March 14--The NCAA is upset. CBS presumably is upset as well. Their two-hour Selection Sunday show was spoiled when someone tweeted out a complete -- and completely accurate -- March Madness bracket before all the teams had been officially revealed on the broadcast.
"We go through great lengths to prevent the tournament field from being revealed early and the NCAA took its usual measures to protect this from happening," NCAA spokesman David Worlock said in a statement. "Unfortunately, and regrettably, the bracket was revealed prior to our broadcast partners having the opportunity to finish unveiling it. We take this matter seriously and we are looking into it."
CBS has not commented on the leak.
But those guys might be the only ones in the country upset about the leak. This was the first year that CBS dragged out a reveal show that was once a brisk half hour, then a tolerable single hour to a pretty much unwatchable two hours.
Pittsburgh Coach Jamie Dixon said guard Sterling Smith showed the rest of the team the leaked bracket before their 10th seed in the East Region was announced on TV. "We were wondering what we were going to do for that entire time," Dixon said. "All of a sudden we knew rather quickly."
Saint Mary's Coach Randy Bennett, whose squad did not make the 68-team field, told ESPN via text: "Our entire team saw it before the fourth region was out. We were ready to leave at that point."
And of course, folks on Twitter piled on, with the overall feeling seeming to be that the people behind the bloated broadcast got what they deserved.
