CBS Sports' NCAA FINAL FOUR coverage tips-off on Saturday with THE ROAD TO THE FINAL FOUR®: OUTSIDE THE GAMES (3:30-3:30 PM, ET). Seth Davis hosts as CBS Sports examines the issues of youth basketball. The program focuses on the ever-changing culture of scholastic basketball as how it relates to the sneaker company and the role of AAU and Summer Basketball. The show is highlighted by an in-depth interview with NCAA President Dr. Myles Brand and NBA Commissioner David Stern. The two sit down together for the first time ever to discuss the issues and ways to improve the system.

Also weighing in on the issue is Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski, Georgia Tech head coach Paul Hewitt, former Arizona and current NBA star Richard Jefferson and legendary high school coach Bob Hurley, Sr. Steve Karasik produces.

Below are some excerpts from the interview with Brand and Stern.

On why they have not worked together in the past and why they are working together now       

Brand: Over two years ago we called together all the main constituents for basketball. Starting with the NBA, going down to colleges, high school, to youth basketball, and we began to have discussions.  It included the shoe companies, coach's representative, a full range of people. We wanted to examine, what was going on in the game. Where are the challenges? And where are the opportunities for the future?  How do we build this game, for the fans, for those who play?...We discovered that the common interest, that we both had to tackle...really was youth basketball.   It is a chaotic situation; actually, worse than that. It's a perverse situation once you get below the college level, and sometimes the high school level.  And, what can we do jointly, NBA, and indeed all our partners, to really deal with the challenges we find in youth basketball? I think that's what drove us together, a common love of the game, a common interest in the game and an agreement about where the real challenges are.  

Stern: From the NBA's perspective, we think that focusing on development of human beings; kids, boys and girls, using basketball as the vehicle for doing that, so for their personal development, as well as their basketball development, ultimately benefits the NBA and the WNBA.  But along the way, it benefits the college game.  It benefits all those parents who entrust their kids to the youth basketball system.  And so we have been delighted with the opportunity to have direct conversations with the NCAA and really find that we have so much to talk about with respect to officiating, coaching and youth development on a global scale.  All of us are now worried about the fact that kids tend to focus more on video games and use of their computer.  We would like, with our community of interest, including the athletic shoe and apparel companies, to get kids out there playing basketball. 

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Contact:

Jen Sabatelle               212/975-4120              jsabatelle@cbs.com

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