College Basketball: Gus Johnson Deserves to Lead Play-by-Play on CBS

No sooner than Gus Johnson said "Euro-step" during Saturday's Butler-Florida game did I realize another run was coming to an end.

I had no stake in the game since both my team (Tennessee) and my brackets were pretty much eliminated. But Gus Johnson's last college basketball game of the year is always a sad day for me, and it's time to fight to get Gus more air time.

CBS needs to realize Johnson's potential as the lead announcer for the Final Four, and move Jim Nantz back to the studio. 

I never understood CBS' love affair with Nantz, whose laid-back style makes him perfect to call The Masters, but quite boring calling a NCAA championship basketball game. 

Last year's Butler-Duke play-by-play was abysmal. In a game that came down to a last-second shot, Nantz had put most of America to sleep before it even got to that point. 

When Johnson is on the air, I feel like he is in the room with me, and my reactions to greatness are usually in unison with his. He truly appreciates competition played at a high level, and he doesn't hold his emotions back. 

At the end of the Butler-Florida game yesterday, Johnson was seen on the sidelines standing up for the final play of regulation. Reggie Miller, who Johnson carried throughout the weekend, followed his lead. 

Maybe focus groups indicate Nantz is the cozier play-by-play man to households with people 75 years and older, but I prefer my play-by-play men more enthusiastic. 

I grew up listening to Dick Enberg and Brent Musburger, broadcasters you could tell were not only fans, but also had a handle on the pulse of the game. With Johnson, you feel he is calling the game on the sidelines with a foam finger in one hand, while Nantz calls a game like he's smoking a pipe and cozied up to a good book. 

Johnson has a great fan following, and there is even a web site that features some of his best sound bites, so it wouldn't be a stretch to make him CBS' lead. 

In 1990, CBS parted ways with Musburger, and Nantz has called every NCAA basketball championship since. Twenty years of Nantz is enough, and it's time to let the fan back into the booth for the Final Four. What's sad is Nantz is calling today's game between Kentucky and North Carolina, potentially the best tournament matchup of the year. 

I wish Gus was in my living room for the game, so I could turn off the volume on the television and listen to him.