College basketball tips off on CBS

CBS Sports' 2007-08 College Basketball season tips off with national doubleheader featuring Michigan vs. No. 6-ranked Duke and Kentucky at No. 15 ranked Indiana on Saturday, Dec. 8

Courtside notes from CBS Sports' lead college basketball analyst Billy Packer

CBS Sports' 27th consecutive season premiere of college basketball tips off with a national doubleheader on Saturday, Dec. 8 (2-6 p.m., ET) with Michigan taking on *No. 6-ranked Duke (2 p.m., ET) followed by Kentucky playing No. 15-ranked Indiana (4 p.m., ET).

Verne Lundquist and Billy Packer, in his 27th season as CBS Sports' lead college basketball analyst, call the action live from Assembly Hall in Bloomington, Ind. for Kentucky-Indiana. Bob Dekas, the Network's coordinating producer of college basketball, produces and Cathy Barreto directs.

Craig Bolerjack and Clark Kellogg are courtside at Cameron Indoor Stadium in Durham, N.C. to call Michigan-Duke. Steve Scheer produces and Chris Svendsen directs.

"At the Half," CBS Sports' halftime studio show, hosted by Tim Brando, along with Sports Illustrated's Seth Davis, provides all the day's news, scores and highlights live from the CBS Broadcast Center in New York City. Vin DeVito produces and Linda Malino directs.

Tony Petitti is Executive Vice President and Executive Producer, CBS Sports.

*AP Poll as of 12/03/07

* * * * *

Courtside with CBS Sports lead college basketball analyst Billy Packer

(On Indiana): I've watched both teams play. Indiana is going to make a strong run with Michigan State for the Big Ten Championship. They have a nice balance. Eric Gordon is obviously an exceptional scorer. It is tough for a big scorer to have big games, but it looks like he is capable of doing that. D.J. White is healthy now and that helps them a lot.

(On Kentucky): Kentucky is still struggling, but Billy Gillispie's teams always play very physical, tough defense. In the game against North Carolina, Kentucky really stymied a lot of what North Carolina was trying to do for two-thirds of the game. They are just having a hard time scoring because they have two major injuries right now. The SEC appears to be down somewhat from where it was the last couple of years. So Kentucky is not out of the mix, but it could take a while for them to get back to where they were.

(Top teams to Watch):

The most interesting Final Four team or potential Final Four team to watch is Memphis. What is going to be very interesting is that they have played an unbelievably aggressive schedule in November and December, but their league is going to be in effect, weaker competition from top-to-bottom than some of the other Final Four contenders are going to be facing in January, February and early on in March. How does John Calipari keep that team focused? How is he going to keep that team playing at the level that they are presently playing in a two-month period where obviously Memphis is going to be a highly favored club on the road or at home against any of their conference opponents? Memphis will be the most interesting team to watch as to how they turn out to be in March where they are probably going to be a number one seed and, in my estimation, probably the number one team in the country. You have to figure that none of the other contending number one or number two-type teams are going to go through their conferences undefeated.