Date: 22nd November 2000

Walton To Comment On NCAA Basketball Finals


CBS Sports has named acerbic basketball commentator Bill Walton to its broadcast booth for its coverage of the 2001 NCAA Men's Basketball Championship.

Walton, named Player of the Year three times while at UCLA from 1972-74 and a member of the NBA's Basketball Hall of Fame (he played for Portland, San Diego, the L.A. Clippers and Boston) is renowned for his unvarnished reproaches of players, sometimes to their very faces in pre- and post-game interviews.

He once remarked to the Utah Jazz great Karl Malone prior to an NBA finals game in 1998: "How about playing? How about 35 points on a minimum of 25 shots? At least go down fighting. Let us see your soul, your passion, Karl. This isn't another day at work. This is about competitive greatness, about leadership, the ability to respond to the greatest challenge and opportunity in your life."

Source: Studio Briefing