Debbie Antonelli will be first woman to call NCAA men's games in 22 years
It's not as if Debbie Antonelli waited a lifetime for the call, but when it came, while she was on the road between Charlotte, N.C., and Charleston, S.C., she was taken by surprise.
"I immediately hit the cruise control," Antonelli said when she was unexpectedly offered a March Madness broadcast assignment.
When Antonelli dons a headset and goes on air Thursday at the BMO Harris Bradley Center, she'll be making a little bit of broadcast news, becoming the first woman since Ann Meyers Drysdale in 1995 to call an NCAA men's basketball tournament game.
"I can't wait. I'm thrilled. This is a wonderful opportunity," Antonelli said. She and Mike Gminski will be the analysts with Carter Blackburn handling the play by play. Thursday's afternoon doubleheader is headed to TNT with the night doubleheader on truTV.
Antonelli has long been a college basketball fixture, starting for three seasons for Kay Yow at North Carolina State in the 1980s, and then for the last 29 years calling games and serving as a sideline reporter. She works about 80 games annually.
"I've been on the men's side since the 1990s calling games," she said.
No matter who is playing, it's still basketball.
"The biggest difference, the guys dunk, the women do not, at least not regularly," she said. "Honestly, it seems to me everybody runs a lot of the same sets, a lot of the same plays, a lot of similar defenses. The pace is about the same. ... The men are more efficient, better shooters."
RELATED: 'Madness' about to erupt in downtown Milwaukee
RELATED: What to know about the teams playing in Milwaukee
Antonelli didn't set out to be a broadcaster. She aimed to be an athletic director. But during administrative jobs at University of Kentucky and Ohio State, she found herself behind a mic broadcasting women's games. She was a natural.
In the mid-1990s, the Missouri Valley Conference asked her to work men's games. Mitch Holthus, the conference's long-time play-by-play broadcaster and the radio voice of the Kansas City Chiefs, said there was some resistance among a few coaches and administrators. But Holthus, whose wife played basketball for Kansas State, backed Antonelli.
"She was a great pioneer," he said. "She did her job and did it well. She was prepared without being demonstrative. It wasn't like she was trying to prove herself that a woman should belong in that role. She was just going to knock it out with preparation and presentation and knock it out without calling attention to herself."
Antonelli is a student of the game, breaking down tapes, going over notes, making sure she is superbly prepared for tip-off. Her broadcast style: "Here's three things you want to listen to," she said.
She has some bold views about basketball, especially trying to boost the women's game. Her big push: Getting the NCAA women's tournament to stage its Sweet 16 in Las Vegas. So far, she's been unsuccessful in winning her case but she keeps trying.
"We need some pop. We need some sizzle," she said. And she wants to get the key demographic — men ages 18 to 34 — to tune into the women's tournament.
"I want to take our game right to the guys," she said.
While in Milwaukee, Antonelli won't just be watching the games. She'll be checking her phone. She and her husband, Frank, are waiting to hear if their middle son, Frankie, is admitted to Clemson University's alternative certificate program for students with intellectual disabilities. Frankie, a high school senior, has Down syndrome.
A letter of acceptance — or rejection — could come at any time, she said. If it arrives this weekend, she has made her family promise not to open the letter until she can be contacted. They're all on pins and needles, she said.
"I hope it's going to be good news," she said. "It's a really big deal, a big deal for families like ours."