March Madness: Broadcaster Ian Eagle cherishes seeing life-changing heroics during NCAA tournament
Commentator Ian Eagle looks on during a game between Florida Atlantic and Northwestern in the first round of the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament on March 22, 2024, at Barclays Center. Credit: Getty Images/Elsa
WASHINGTON — Calling play-by-play in television broadcasts of 28 NCAA Tournaments has given Ian Eagle a perspective others might not have but probably should hear.
Most who watched Dylan Darling’s drive against Kansas for the winning layup as time expired in St. John’s NCAA East Regional second-round victory in San Diego last Sunday can see its impact in the moment. It’s the big-time shot that put the Red Storm into its first Sweet 16 since 1999. It’s a shot we are all sure to see in “One Shining Moment” at the conclusion of the Final Four. It’s the play that landed endorsement deals for the 6-1 point guard.
Rather, Eagle sees a player whose life has been changed by the best sporting event on the calendar.
“It was a reminder of what this tournament consistently produces: Which is a person’s life changes dramatically and for the rest of time,” Eagle, the lead announcer for CBS and TNT’s coverage of the NCAA Tournament, told Newsday in a phone interview.
“No matter what happens in Dylan Darling’s life, somebody will approach him and tell them they remember where they were when that happened. That’s not something to just push to the side and not celebrate . . . Even taking New York out of the equation, there’s someone that did not know Dylan Darling’s name before last weekend and now it will be embedded in their brain forever because of one moment and one drive to the rim with no time remaining on the clock.”
It sort of depends on what generation of college basketball fan you are but it’s hard to deny. Whether it’s U.S. Reed, Christian Laettner, Tyus Edney or Kris Jenkins, or all of them, we remember those names because of what they did in the Big Dance. And so too it seems destined for Darling.
Eagle said that in all the March Madness games he’s called he’s never gotten a deciding buzzer-beater like Darling’s. The closest he came was Alabama’s Alex Reese putting in a three-pointer against UCLA to force overtime in the 2021 tourney. He described the game-deciding Big Dance buzzer-beater as “a little bit like seeing Bigfoot. You only occasionally glimpse it, the true buzzer-beater with zeros on the clock to win an NCAA Tournament game.”
Working 28 NCAA Tournaments also hasn’t diminished any enthusiasm for the event. He will be doing play-by-play of the three East Regional games this weekend with semifinalists No. 5 St. John’s facing No. 1 Duke and No. 2 Connecticut meeting No. 3 Michigan State and one can hear a level of excitement in his voice when he talks about the assignment.
“It feels like a Final Four: The buildup, the history, the heavyweight programs going toe-to-toe,” Eagle said. “We know that there’s another weekend and everybody looks forward to the biggest stage, but this feels immense. I’m not sure that I reckon I can recall, at least in my career, this sort of emotion attached to a regional that has so many layers of storylines to it. And any one of these four teams could win a national championship and no one would bat an eye.”
And all eyes are likely to be on the games in Washington for all the reasons he mentioned. This already is the most-viewed NCAA Tournament with an average audience of 10.1 million in the 48 games that preceded the upcoming Sweet 16.
Watching St. John’s (30-6) play this season has stirred up things for a guy who grew up in Forest Hills and followed St. John’s until he set his sights on attending Syracuse to become a broadcaster.
“I made a decision in my teens that I wanted to go to Syracuse so my interest shifted, but I 100% was a St. John’s follower and that team with Chris Mullin, Shelton Jones, Willie Glass, Mark Jackson [and] Bill Wennington," Eagle said. "That squad was my team. I fell in love with them.”
During St. John’s steady slide from relevance during the quarter century before the hiring of Rick Pitino, Eagle realized that there are no absolutes and that greatness could be fleeting. The clear view of the Red Storm as a top-tier program lost focus. But with Pitino at the helm it is coming back into focus.
“The coach brings a great deal of gravitas to this equation,” Eagle said. “When they hired Rick Pitino, this is what they visualized. They visualized being a national program once again.”
After St. John’s victory over Kansas Sunday, Pitino was reminded about the Laettner shot that eliminated his Kentucky team from the 1992 Big Dance and replied, “You win some, you lose some. I’m hoping we can get Duke at the buzzer next to make up for that Christian Laettner shot.”
Then Eagle for the first time, and St. John’s fans for the second in two weeks, would have a Bigfoot sighting.
Roger Rubin returned to Newsday in 2018 to write about high schools, colleges and baseball following 20 years at the Daily News. A Baseball Hall of Fame voter since 2011, he has covered 13 MLB postseasons and 14 NCAA Final Fours.
