Halfway to Final Four, analysts leave us wanting

We're halfway to the Final Four, with Florida and Wisconsin having scored their spots, and we can only hope the analysts on the top broadcast teams -- who will team together for the season's final games next weekend -- can perform together better together than individually.

That's because in big moments in their most recent games Greg Anthony and Steve Kerr have come across an unaware, uninformed and, even worse, indecisive.

Late in his regional semifinal assignment (Michigan-Tennessee), Anthony was unsure the player making an inbound pass after a made basket could run the baseline. Sorry, but that's Analyst 101.

Maybe he meant to be more specific, that the player could run farther than he did to get a better angle on the pass, which he said a few seconds later, but just as a single action by a player can change a game or a perception, an analyst's misstep can ring true -- and for a long time -- as well. Anthony can do better.

Kerr should be able to do better as well. He struggled mightily in the final minutes of the Arizona-Wisconsin regional final. His problems with a too-supportive attitude for the game officials -- which might be the biggest, most common problem for broadcast partners in any sport, and especially the NCAA Tournament. Yes, they have a tough job (at least that's the cliché we hear repeated endlessly), but when they make a mistake criticism is fair.

Kerr missed on a block-charge call to start his problem. He then took too long to offer an opinion on an out-of-bounds possession play that a happened seconds later. He said the call looked correct, without enough evidence to change it via replay. He then changed his mind, and lost focus on the game itself.

The ensuing lull in the action left nearly five minutes for Arizona coach Sean Miller to come up with a possible offensive plan. What resulted was feeble, at best. While the call was correct, giving Arizona a chance it lost when it lost possession on the block-charge call, the offensive play call was weak.

It was the kind of thing an analyst should point out, and quickly. Instead, it was basically overlooked -- and it's not like the on-air team was fawning over the winning team from Wisconsin, either.

Either way, both Anthony and Kerr were just OK, not Final Four caliber. Maybe together they can be better. And let's hope so, because viewers deserve better.