Dick Vitale talks National Championship, social media, and picking brackets vs Buzz Aldrin

Legendary broadcaster Dick Vitale sat down to talk about the National Championship, bracket-picking against Buzz Aldrin, and much more with FanSided

Even the most casual of college basketball fans could imitate and recognize the phrase “That’s awesome, baby!” in the style that it’s meant to be said. That’s how prevalent famed broadcaster Dick Vitale has become in college basketball over his decades of work around the game and he’s not showing any signs of slowing up.

Dick Vitale is a name synonymous with big-time college basketball games and, frankly, there’s no game quite as big as Monday night’s contest to cap off the 2016 NCAA Tournament in Houston as the Villanova Wildcats and North Carolina Tar Heels do battle in the National Championship game. Leading up to the game, Dick Vitale sat down with FanSided to talk about the game, about his Allstate March Mayhem bracket-picking contest that he participated head-to-head in against former NASA astronaut Buzz Aldrin, and much more.

Aldrin was actually picking his first bracket ever at 86 years old this year in his head-to-head competition against Vitale. Both men sat down together for the Allstate March Mayhem bracket-picking contest and spent several hours talking and filling out handwritten brackets, something which Vitale considered a great honor and thrill.

“First off, it’s an honor beyond belief for me to have the opportunity to be with a guy who’s an American hero and an American legend. And to spend time with him like I did—six, seven hours where we sat there and we were doing our brackets, etc.—was a big thrill. I mean, a classy guy, a guy that certainly representing our nation in such a positive way. I just had so much fun. And it’s been a thrill and honor.”

Call it beginners luck or whatever, but Aldrin actually defeated Dick Vitale in their contest in the Allstate March Mayhem contest. However, the legendary broadcast conceded that the former astronaut does have him beat in regards to smarts.

“Oklahoma getting beat [on Saturday] has me now having to concede as the winner. Had that game went my way with Oklahoma, I would not have lost. Again, I simply tip my hat to him. Terrific guy, terrific human being. Hey, he’s got a doctorate of aeronautical engineering. I’m lucky if I have a doctorate in ‘hoopology.’ So any guy that has a doctorate in aeronautical engineering is a hell of a lot brighter than me.”

Something else that Dick Vitale has taken to noticeably well throughout March Madness has been his use of social media, particularly on Periscope where he’s frequented throughout the tourney. Vitale opened up a bit about how social media has affected college basketball for fans and the media in both negative and positive ways.

“Social media if you handle it the proper way, there’s nothing wrong with it. I mean some people get so carried away, you know, using profanity. I just block those suckers and I want no part with them. You don’t mind people disagreeing, that’s all part of life and that’s a lot of fun, in fact. That’s what makes sports so unique. One guy likes one team, one guy likes another team. But social media has played a vital role and is helping in many ways in a positive way. It’s helped me with my goal to raise money for kids battling cancer.”

Vitale then continued, talking about his love for the Periscope concept and what it allows as opposed to more limiting mediums like Twitter.

“I have a lot of fun with Periscope, I mean it’s so much fun. I say it’s almost like a reality show. I’ll shoot it at dinner and my wife will be yelling at me, ‘Will you put that away!?’ It gives me a chance to share time with people that make the game what it is. The fans. The fans are what it’s all about. When I was a kid growing up, I was nothing but a fan, man. I know it was a big thrill for me if anybody who was a ‘celeb’ would ever recognize something I did or said hello to me. You know, there’s a way that you can say hello to someone a way you can get to know somebody, to know a little bit about them. So I love sharing time and I really like the concept of Periscope. I really think it’s a great, great concept. Because, you know, sometimes I couldn’t do that on Twitter with 140 characters. You can make a point here and there that you want to make, but you can’t really get in extensively like you can Periscope.”

Then it was time to talk about the basketball, starting with Saturday’s pair of Final Four games. Like everyone else in the country, though, Vitale was stunned by how things played out between Villanova and the Oklahoma Sooners as the former routed the Buddy Hield led team. However, he was highly complimentary of the Wildcats, insinuating that they deserve more respect than they’ve gotten.

