CBS' Nantz: Cyclones can go a long way

DAYTON, Ohio - Iowa State is a 7-point NCAA men's basketball tournament underdog Sunday to an Ohio State team that has won its last nine games, including the postseason tournament of the nation's strongest conference.

Yet, CBS' lead play-by-play college basketball announcer likes the Cyclones' chances.

Nantz didn't flat-out predict an ISU win over OSU, mind you, saying Saturday “It's a tough draw, playing Ohio State here. But Ohio State has lost twice here in the tournament (in the second-round in 2006 and first-round in 2009).

“When I look at teams that just pass the eye test - that's kind of a cliche - (Iowa State) really looks to me like a team that can go a long way. This will be my 28th Final Four coming up. I've seen teams with a lot less ability get there.”

Nantz called the Cyclones' 85-67 NCAA second-round mauling of Notre Dame Friday night. On Saturday afternoon, he made West Regional 10th-seed Iowa State sound like it's in the echelon of, well, No. 2-seed Ohio State.

“They've got the right kind of concoction here,” Nantz said. “They've got experience. They're from a major conference. They've had to play in hostile environments. And they have great coaching and great players. There's a lot to like here.

“The Cinderellas, the George Masons, VCUs, Butlers, they come along. But the teams that shock everybody are all from a “Power Six” conference, that are the third or fourth team coming in from that conference and nobody has them earmarked going in. Connecticut (in 2011). Go all the way back to Villanova and North Carolina State.

“They get outside those conferences in the NCAA tournament and people don't know them as well, they're not scouted as well, and they catch a hot streak.”

Maybe cynics would suggest Nantz was feeding an Iowa writer material to pander to an Iowa audience. But do you think he and CBS really need to curry favor with that demographic to put NCAA television ratings over the top?

Before he spoke with me, Nantz talked for about 15 minutes with ISU starters Chris Babb and Melvin Ejim in a University of Dayton Arena hallway and said similar complimentary things.

“You ever been to Los Angeles?” Nantz asked them. That's the site of this week's West semifinals and final.

“You've got a heck of a chance.”

“One game at a time,” senior guard Babb responded. “One game at a time,” echoed junior forward Ejim. Neither winked or grinned as they said it.

Nantz asked the two players a series of personal questions so he would have fresh tidbits to drop into Sunday's broadcast. “Storytelling,” he called it.

It was no accident Iowa State made that particular duo available. Babb has already graduated and is taking postgraduate courses. Ejim has a 3.74 GPA and was named the Big 12 Scholar-Athlete of the Year for men's basketball. But ISU had already featured Will Clyburn and Korie Lucious in press settings here Thursday.

Ejim, a history major with a business minor, told Nantz he wants to eventually attend law school.

“After I play professionally,” he said. “I hear there's a lot of down time in professional athletics, but there's not that much down time.”

In today's telecast, Nantz may make note of Ejim having 11 brothers and sisters, all younger than him and first-generation Canadians with Nigerian parents. You may hear him say Ejim had little idea of what the NCAA tournament even was six years ago when he left his home in Brampton, Ontario, to attend a New Hampshire prep school.

He may mention Babb Bros BBQ and Blues restaurant in Dallas, owned by Babb's father and uncles.

“We might send some people there,” Nantz told Babb. The player told the broadcaster that a plug would surely be welcomed.

As the two Cyclones parted ways with Nantz, he told them “I'll use some of this. If not, I'll save it for Atlanta.”

That's this year's Final Four site. From Nantz's lips to the basketball gods' ears ...