Five minutes with ... Seth Davis

You’ll see plenty of college basketball analyst Seth Davis on CBS over the next three weeks, and that’s a positive. He never shows any bias, he’s doesn’t talk down to the viewer and he’s funny — Davis used to perform stand-up comedy in New York City clubs. Davis, who likes Wake Forest in the Final Four, talked about the NCAA tournament during a call Sunday night.

Q. Wanted to talk about your VCU pick ...

A. “Yeah, I know they love me in L.A. right now.”

Q. Why VCU over UCLA?

A. “I like VCU. I think UCLA is a good team this year, but I don’t consider them a great team. There will be some VCU fans in Philadelphia, and that’s a team on a mission. VCU beat Duke two years ago, and the kid who made the game-winning shot, Eric Maynor, might be an NBA player. They have another guy up front, Larry Sanders, and a lot of NBA scouts have told me they love his potential. How often does an 11-seeded team from a league like the CAA have two NBA players?

Q. How hard will it be to beat Villanova in Philadelphia in the first two rounds?

A. “Well, Villanova is really good anyway. They’ve been through the wars of the Big East Conference and won at a lot of places. But it will be awfully hard to beat Villanova in Philly. I’m sure the UCLA people, should they get to that game, will think the Staples Center would be a better place to play that game.”

Q. With so few mid-majors getting in, it’s almost like, what’s the point of playing the season? Why is this happening?

A. “To me, it’s the single most pertinent question in college basketball. You can’t fault the committee, because they can only go by games played. It’s an ongoing struggle for those programs at that level because no one wants to play them at home. That’s the reality of it.”

Q. What can be done?

A. “I don’t know what the mid-major programs can do. Maybe it can be a collective effort. They can call out the power conference schools who refuse to play them. Maybe if St. Mary’s wants to play UCLA and UCLA says they don’t want to play at St. Mary’s, (St. Mary’s coach) Randy Bennett makes that known to everyone. But it’s hard, politically and socially, to do that.”

Q. You like Wake Forest to go deep. Can you elaborate?

A. “Well, now I’m wondering if they can get out of the first round against Cleveland State. That’s a good team. Cleveland State won at Butler in the conference title game. Yes, Wake Forest is young. But they’re really, really talented. If you look at the number of future NBA players, Wake Forest has more than Louisville. How those Wake players will hold up in that environment, time will tell.”

Q. So is there something about Louisville you don’t like?

A. “I think they’re terrific. They’re obviously dominant. But there are questions. Louisville did not play at UConn or at Pitt. They lost to Western Kentucky, which is a good team. They lost at home to UNLV. There’s some vulnerability. What they’ve done without a true point guard is impressive. The best player in the region, if not the tournament, is Terrence Williams. They’ll be hard to beat. But to be honest, I’m not as passionate about Louisville as Clark Kellogg.”