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Conn Quest - The Official 2004 NCAA Championship
Paramount // Unrated // June 15, 2004
List Price: $19.99 [Buy now and save at Amazon]
With apologies to the National Hockey League's Stanley Cup playoffs, it's hard to imagine a more compelling post-season playoff system than the NCAA men's college basketball tournament. It has transcended sport and become a cultural event; it is synonymous with March (the phrase "March Madness" can only mean one thing), veiled references show up on unrelated television shows and commercials all the time, and it is difficult to find an office setting in this country that does not have an annual tournament pool.
CBS, the NCAA and Paramount have combined for the second year to present a DVD summary of the tournament, this time titled Conn Quest. Of course, it is a must-own for fans of the 2004 champions, the Connecticut Huskies. But it is also a great keepsake for those who enjoy compelling drama in sport.
The 60-minute main program shows highlights of the early rounds of the tournament, from the Cinderella stories of Xavier and Nevada to the expected domination of teams such as Connecticut and Duke. But the final half hour zooms in on the final four, where Connecticut edged the Blue Devils, Georgia Tech eased past Oklahoma State, and the Huskies emphatically walked away with the crown.
There will be complaints from those fans of the underdogs that their teams got short-shifted in the main feature. After all, the final 30 minutes shows extended highlights from three games, two of which are included nearly intact as DVD extras.
But while upset by teams like Nevada make great water cooler discussion, this disc and program keep the focus with the team that history will remember, history being written by winners after all. UConn was clearly deserving of that this season, and Conn Quest is a fitting tribute to that team.
The DVD
Video:
The feature is mainly presented in a fullscreen format, with occasional matted widescreen shots for "effect." The transfer is shoddy, though; there is noise on white backgrounds often, and the shots vary between too sharp (leaving jagged edges) or too soft (to cover up said flaws). It actually looks worse than it would on a digital cable or satellite setup with an S-Video connection.
Sound:
A stereo 2.0 track does the job, though it would have been nice to hear a quick-n-dirty remaster for back channel crowd noise. The volume level between commentators, narration and interviews is consistent, which was likely the most difficult part of the job.
Extras:
The reason to get this disc is the extras, in particular the condensed versions of the Connecticut-Duke national semifinal and the Connecticut-Georgia Tech final. The games are exactly as they aired on CBS, but without all the dead time. No commercials, no timeouts … even some of the free throws early in the contest have been removed! The games each play in less than 50 minutes because of the consolidation and it still conveys the drama and excitement (although the Duke-Connecticut one also conveys the fact that the game itself was sloppy). It's the perfect use of the bonus features option available on DVD.
There is also a short "Behind the Scenes" clip that looks painfully staged. It follows the team and Calhoun around before the national semifinal. It's a nice idea, but neither Calhoun nor the players understand how to behave naturally in front of a camera, so it comes off as five minutes of posing more than an actual glimpse into their lives.
There's one glaring omission from the disc for most NCAA tournament fans; March Madness simply isn't over until the highlight video set to "One Shining Moment," the unbelievably cheesy ballad that follows the credits of every championship contest broadcast. I'm guessing that music rights were an issue.
Final Thoughts:
If you are a Connecticut Huskies fan, you already own this disc. But for neutrals (or even Duke fans like myself), Conn Quest serves as an excellent summary of the 2004 NCAA Tournament. If discs like this become a permanent fixture in the CBS/Paramount DVD release schedule, college basketball fanatics will have an automatic purchase to make every late spring/early summer.
CBS, the NCAA and Paramount have combined for the second year to present a DVD summary of the tournament, this time titled Conn Quest. Of course, it is a must-own for fans of the 2004 champions, the Connecticut Huskies. But it is also a great keepsake for those who enjoy compelling drama in sport.
The 60-minute main program shows highlights of the early rounds of the tournament, from the Cinderella stories of Xavier and Nevada to the expected domination of teams such as Connecticut and Duke. But the final half hour zooms in on the final four, where Connecticut edged the Blue Devils, Georgia Tech eased past Oklahoma State, and the Huskies emphatically walked away with the crown.
There will be complaints from those fans of the underdogs that their teams got short-shifted in the main feature. After all, the final 30 minutes shows extended highlights from three games, two of which are included nearly intact as DVD extras.
But while upset by teams like Nevada make great water cooler discussion, this disc and program keep the focus with the team that history will remember, history being written by winners after all. UConn was clearly deserving of that this season, and Conn Quest is a fitting tribute to that team.
The DVD
Video:
The feature is mainly presented in a fullscreen format, with occasional matted widescreen shots for "effect." The transfer is shoddy, though; there is noise on white backgrounds often, and the shots vary between too sharp (leaving jagged edges) or too soft (to cover up said flaws). It actually looks worse than it would on a digital cable or satellite setup with an S-Video connection.
Sound:
A stereo 2.0 track does the job, though it would have been nice to hear a quick-n-dirty remaster for back channel crowd noise. The volume level between commentators, narration and interviews is consistent, which was likely the most difficult part of the job.
Extras:
The reason to get this disc is the extras, in particular the condensed versions of the Connecticut-Duke national semifinal and the Connecticut-Georgia Tech final. The games are exactly as they aired on CBS, but without all the dead time. No commercials, no timeouts … even some of the free throws early in the contest have been removed! The games each play in less than 50 minutes because of the consolidation and it still conveys the drama and excitement (although the Duke-Connecticut one also conveys the fact that the game itself was sloppy). It's the perfect use of the bonus features option available on DVD.
There is also a short "Behind the Scenes" clip that looks painfully staged. It follows the team and Calhoun around before the national semifinal. It's a nice idea, but neither Calhoun nor the players understand how to behave naturally in front of a camera, so it comes off as five minutes of posing more than an actual glimpse into their lives.
There's one glaring omission from the disc for most NCAA tournament fans; March Madness simply isn't over until the highlight video set to "One Shining Moment," the unbelievably cheesy ballad that follows the credits of every championship contest broadcast. I'm guessing that music rights were an issue.
Final Thoughts:
If you are a Connecticut Huskies fan, you already own this disc. But for neutrals (or even Duke fans like myself), Conn Quest serves as an excellent summary of the 2004 NCAA Tournament. If discs like this become a permanent fixture in the CBS/Paramount DVD release schedule, college basketball fanatics will have an automatic purchase to make every late spring/early summer.
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