Coming Friday: Seth Davis transports back to 30 years ago, when Magic, Larry and NBC had the total package

"When March Went Mad: The Game That Transformed Basketball" is Seth Davis' new book on the 1979 NCAA championship game pitting Magic Johnson against Larry Bird. Michigan State also played an undefeated Indiana State squad, but that was second billing.

The game itself ... not that ESPN Classic worthy, except for now its participants' place in history.

Dick Enberg had a few "Oh, my!" exclaimations scattered through the NBC broadcast he did with Billy Packer and Al McGuire, the later of which probably knew more about Magic and Bird from watching hours of tape. Hardly any of their team's games were shown on national TV during the regular season (this was six months before ESPN was even created).

But Davis, the CBS college basketball studio analyst and Sports Illustrated writer (and Duke graduate), recaptures the backstories of that game, allowing us to spin it forward to how something like that would have played on today's TV screens.

"You can imagine how that game resonated for me, now working with the brother of my studio partner being involved in this," said Davis, referring to the fact that NBC used Bryant Gumbel as its pre-game host -- the brother of Greg Gumbel, the host of the CBS studio show today. "There were no information reporters sanding next to (Bryant). There were no pregame trappings, just a small Pro Keds sign. It's amazing to me how far it's come. And it's a large reason why the game had such an impact. You can see the ripple effect of it."

The game played in Salt Lake City had an L.A. impact on two fronts.

It is the last game Magic played before he was drafted and signed with the Lakers. That season, the Lakers made it to the NBA Finals against Philadelphia. That historic Game 6, when Magic played center, wasn't shown on CBS until a delayed broadcast. Shows you how far the league has come from there.

"Most argue that the '79 title game has a greater impact on the NBA, and a lot of that had to do with timing," said Davis. "(NBA commissioner) David Stern said that was the first time any rookie, much less two rookies, made it on the cover of the league's media guide. The whole TV package from there was built on the Lakers facing the Celtics. It made the NBA a viable TV product."

It also was probably the biggest college basketball title game since John Wooden's UCLA squad won the whole thing in 1975 to end his era. NBC had built its college basketball coverage around UCLA, doing its first live title game in 1969 when Lew Alcindor was the star center. In 1975, it began carrying regular-season games, Saturday doubleheaders to go up against CBS' NBA games, and having a UCLA or Notre Dame broadcast carry it.

The 1979 NCAA title game "provided to be a pivotal point from the line of thinking" that UCLA had to be on TV for any to have interest in the college game, Davis said.

"People don't watch to see what they're already familar with, they want to see something new happen," Davis reasons. "Before last year's tournament, I knew about (Davidson's) Stephen Curry, but suddenly the country fell in love with him. They're still fascinated by him. I'm not comparing him to Larry Bird, but Curry is a direct descendant from him."

Eddie Einhorn, who founded the trailblazing TVS television network that carried many college basketball games, feared that without UCLA's dominance, the game would suffer.

"I consider Eddie a genius," Packer says in the book, "(but) this game (in '79) showed me that wasn't the case because it blew away anything UCLA did. This may be what the game did for the sport more than anything."

Davis, a Connecticut resident today who at one time lived in the Miracle Mile area of L.A. near the Beverly Center when he was working exclusively at SI, said he expects CBS to plan some kind of retrospective on that '79 game during its Final Four coverage, when it's closer to the exact 30-year anniversary.

Davis will also be interviewed by Bob Costas on Costas' weekly syndicated radio show, heard on KLAC-AM (570) on Sunday from 9 to 11 a.m.

A 25th anniversary DVD of that '79 game remains on sale at CBS' website store (go to this link).