CBS sticks it to Heels with late start time

The men's basketball selection committee and CBS didn't cut North Carolina much slack in this NCAA Tournament.

First, the committee tossed the Heels into a snake pit of a regional. Then CBS gave them a first-round starting time that only a traveling troupe of insomniacs would welcome.

When the Tar Heels go off as the No. 1 East seeds against Eastern Kentucky tonight at 9:40 (even later if the preceding game runs long), their road to the Final Four is steep and slippery. The regional degree of difficulty isn't even close this year. On a scale of 1 through 10, the East is a 10, the West a 7, the Midwest a 6 and the South about a 4.

If the favorites win throughout, Carolina would have to get past Eastern Kentucky, Marquette, Texas and Georgetown to reach Atlanta.

Ohio State, seeded No. 1 in the South and apparently in the hearts of the committee members, would face Central Connecticut State, Brigham Young, Virginia and Memphis.

Florida, No. 1 in the Midwest, would get Jackson State, Arizona, Maryland and Wisconsin.

Out West, No. 1 Kansas would meet Niagara, Kentucky, Southern Illinois and UCLA.

All of the favorites won't win, of course. If recent history holds, at least one of the regionals will get discombobulated by first- and second-round upsets. Technically, that regional could just as easily be the East as the other three.

The Tar Heels did get an opening weekend in Winston-Salem, and that should make it easier for them to advance to the regional in East Rutherford, N.J.

But by the time the game finally starts tonight in Joel Coliseum, many of the Carolina fans in attendance may need a wake-up call.

That the NCAA can allow CBS to start a game at almost 10 p.m. local time is a travesty.

The network pays a fortune -- almost $550 million annually -- to televise the men's tournament. That kind of money should give CBS a certain amount of influence, but a scheduled 9:40 p.m. local-time start goes beyond mere influence -- it's outright fan abuse. The folks who go to the expense and trouble of purchasing tickets and attending the games are so mistreated it's a minor miracle they continue to put up with it.

And it's hardly the luck of the draw that threw Carolina into that late starting slot. It's an unwritten rule at CBS that late-night programming is best filled by the big hitters. That 9:40 Eastern-time show has routinely featured Carolina, Duke and Kentucky over the years.

The coaches and schools are well-compensated for the inconvenience. The fans aren't. Neither are the players. It will be at least 2 a.m. Friday before the Carolina and Eastern Kentucky players get back to their rooms. Assuming Carolina wins, that's not much of a reward for earning a No. 1 seed.