If Bradley and Wichita State fans expected a teary apology from Billy Packer, then what the CBS analyst said Tuesday will sorely disappoint them.

Packer said he found it “funny and amusing” that his questioning of NCAA Tournament selection chairman Craig Littlepage has become such a big issue to Missouri Valley Conference fans.

“It must be interesting to be a lightning rod,” Packer said : and he clearly has become one. “Some of the other networks have hours and hours of NCAA selection talk, and it doesn’t ever seem to be an issue. I don’t think too many people had George Mason facing Wichita State in this weekend’s round.”

Jim Nantz certainly didn’t. But Packer’s partner said he was glad the dreamers still were alive.

“They have given this tournament a special texture,” Nantz said. “(The committee) should feel very vindicated, and I’m happy for them. : I think this is the greatest tournament we’ve ever had.”

Nantz said his issue was with the computers, not the committee. After he called the semifinals and final of the Big Ten tournament, Nantz said he came away thinking the conference wasn’t particularly strong.

“And guess which conference was No. 1 in the RPI?” Nantz said. “The Big Ten. And here the Big Ten is sitting on the outside after the first week.”

Packer held firm when a TV reporter from Peoria pestered him and asked why he had singled out Bradley for criticism during the selection show.

“I don’t think I ever mentioned a team,” he replied.

Then Packer offered some perspective, talking about how during the 1978-79 season, he said Al McGuire had to be “out of (his) mind” for saying Indiana State should be ranked No. 1.

The outcry was such that NBC moved Packer off a Wichita State-Indiana State game because officials thought his life might be in danger.

“I’ve been around the Valley for a long time,” Packer said. “I’m aware of the league. This is no knock on any team. This is an opinion that came up in that television program, and I think it has been blown way out of proportion.”