“I was totally stunned, shocked, use whatever adjective you want to use. Because, you know, Villanova, I knew they were good. We all knew that Villanova obviously—that’s something I said on SportsCenter this morning when it was on. People are making it like, ‘Oh man! Villanova might beat North Carolina! They’re really not bad!’ Are you serious? Villanova was No. 1 in the nation! They were No. 1 in the nation for several weeks. Villanova’s not a team that just all of a sudden has become a great team. They lost five games all year! And the five they lost were all to teams that made it to the NCAA Tournament, to March Madness. So this is a legitimate basketball team and they’ve been such all year. So again, I was shocked by the margin, I was stunned. I mean Villanova winning would not have shocked me, Villanova winning how they won.”

Vitale called that game for ESPN International where he was heard in over 175 countries around the world. He again harkened to an analogy he used on that broadcast for the Villanova-Oklahoma game that involves the great Muhammad Ali.

“It was embarrassing. In fact, I used the analogy—at the end of the game I turned to my partner, Sean McDonough, and I say, Sean, this is like years ago, my friend, when Muhammad Ali just sliced up like you could not believe Chuck Wepner when it was that brawl between them and it was no contest and that’s what it was on [Saturday]. It was an M-n-M-er, a total mismatch. No contest on that given day. It’s hard to believe. My wife, who’s not really a sports connoisseur, says ‘I can’t believe that they beat them by 25, almost 30 points earlier this year.’ I said well they did and that’s college basketball.”

Though Vitale called Villanova’s Final Four win the second-most impressive outing during Championship Weekend that he’s ever seen (behind only the 1985 Villanova team that beat Georgetown), he was also highly complimentary of the winner from the other side of the bracket in North Carolina. Noting that both teams are led by groups of experienced players, Vitale offered his thoughts on the one-and-done rule and how experience reigned supreme in college hoops this season.

“This year, I think it’s been a major storyline in college basketball. I mean, they got one-and-done guys and you figure guys would make such an impact. You think of the kid Ben Simmons certainly, at LSU. Yet he, as good as he is, he couldn’t take his team to the NCAA Tournament. Never mind winning—he couldn’t get them in there. So it’s been a year where veteran players, the Buddy Hields of the world, the Brice Johnsons of the world, the Denzel Valentines of the world, have really been dominant performers. And I loved it. I really wish we would change it up, one-and-done, and that we had a scenario where if a kid wanted to go out of high school and that’s his dream to go, let him go. But after one step in college, you’ve got to stay three years like you do in Major League Baseball and NCAA baseball. I think that would bring more stability and help everyone involved—the NBA and the college game and everyone.”

Looking at Monday night’s National Championship matchup, though, Vitale pinpointed the size of North Carolina as being the key for them in this matchup against Villanova, saying that their bread-and-butter has been their strength of their attack on the interior all season—but also noted that the Wildcats would be the toughest matchup the Tar heels have seen thus far in March Madness.

“I think the key, very simply, when you look at North Carolina, is to dominate on the interior. Their big people have to do what they’ve been doing for the entire tournament. Now look at this, now: they’ve had nobody within them of double figures in any game. But also remember this: they have not played yet a No. 1 seed; they have not played a No. 2 seed; they have not played a No. 3 seed; they have not played a No. 4 seed. The highest seed they’ve played is a No. 5—they played Indiana. So again, this is going to be different. There’s a reason Villanova is a No. 2 seed. Villanova would have been a No. 1 seed has they not lost the Big East Championship to my alma mater Seton Hall.”

As for the Wildcats, he says the key for them to win is to not only find ways to match the size of the Tar Heels, but also to be able to knock down perimeter shots.

“I really believe that Villanova has the potential to win. Now, I mean, their side of it, they’re going to have to make the three ball, there’s no question about it. That’s [Ryan] Arciadiacono, that’s certainly [Kris] Jenkins, [Josh] Hart. Because they’re going to have a tough time scoring inside. But again, [Daniel] Ochefu is going to need help. He’s going to need help from [Mikal] Bridges off the bench to give them size, [Darryl] Reynolds off the bench to help them out against that size of North Carolina. Because I will guarantee North Carolina is going to pound the ball and pound it to the interior.”

In the end, though, Dick Vitale looks at the National Championship and sees the sky being Carolina blue on Tuesday morning in Houston, but in a game that he’s desperately hoping is close.

“The Vitale Bald Dome Index, my VBDI, has simply said that North Carolina will be celebrating on Franklin Street. Third national title for Mr. [Roy] Williams, 77-74 in a really outstanding basketball game. I’m praying for it, man. I’m praying for a great game. To me, whoever wins wins, but I’m praying for a great game because there’s nothing worse than sitting on the sidelines for a game you’re pumped up for like we were for Oklahoma and Villanova and then have it end like that.”

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