College hoops on CBS: Week 11 preview

CBS Sports' Road to the Final Four roars into March with nine of nations Top 25 teams on Saturday, March 1 and Sunday, March 2

No. 1 Tennessee taking on SEC rival Kentucky highlights line-up

Courtside notes with CBS Sports' Billy Packer

CBS Sports' "Road to the Final Four roars into March with nine of the nations top 25-ranked teams Saturday, March 1 and Sunday, March 2 (noon-6 p.m., ET; both days). Saturday's live action tips off with a national broadcast as *No. 6 ranked- Duke takes on North Carolina State (noon, ET). A national Big East match-up between *No. 10-ranked Georgetown and *No. 21-Marquette follows (2 p.m., ET). The day concludes with a regional broadcast as Mississippi State plays Florida and *No. 5 ranked Texas battles Texas Tech (4 p.m., ET).

Sunday's tripleheader tips-off with a live national broadcast as Kentucky takes on *No. 1-ranked Tennessee (noon, ET), followed by national coverage of *No. 12-ranked Indiana visiting *No. 15-ranked Michigan State. The weekend's action wraps up with regional coverage when *No. 4-ranked UCLA takes on Arizona and Villanova battles *No. 18-ranked Louisville. All contests will be broadcast in HDTV.

At the Half, CBS Sports' halftime studio show hosted by Greg Gumbel, 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. Eric Mann produces and Bob Matina directs.

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

(*Coaches poll rankings as of 02/25/08)

Following are the talent and production assignments for this weekend's action:

Saturday, March 1 -- Tripleheader

12:00-2:00 p.m., ET

Duke at North Carolina State -- Verne Lundquist/Bill Raftery -- Mark Wolff/Suzanne Smith

2:00-4:00 p.m., ET

Georgetown at Marquette -- Gus Johnson/Clark Kellogg -- Steve Scheer/Bryan Lilley

4:00-6:00 p.m., ET

Mississippi State at Florida -- Tim Brando/Mike Gminski -- Ken Mack/Cathy Barreto
Texas at Texas Tech -- Ian Eagle/Jim Spanarkel -- Steve Karasik/Mark Grant

Sunday, March 2 -- Tripleheader

12:00-2:00 p.m., ET

Kentucky at Tennessee -- Kevin Harlan/Bill Raftery -- Craig Silver/Andy Goldberg

2:00-4:00 p.m., ET

Indiana at Michigan State -- Dick Enberg/Dan Bonner -- Bob Mansbach/Mike Arnold

4:00-6:00 p.m., ET

UCLA at Arizona -- Jim Nantz/Billy Packer -- Bob Dekas/Bob Fishman
Villanova at Louisville -- Craig Bolerjack/Bob Wenzel -- Vic Frank/Chris Svendsen

* * * * *

Courtside with CBS Sports' Billy Packer

(On the importance of last 12 games):

Last weekend was a real shakeout weekend for a lot of teams because the committee has said the last 12 games are going to be critical. You find so many leagues with all these teams that have bubble situations. Particularly in the Big East, ACC, Big Ten, and Big 12 you saw some teams moving in right directions like Miami and North Carolina State going in the wrong direction. You look at Kansas, with what looked like two weeks ago an automatic number one bid and now finding themselves in a situation where they really have to figure out how to turn this around because they were the best team in the country two weeks ago…

(On potential number one seeds):

At this time of year I've never seen a situation where so many teams are vying for the number one line. Normally it's pretty easy to see three locks and then maybe have two others teams fighting for the other spot. But now there are probably 10 teams still in the running for the number one spot. There have never been so many teams still vying for number one so late in the season. It's fun to watch. We're seeing teams get knocked off, like in the case of Duke losing two in a row last week to teams at best were considered best bubble teams. It is interesting to see there's not a big divide between guys vying for number one seeds and guys vying just to get into the tournament…

(On Player of the Year):

An interesting side battle is the one for the National Player of the Year between Michael Beasley and Tyler Hansbrough. That probably is going to be determined an awful lot by North Carolina getting a number one seed and Kansas State continuing to struggle, despite the numbers Beasley is putting up. That may sway the award for Hansbrough.