It’s high time to name Jay Bilas Commissioner of College Basketball.

The best television commentator on college basketball has long ago lost his tag as another Dukie. Bilas had become not only the voice of the sport but, as the smartest guy in most rooms, the voice of reason, as well.

Not sure the NCAA was listening to Bilas Thursday around noon on ESPN, right after the ACC had joined the Big Ten, Big 12 and SEC in canceling the rest of their post-season tournaments. But shortly thereafter, the governing body of college athletics announced that the NCAA tournament, the sacred March Madness, was also being canceled.

It wasn’t about the fans, who had already been banned by the tournament that was supposed to start next week. It was about the players who were already showing signs of fear to continue playing and, as Bilas pointed out, being sent to various places all over the country for first- and second-round games. That is hardly in the best interest of student-athletes.

Finally, the NCAA followed the conferences that had followed the NBA and called off what was left of their tournaments. NBA commissioner Adam Silver, another Dukie, had moved swiftly with the decision to suspend the rest of the season until it was proven safe to play again.

Bilas came to the same conclusion about college basketball. “What are we going to talk about this week, Bracketology?” he said sarcastically to cohort Dan Shulman. Then Bilas was asked about the old saw that college football and basketball need their own leaders.

Mark Emert is the president of the NCAA, an administrator who has stayed under fire for his decisions running college sports. Each major revenue sport needs its own commissioner, someone who has played the game, preferably coached the game and knows every aspect of the game.

Bilas, who is a practicing attorney in Charlotte during the offseason, fits the bill in so many ways. He has challenged the NCAA for everything from how to pay athletes to putting fights on the court into the right perspective.

It would be a big job, a multi-million-dollar job, but if the NFL, NBA and Major League Baseball have had commissioners for almost a century, isn’t it time for major college sports too; not a politician, a participant.

Like Jay Bilas.

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