If you were one of the 3.3 million people who watched the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament online, you may have seen a familiar face at halftime.
Columbia men's basketball coach Joe Jones (along with New York TV personality Jason Horowitz and St. John's coach Norm Roberts) was featured on all the halftime programming of NCAA March Madness On Demand at CBSSports.com.
Jones is no stranger to working on TV: He's done work in the past for Sportsnet New York and MSG Network. Thanks to that experience, his name was recommended to CBS.
It was an opportunity at which he jumped.
"Who wouldn't want to do that? You get a chance to watch all the games and go on TV," Jones said.
The fact that he was only at the CBS studio in New York and not at any of the tournament sites gave him a good view of all the action.
As the Ivy League's representative, Cornell was one team that he watched closely. He thought that Stanford's twin 7-footers, Robin and Brook Lopez, gave the Big Red matchup problems.
"The tournament is all about matchups," Jones said. "Cornell got a tough draw. I really felt like they had a chance to get a first-round win. They're definitely a team that could develop and win a first-round game."
The Columbia coach also had a close eye on Jay Wright's Villanova squad. Jones was an assistant under Wright, and the two are still friends.
"I'm just really happy for them," Jones said. "They're not the most talented 'Nova team, but they stuck together and it's gotten them far."
That said, he doesn't see either Stanford or Villanova - who have reached the Sweet 16 - getting much further. While he claims to "have never filled out a bracket, to be honest," he predicts that the final will feature either North Carolina or Kansas against UCLA.
"UNC and Kansas have looked the strongest, but if UCLA can stay healthy, I think they're going to win it all," he said. "They have the best draw from here."
Jones hopes that he'll get his shot at taking the Lions to the tourney. And while retirement is a long way off, he's considering a career change to broadcasting when that happens.
"Working in television, it's definitely something I would think about," he said. "But I'm still young, and there's still a lot of work to be done at Columbia."
