucky and Wake Forest ended up temporarily filling in for Sean McDonough due to Sean becoming ill, calling about 10 minutes of the first half before McDonough felt well enough to return to the mic) and Andrea Joyce, while Pat O'Brien and former Dallas Mavericks head coach Quinn Buckner hosting along with guest analysts such as UCLA coach Jim Harrick (soon to resign just before the 1996-97 season following allegations that Harrick falsified receipts for a recruiting dinner with Charles O'Bannon and Cameron Dollar were present {itself a violation of NCAA rules since he paid the full bill}, tried to lie about it by trying to make new assistant coach Michael Holton into the fall guy, only for Holton to come clean to the AD, resulting in Harrick receiving a "resign or be fired" ultimatum); Duke Blue Devils coach Mike Krzyzewski; former USC Trojans coach George Raveling (who retired in 1994 citing health issues following a car accident that year); George Washington University Colonials coach Mike Jarvis, Utah Utes coach Rick Majerus and Syracuse Orangemen coach Jim Boeheim (who had advanced to the national championship game earlier in the evening).
As for UMass, officially their entire postseason record in this tournament was vacated following the discovery that star UMass center Marcus Camby accepted improper gifts from sports agents; the NCAA on May 8, 1997 negated the Minutemen postseason record, leaving all of their games that season were officially vacated (Camby, by the time the NCAA made their decision, had turned pro as a rookie for the Toronto Raptors; eventually reimbursed the school for the $151,617 worth of lost revenue; though a 1997 Sports Illustrated article later alleged that John Lounsbury and Wesley Spears, the agents in question, also sent Camby jewelry, rental cars and even prostitutes)
