No prime time for Miami-Alabama. And Heat opener set and NBA makes broadcast changes

A six-pack of media notes on a Tuesday:

▪ The Miami Hurricanes’ marquee opener against Alabama won’t get the prime time slot that had been expected when the game was booked.

ABC announced Tuesday that it has scheduled the UM-Alabama game, from Atlanta, for a 3:30 p.m. kickoff on Saturday, Sept. 4.

ABC preferred to carry the Georgia-Clemson game in the more attractive prime time slot at 7:30 p.m. That game will be played in Charlotte.

Though ABC would never admit this, the decision isn’t surprising because the Georgia-Clemson game is expected to be closer than the Miami-Alabama game.

Handicapper Lee Sterling of Paramount Sports said he would guess that if UM quarterback D’Eriq King is healthy for that game, Alabama would be a 17 1/2 or 18 point favorite over Miami. If King isn’t healthy enough to start, Sterling said Alabama could be a 21 or 22 point spread.

UM expects King to be healthy enough to start that game after January knee surgery.

Conversely, Sterling said he believes Clemson will be a two-point favorite over Georgia.

Ticket information for the UM-Alabama game will be shared with Hurricanes fans on June 1. Hurricane Club members will receive priority access to purchase tickets.

▪ Other ABC/ESPN games announced on Tuesday: Notre Dame-FSU on Sunday night, Sept. 5 on ABC; Louisville-Mississippi on Labor Day night on ESPN; Washington-Michigan and Auburn-Penn State as the prime time ABC games on Sept. 11 and 18.

▪ The NBA said Game 1 of the Heat-Bucks series will be Saturday, at 2 p.m. on ESPN. The schedule for the rest of the series will be announced soon.

▪ While Bally Sports and the Panthers are sending announcers Steve Goldstein and Randy Moller to Tampa for the Panthers’ road games in their first-round series, Bally and the Heat are not sending Eric Reid and John Crotty to Milwaukee for their first-round series.

Reid and Crotty will continue to call Heat road games from AmericanAirlines Arena.

▪ TNT will have all of its NBA announcers call playoff games from its Atlanta studio for the first two rounds of postseason.

But ESPN will send all their announcers to game sites beginning in the second round. Also, all play-in game and first-round games called by the lead team of Mike Breen, Jeff Van Gundy and Mark Jackson will be announced on site. And ABC first-round games also will be called on site.

ABC/ESPN lead NBA producer Tim Corrigan said there’s great benefit to the announcers being on site:

“They see so much more. They can choose to see what’s going on on a bench. When they’re sensing the game changing and the feel of being in the arena, and the energy and the passion. It’s been amazing the energy they’ve brought [not being at game sites].

“They go into an office or basement, look at a feed,and pretend like you’re in the arena calling a live game. the energy willmake a significant impact with that.”

▪ TNT’s Marv Albert, who turns 80 next month, is retiring after calling the Eastern Conference Finals.

“My 55 years of broadcasting the NBA has just flown by and I’ve been fortunate to work with so many wonderful and talented people,” Albert said. “Now, I’ll have the opportunity to hone my gardening skills and work on my ballroom dancing.”

Turner will air a 30-minute tribute to Albert during the Eastern Conference Finals.

Kevin Harlan, Brian Anderson and Ian Eagle are the candidates to succeed Albert as TNT’s lead NBA voice.

▪ Chris Webber and Turner parted ways last week, accelerating a divorce that was likely to happen after the season.

That leaves Reggie Miller, Grant Hill, Jim Jackson and Greg Anthony as Turner’s NBA analyst depth chart.

▪Marlins co-owner Derek Jeter is working with ESPN on a 6-part documentary about him called The Captain. It will air in 2022.

Spike Lee is one of the executive producers on the series.

ESPN says “Emmy-winning director Randy Wilkins will tell the story of Jeter’s professional and personal triumphs and challenges.”