Bob Knight, after criticism, to call Kentucky games

Michael Hiestand, USA TODAY Sports | USATODAY

Here's how you try to be edgy even when you're the establishment.

College basketball's best-known TV analyst last season chose not to mention by name the team cruising to the national championship. ESPN's Bob Knight referred to Kentucky only as that "team from the SEC."

Which created an opportunity for the provocative move ESPN will formally announce Monday:

Knight will be reassigned to call SEC games -- alongside play-by-play announcer Rece Davis on Thursday nights -- including Kentucky action. But Knight won't be at games in which things might get a little too edgy.

ESPN spokesman Mike Humes on Sunday said that Knight will work Kentucky games -- but not ones on the Wildcats' home court.

Knight was unavailable for comment Sunday but said in an ESPN statement that "the SEC has a lot of good matchups, good play and good coaching. I'm looking forward to watching and describing these games."

Although that comment couldn't have been more diplomatic if it had been vetted by the U.S. State Department, ESPN is showing that TV assignments can create their own subplots. While Knight last spring eventually went back to using the K word, the animosity wasn't just a passing whim -- especially when it comes to Kentucky coach John Calipari and the subject of Wildcat players leaving early for the pros.

In 2009, Knight cited Calipari as not being a good influence in college basketball. And last year he apologized to Calipari after erroneously claiming several Wildcat players hadn't attended spring semester classes the previous year. But in that apology, Knight said his "overall point is that 'one-and-dones' are not healthy for college basketball."

Fran Fraschilla will replace Knight to call Big 12 games with Brent Musburger on the marquee prime-time Big East/Big 12 doubleheaders that ESPN hypes as Big Monday basketball. Fraschilla, who has only worked a couple games with Musburger, says he's "thrilled" to be teamed with the veteran.

"Although he won't like this, I grew up listening to him as a kid. ... He's the ultimate set-up man," Fraschilla said of Musburger.

On how Calipari and Big Blue Nation might react to Knight calling the Wildcats -- and Knight might in turn respond -- Fraschilla says it'll all be fine: "Coach Knight has always been like E.F. Hutton. When he opens his mouth, you'll listen. ... And we constantly find ourselves in situations where people didn't like what you said. You have to be truthful to your core beliefs. I don't work for the coaches association, I work for ESPN."

ESPN is now re-negotiating its SEC TV deal, which might lead to ESPN investing in a new SEC TV channel. The network is currently filming a behind-the-scenes All-Access series on Kentucky basketball that debuts Wednesday (7 p.m. ET). You might say ESPN is pretty influential in college sports.

Spice rack: Comedian Frank Caliendo, making his ESPN debut Sunday on the NFL pregame show, was succinct in his impression of the network's Skip Bayless, who famously champions Tim Tebow as the New York Jets starting quarterback: "Tebow will save the earth." ... CBS' Shannon Sharpe, wearing tight football gloves, made an historical analogy you don't hear much anymore as he talked about his pregame picks: "If the gloves don't fit, I have to change my pick." Oyyy. ... Fox's Jimmy Johnson talked about needing to take off his hairpiece -- then quickly insisted "it's really not a hairpiece." Prove it. ... Fox's Terry Bradshaw's idiosyncratic take on Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers: "Everybody wants to know what's wrong with Aaron Rodgers. You know what's wrong? He's too doggone good. He's being measured by last year." Sharpe sees something else: "He strikes me as a guy where it's always someone else's fault other than his own. I'm not so sure that, deep inside, his receiving corps really likes him." ... Quick quiz: In saying "this is the most incredible thing I've ever seen," was TBS' Ernie Johnson Saturday night talking about the network having misspelled "Willie Mays" in an onscreen graphic? No, but he could have been. Instead, Johnson was referring to New York Yankee Raul Ibanez's ninth-inning game-tying home run. ... Yes, NBC has a vested interest in Notre Dame's success. But given that the Irish managed to keep Stanford from scoring on the game's final play in overtime with help from a controversial call, NBC's Tom Hammond went overboard in proclaiming, "This was a goal-line stand for the ages."

Know your ratings: Sure, you'd love to amaze your friends and family by knowing the ins and outs of TV sports ratings. But sometimes, that dream can seem daunting. We're here to help. TV sports ratings lessons from this weekend:

*The Notre Dame football brand, despite losses in 10 of the team's last 12 bowl games, can still get off the mat. ND's overtime win against Stanford drew a 3.9 overnight rating, translating to 3.9% of households in the 56 urban markets measured for overnights -- the weekend's top college football overnight.

*While TBS' Yankees' loss against the Detroit Tigers drew Saturday's top TV sports overnight -- 5.0, which translated into a specially-ordered fast national rating of 4.2 -- college football's drawing power is far greater. Consider that overnights from five football games -- ND-Stanford, ESPN's South Carolina-LSU (3.7), ABC's West Virginia-Texas Tech (3.1), CBS' Alabama-Missouri (2.1) and Fox's USC-Washington (1.8), collectively drew nearly three times the ratings of TBS' Tigers-Yankees.

*Despite perpetual kvetching of prime-time baseball dragging into the late night, especially in the East Coast time zone, ratings almost always improve the later the action goes. TBS' Tigers-Yankees rating Saturday after 11 p.m. ET was 21% higher than the earlier game action. Remember, sleeping viewers still count if their sets are on.

On tap: NBC will formally announce Monday that it has wrested Formula One TV rights from Fox, which mainly carried that auto racing on its Speed cable channel. NBC's F1 coverage, with 20 races annually starting March 17, will mostly be on the NBC Sports Network sports channel, and NBC hopes it will all be live coverage. ... CBS-owned Showtime will air a documentary on Lawrence Taylor in early 2013. What's left to say about the troubled ex-NFL star? "What people don't know is how he continues to survive," says producer Pete Radovich, Jr. "His inner circle of friends and relatives haven't been in the public eye. And it's fascinating how supportive they've been." ... Off-beat: Golf Channel airs an Our Longest Drive special Tuesday (10:30 p.m. ET) about four regular-guy longtime golf buddies from Chicago who drive to the Arctic Circle to play golf. Except one of them had recently died, with his ashes riding in a wood box. The surviving golfers talk about life and death. ... Let's hope Cal Ripken calling games is on tap. After going from the studio to call TBS first-round MLB games -- and, as scheduled, is back in the studio -- the Hall of Famer showed he was good on live action.