CBS goes for noise at Final Four

CBS will have new camera angles, a basketball court in the middle of a football field set at such an angle that no part of the domed Ford Field in Detroit will be curtained off (first time that’s happened at a dome for a Final Four), higher seats for announcers Jim Nantz and Clark Kellogg and the students moved closer to the court and behind the baskets.

That’s the cool part.

As basketball’s Final Four has left regular arenas for humongous domes, what’s been missed is noise. Even when you’re in the stadiums, sitting on the floor, the noise, the band sounds, the cheerleader screams, the frantic student wails, those are swallowed up by the vastness of the buildings.

Bob Fishman, the NCAA tournament production director for CBS, detailed some of the other changes.

“We’re going to have a super-slow-motion camera in a low position in the large out-of-bounds area near the right corner that should give us some tremendous reaction shots,” he said. Fishman also said there would be two new robotic cameras looking at the team benches. The benches are a little lower than ground level so Fishman hopes to capture, as he says, “Coaches doing their antics on the sidelines.”

Nantz and Kellogg will have raised seats so they can get a more panoramic view of the floor and rely less on calling the games from monitors.

And Nantz made a great point about the vast shooting backgrounds behind the baskets now that there are no curtains closing off part of Ford Field. “How are the players going to adapt to such a depth-perception issue,” Nantz said. “Now it’s a long way from the basketball goal to the stands.

“To me I think the field-goal percentage will be way off in this Final Four and maybe this is a small advantage to Michigan State, a team that is used to locking teams down defensively anyway.”

Reporting the Tim Floyd story

There was a point Wednesday night where Wikipedia, that user-updated Web encyclopedia, had USC basketball Coach Tim Floyd already listed as Arizona’s head coach (the entry did get changed back).

From a single radio report in Arizona it suddenly seemed fact that Floyd had left USC. Several college message boards practically had Pittsburgh’s Jamie Dixon already hired as Floyd’s replacement at USC.

So it was kind of nice that local newspapers went with the truth: that nothing had been decided Wednesday night. Not that caution is always appreciated in the instant news age but it should be. Now Floyd is staying put. Guess Jamie Dixon will too.

Real pro day

The NFL Network set up shop Wednesday at NFL pro day at USC with three anchors for its “Path to the Draft” show. Host Paul Burmeister, analysts Mike Mayock and Charles Davis and reporter Fran Charles were everywhere. There were 23 crew members working on the site. Davis, who played football at Tennessee and once went to a Cowboys training camp, laughed about the hubbub around USC quarterback Mark Sanchez. “Do you believe this?” he said. “But I think people love watching it.”

ESPN opening night

In the finest Hollywood tradition, ESPN will open its Los Angeles studio Monday not only by broadcasting the 10 p.m. “SportsCenter,” which will happen every night from now on with anchors Neil Everett and Stan Verrett, but also by having big stars in the studio. Magic Johnson and Larry Bird will be interviewed about their 1979 championship matchup on the night the 2009 game will be played.

Good to watch today

LPGA Kraft Nabisco tournament at 2 p.m. on ESPN2 is a chance to check out the improvement of Michelle Wie and the greatness of Lorena Ochoa.

Good to watch Saturday

Besides the Final Four, check out our local baseball teams in some final tuneups. San Diego is at the Angels at 6 p.m. on Channel 13 and at 7 p.m. Milwaukee is at the Dodgers on Channel 9. Channel 4 will broadcast the Santa Anita Derby in high definition at 2 p.m. and if any of you were hooked on the Animal Planet series “Jockeys,” some of the stars will be riding.

Good to watch Sunday

Beginning at 4 p.m. the NCAA women’s Final Four on ESPN and even the men’s Final Four doesn’t have this compelling story line: an undefeated team (Connecticut) playing the team to last beat it (Stanford) in St. Louis.

Good to watch Monday

Should be a national holiday, right? Baseball galore -- Dodgers at San Diego, 4 p.m. Prime Ticket; four games on various ESPN stations beginning at 10 a.m. with the Mets at Cincinnati on ESPN; and the men’s NCAA championship at 6 p.m. on Channel 2.

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diane.pucin@latimes.com