Remote patrol

By SHARON GINN
Published March 10, 2006

CHECK IT OUT

Get ready to gorge on NCAA Tournament basketball, beginning with Selection Sunday.

Once again, CBS will carry the announcement of the 65-team NCAA men's field with its selection show, airing at 6 p.m. Sunday. The network will air its preview show, Road to the Final Four, at noon, followed by coverage of the SEC and Big Ten tournament finals.

Men's tournament coverage begins Thursday and Friday with 32 first-round games. This is CBS's (and color analyst Billy Packer's) 25th straight year covering the tournament.

ESPN will cover the men's bracket selections once they are announced during the 6 p.m. SportsCenter, and will break down the bracket with a one-hour show at 7. ESPN will air a preview show at noon Saturday, a special edition of College GameDay that will look at the bubble teams and preview the weekend's championship games.

For the first time, the women's bracket will have its own day in the spotlight. ESPN is carrying the bracket selections at 7 p.m. Monday, a day later than usual.

Fox Sports will use its overhead, high-definition Cablecam for the first time in a regular-season NASCAR race, Sunday at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway. The camera is suspended over the track by a system of cables, pulleys and computer-controlled winches, and can move anywhere within a 250,000-square-foot area. The network says it provides "unique, intimate shots of the cars and drivers."

Through the Fire, a documentary about high school basketball phenom Sebastian Telfair, above, (now with the Portland Trail Blazers) airs at 8 p.m. Sunday on ESPN. The documentary, which debuted at the Tribeca Film Festival last year to positive reviews, follows Telfair through his senior year in high school as he tries to lead his team to a championship, decide on his future and get his family out of the projects.

ESPN Classic will debut SportsCentury: Dean Smith, chronicling the life and career of the legendary North Carolina basketball coach, at 8 p.m. Wednesday.

Tampa area resident Byron Velvick, the former Bachelor and analyst for ESPN2's BassCenter, will be on location for the opening event of the new Bassmaster Elite series from Del Rio, Texas. Velvick will participate in the event and provide commentary for ESPN2. Coverage begins at 11 a.m. Saturday.

Saturday's North Carolina at Duke matchup was the most-watched men's college basketball game in ESPN history. The game, carried live on ESPN (using traditional coverage) and on ESPN2 (using its "Above the Rim" camera), was seen by an average of 3.78-million households on the two networks combined. ESPN's record was 3.44-million for a 1990 NCAA Tournament first-round game between Princeton and Arkansas.

Some useless yet mildly interesting trivia: According to the NFL and Nielsen Media Research, more women (40-million) watched the Super Bowl this year than total viewers (38.9-million) watched Sunday's Academy Awards.

[Last modified March 10, 2006, 02:00:16]