Greg Gumbel gets roasted for cutting off Jim Larrañaga-Charles Barkley conversation

Greg Gumbel is a March staple and a sportscasting pro.

This was not his finest moment.

TBS invited Miami men’s basketball head coach Jim Larrañaga for an interview Saturday during halftime of the Houston-Villanova game. Larrañaga, who has been endearing himself to a national basketball audience since taking George Mason to the Final Four in 2006, is in the midst of another deep run after Miami’s Sweet 16 win over Iowa State on Friday.

He also produced one of the NCAA tournament’s buzzier moments last week when he suggested that America doesn’t want to see Charles Barkley with his shirt off. So he joined the TBS studio crew Saturday to talk about his Hurricanes and yuk it up with Chuck.

Just when he and Barkley got going, Gumbel apparently got the producer buzz in his ear to cut things off. Sponsor obligations and a hard out called. Gumbel obliged. It was awkward.

Larrañaga was eager to finish his story with Barkley and surely none too pleased to be cut off for “Lily with inside the madness.” Gumbel tried to soften the blow by insisting that the second half is “coming right up.” And it was — six minutes and two commercial breaks later.

There’s nothing Gumbel can do here about the hard out, of course. If the sponsors demanded Lily at that moment, then Lily they would get. But it seems the transition could’ve been handled just a tad bit smoother. It’s hard to imagine Ernie Johnson in the chair next to Barkley and this scene playing out so awkwardly.

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March can be a challenging time for TV as CBS and Turner Sports assemble a mishmash of talent who aren’t always used to working with each other to cover games across four networks. Chemistry issues are to be expected. None of this stopped Twitter from taking aim and making jokes at Gumbel’s expense.

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