DAVIDS DON'T EQUAL GOLIATH RATINGS.

Byline: TOM HOFFARTH

Duke, Maryland, LSU and North Carolina. Now there's a Final Four to knock the snot out of anything a network college basketball programmer could have hoped for.

Oh, right. That's the women's bracket. If only there was a way for CBS to work some last-minute logo swap with their pals at ESPN.

Sean McManus, CBS news and sports division president, has maintained the philosophy that, while all those Davids eliminating the higher seeds during the first weekend of the men's NCAA Tournament might provide the comic relief for fans attracted to their TV sets and now their computers, it's really the survival of the Goliaths that'll hold the audience there once everyone refocuses on the serious business of crowning a champ.

This year, George Mason wields the most deadly sling shot, but UCLA, an awakened giant, is the only thing that brings any semblance of institutional intimidation to the men's Final Four this weekend, and this is a Bruins team doing it without any flash or flair. All of which leads CBS suits to wonder - can an 11th seed from the Colonial League of Undistinguished Gentlemen provide the necessary juice to keep the engine running when most of us are just waiting for the tournament to return to some sort of sanity?

``Fortunately, George Mason has enough resonance to play extremely well with the American viewers, especially with people who may not follow the world of college basketball,'' said McManus. ``But I won't lie, not having a Big Ten team here, or a Kentucky, or a big ACC team - or an ACC team period - is not an ideal situation for us. Ideally, going into this weekend, we want one or two traditional national teams, and UCLA falls into that category.

``That said, the last couple of years has proven true that if we get really tight, competitive games, the ratings hold up. I'm less concerned that we don't have some power or traditional teams that you often see in the Final Four than I am concerned we get really good games.''

Ratings - for those who are to believe in such numbers when they don't take into account sports bars or any large-gathering places where true fans often congregate for such events - show that CBS is experiencing a 6.3 percent drop (5.9/13 share versus 6.3/14) through these first eight days over last year, but they're up 1.7 percent from 2004 (5.8/13). All the underdogs (translation: mid-majors) may be the backbone of the tournament, but they only provide so much viewership momentum past the first two days.

The love-hate relationship many have with wanting to see a big-shot program that's now missing from the marquee will be tested. If George Mason and/or UCLA doesn't make it past Saturday, the prospects of an all-SEC final might be even harder for CBS to swallow.

``We've been pretty straight-forward not to hype any particular matchup,'' McManus said. ``We can't sell something that isn't there. It's a long-term commitment, and some years we get lucky and some years we are less lucky.''

Play-by-play man Jim Nantz, who calls the tournament an ``outrageous success to this point, whatever the ratings are,'' offered a scenario that both the viewers and the network might secretly root for.

``George Mason has become America's team, and its win Sunday was, to me, the seminal moment in sports - and I'm not given to hyperbole,'' Nantz said. ``But it changed the landscape of college basketball from this point forward about the way people look at mid-majors. ... The way they crashed through into the Final Four, this has changed everything. Regardless of what happens in Indianapolis, we'll be talking about them down the road, generations to come as the team that made this up for grabs.

``UCLA back in the Final Four is another great story line, but think about this: You've got George Mason, having never won a tournament game before this, on a level playing floor with the most decorated championship program in the history of college basketball, possibly meeting Monday. Now that's a great story line.''

--A timing issue: Despite the George Mason made-for-Hollywood saga, the Patriots' matchup against Florida was put in the 3 p.m. tipoff slot, while UCLA-LSU goes into what amounts to a prime-time window for most of the country Saturday.

``It was a tough call,'' said McManus. ``Part of it is having a West Coast team, we like to feature them in the late window. When there is no big teams, we like to build a strong audience early, so George Mason can give us something to build on. You could argue it either way, but the decision was more with the gut than anything else.''

--The buildup: Included in a four-hour block of programming leading into Saturday's opener, CBS has a celebration of its 25 years carrying the NCAA basketball championship called ``The Moment'' (12:30 to 1 p.m.), in which its network announcers reflect on the things that stand out to them about the event. Included is Gus Johnson's memories of Princeton's win in 1996 over defending national champion UCLA and Greg Gumbel recalls Loyola Marymount's run to the Elite Eight in 1990 after the death of Hank Gathers.

During the official pre-game show (1 to 3 p.m.), a piece on UCLA's legacy that includes interviews with John Wooden, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Bill Walton is scheduled.

--The alternative: While Major League Baseball openers Monday provide some competition for the NCAA final, NBA TV will go with a 22-hour marathon of 11 episodes of ``The White Shadow'' starting at 11 a.m. Where was Carver High in your bracket?

SOUND BYTES

WHAT SMOKES

-- As expected, Fox Sports Net West has officially committed to televising the Angels' season-opener in Seattle at 2 p.m., their home opener against the Yankees on April 7, and the other games of each series aside from Tuesday's game at Seattle - which will be on KCOP Channel 13. Anything past that first week of the season is still being negotiated by the parties. FSN West is contractually obligated to do a minimum of 50 games this season, and will likely do as many games as fits into its schedule while also trying to keep most of them in the past two months of the season. It doesn't mean the network won't go past the 50-game mark, or help produce contests that end up airing on Channel 13 and KDOC-Channel 56. Meanwhile, the Dodgers' season opener Monday at 1 p.m. against Atlanta on FSN Prime Ticket - which is the name FSN West 2 is going with as of next week - will be replayed that night at 7 p.m.

WHAT CHOKES

--The AVP, which has boosted its total season prize money despite the fact it is operating without a title sponsor and watched its TV ratings dip last season, starts its 16-event pro beach volleyball season this weekend in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., - but its expanded TV package doesn't begin until April 8, when FSN will show this tournament on a delay. In all, FSN will carry 10 tournaments, mostly on a week-or-more delay (including the June 10-11 Hermosa Open, which isn't shown until June 17 and 24). NBC, meanwhile, will do four live events (Chicago on July 23, Manhattan Beach on Aug. 12-13, Brooklyn on Aug. 19-20 and Cincinnati on Sept. 2-3) and Fox network will have two live (Santa Barbara on May 20 and Sacramento on June 11). If the sport wants to make a splash, why not go live the first weekend? As an apples-to-cumquats comparison, Major League Soccer, which also opens this weekend, has live games slotted Saturday on ABC and ESPN2 (Galaxy hosting New England, 8 p.m.).

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BY TOM HOFFARTH