WMUgoblue

March 2nd, 2012 at 1:31 AM ^

This is how I felt too. I love Jalen, he's done great things for the program, but my god he went off on a few rants that left me thinking if Bardo was ever going to get a thought in. He dominated the mic way too much for my liking,

Lampuki22

March 2nd, 2012 at 1:22 AM ^

it was a makeup for the way Bias i mean Bilas called the Ohio game and by the way if you missed that Bilas was essentially rooting for Ohio the entire game and he was whiny about the calls.



As for Jalen personally i cringed a lot and i thought he was refreshing at times but overall pretty strange. He needs to stick to the studio.

rbgoblue

March 2nd, 2012 at 1:30 AM ^

he got a little carried away trying to make cringe-inducing catch phrases out of song lyrics.  

jalen is best in studio, where he has a lot of insight to offer into plays or theory.  he has a wealth of experience playing at UM and more than a decade in the league to draw from, and he is really personable.  that said, color commentary is not his forte.  for some the game moves too fast.  it may have been a lack of experience too.  you gotta start somewhere right?

ijohnb

March 2nd, 2012 at 7:15 AM ^

of your criticism of his performance last night is accurate, but I thought that his insight tranferred well from studio to courtside.  He offered accurate insight into the cause of a lot of Illinois stuggles to get anything going on the inside early, and his commentary as to the block/charge flopping actually hindering a defender from defending throught the play was an insightful take on something that is universally considered a "heady" play but might actually be a deterent to good defense.  Throwing him on a three person crew out of the gate was probably a challenge because Jalen is a mouthful, but I enjoyed listening to him.  I thought he brought some life into a pretty lame atmosphere in that building, and I really thought he was the standout on that crew.  I thought he was well-received and will probably become an ESPN regular soon.

tyjam

March 2nd, 2012 at 7:20 AM ^

You hit it right on the head. Some former athletes are great color guys, some are great studio analysts - rarely both, mostly neither. Jalen is great in studio but felt like a fish out of water at times. Regardless why is he calling a Michigan game? We bitch about Bilas' bias, but we have one of our most vocal supporters calling one our our games on national TV?

Salinger

March 2nd, 2012 at 7:47 AM ^

but to be fair I thought Jalen did a good job of being fairly impartial.  He gave credit to good play on both sides of the ball, though I have to agree with what others have said, it was bad at times.

Just for propriety's sake he probably shouldn't have been given the Michigan game, but more than that I'd like ESPN to keep him where he is strongest, in studio as an analyst.  

Yo_Blue

March 2nd, 2012 at 8:48 AM ^

...did a good job of complimenting the other team and each other.  Bardo wasn't afraid of being critical of the current program while lauding the past.  The two had some history - it showed, and it was entertaining.  I liked the pairing.  ABB baby!  Anyone But Bilas.

One Inch Woody…

March 2nd, 2012 at 1:23 AM ^

I thoroughly enjoyed the sugar he was giving Michigan at the end. "They've got Hardaway! And Burke! And Nowak! And they have the number 12 SOS in the toughest conference! With a shot to win their first conference championship in 20 years on top of that! Nobody's even talking about these guys!". That and his singing. 

Jalen Rose to join BTN please.

JustGoBlue

March 2nd, 2012 at 1:28 AM ^

I LOVED the job Jalen did.  He definitely said some cringe-worthy things, but he was just so full of life, the entire time, even when he was downright silly (which alone has its pros and cons).  He was obviously pro-Michigan biased and didn't try to hide it, but he didn't shy away from complimenting the Illini either.  I can see why people could hate it, but I really enjoyed it.

EricTheActor

March 2nd, 2012 at 1:30 AM ^

I enjoyed his commentary thoroughly and thought it was a breath of fresh air. He reminded me a bit of Walt Clyde Frazier, without the rhyming.

Happy Gilmore

March 2nd, 2012 at 7:42 AM ^

I thought that both he (and Bardo) each stayed relatively neutral while calling the game. If I was a random fan watching the game without knowledge of the Fab 5, I wouldn't have assumed anything at all. Howeva, at the conclusion of the game once UM locked up the win was a different story as Jalen's excitment was pretty noticable.

rbgoblue

March 2nd, 2012 at 1:38 AM ^

Obviously ESPN thought it would be a great idea to put Jalen and Bardo on for this game, given that each had played for the two teams involved.  3 calling a game can be a bit of a crowd at times, but still a good opportunity to get these guys some experience calling a game, as they both sounded pretty new to it.

One of the things that ESPN has done that I've enjoyed has been their use of Bilas as the sideline reporter.  I caught him for the IU vs MSU game and he was on again for the Kentucky game tonight.  While it is a little awkward to see Bilas filling the role usually held by a young bombshell, and it's never a good thing to see Erin Andrews replaced, I felt like Bilas provided a lot more insight than we usually get from that role, and he did a good job interviewing coaches as well.

Yo_Blue

March 2nd, 2012 at 8:53 AM ^

but he needs to learn that sometimes less is better.  He doesn't have to be critical of every freaking play.  He doesn't have to criticize the B1G constantly.  He doesn't have to remind us of his ACC background constantly.  He doesn't have to interject himself into every story ("When I coached an AAU team, I got to know...").  Blah, blah, blah.

At least he's not Dick Vitale!

justingoblue

March 2nd, 2012 at 12:11 PM ^

Maybe. But I do think he can get better, probably good enough to do games on a regular basis. I'm assuming as he gets some games in his reel there will be people at ESPN to work with him and give him pointers on where to improve.

OTOH maybe we're going to have a new tradition of Jalen singing after every big win. In that case, whatever, it works for me.

Wolvercane

March 2nd, 2012 at 1:56 AM ^

I found it down right entertaining. It may not of been the most "professional" broadcast, but how many times have you watched a game and not only got good insight, but also laughed out loud at it? 

I greatly enjoyed it and I hope ESPN does these duel broadcasters (with one being from each school) more often. 

allezbleu

March 2nd, 2012 at 2:28 AM ^

as a commentator. some of it was funny, some of it was silly, but all of it was refreshing. kind of reminded me of jeff van gundy doing NBA games.

anyways it was a nice changeup. and i bet he would iron some kinks out if he started doing this more regularly.