Bruce Pearl, once banished from college basketball, is now the central voice of March Madness. Stew Milne / Getty Images One of my favorite memories of the NCAA Tournament Selection Show — which is always a little more fun when something goes wrong — came in 2006 when George Mason was, surprisingly, one of the final teams to be selected for the tournament. The late Billy Packer, who was essentially the face of CBS’s tournament coverage at the time, was apoplectic, saying George Mason had no business in the tournament and openly mocking the school and the team on air, during what should have been the school’s happiest moment. Packer was pilloried for the remark, which felt at the time like The Establishment kicking sand in the face of the little guy, even before George Mason made it all the way to the Final Four. Packer, being Billy Packer, didn’t back down, later referring to George Mason graduates as “those with a 400 SAT,” a truly amazing thing for someone to say out loud.
Published: March 16, 2026 4:44 pm
Source: The New York Times — Read original