Friday, December 2, 2011

Gus Gets Back-to-Back Championship Games

Much was made of Gus Johnson's move to Fox Sports, and after a full season of college football games he gets a seemingly special set of assignments this week -- working back-to-back conference championship games.

Here's the rub, though. One of the games is a dud, neither means anything in terms of the national championship chase and Johnson has proven to be a bit better at basketball than football.

His starts his championship double with UCLA vs. Oregon in what should be a lopsided Pac-12 Conference championship game Friday night. Heavily favored Oregon might provide the fast-paced, high-energy action that Johnson describes so well, but the game itself could be a blowout by halftime.

On Saturday night, Johnson travels to Indianapolis for the first Big Ten Conference championship game, a rematch a thriller from the regular season between Michigan State and Wisconsin that was won on the last play of the game -- a play that required a correct replay ruling to determine the outcome.

That game, especially that least that play, would've allowed Johnson to thrive. After hearing him on a few football games this year, if feels and sounds like he needs a bit of emotion, energy and drama (things that basketball can package on a more regular basis) to thrive behind the microphone.

He's good on football, just not as good as he is on basketball. Perhaps in that sense he's the perfect match for championship games he'll work this week. They're both good matchups -- just not exceptional -- as well.

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