Please, ESPN, Give Us the Game We Want

As I'm typing these words, Villanova leads Connecticut 71-64 with 40.8 seconds left. It's garbage time. This game is over.

But Villanova-Connecticut remains on ESPN even though Maryland-Duke has started. There's a little box in the upper-right corner of the screen telling me that Maryland leads Duke 7-6. Maryland-Duke is a better game than Villanova-Connecticut. What on earth is ESPN doing showing us garbage time?

I'll never understand the way the TV networks make their decisions when they have two games going on simultaneously. First of all, they don't allow enough time for the games to finish: It's common for college basketball games to last close to two and a half hours, and it's foolish for the networks to allow only two hours on their schedules for a game.

But it's even more foolish for the networks not to switch from a game that's all but over to a game that's still competitive. During a timeout with 30 seconds left in Villanova-Connecticut, ESPN studio host Scott Reese said, "Duke and Maryland already underway and it looks like it's going to be a whale of a ballgame." I agree, it's going to be a whale of a ballgame. How about letting me see it?

POSTSCRIPT: ESPN stayed with Villanova-Connecticut until the bitter end. When ESPN finally switched over, it was 21-19 Duke with almost seven minutes elapsed.