THE CHEAP SEATS with STEVE CAMERON: GameDay to focus on Zags, Gaels — and hopefully other news

Only television can create over-the-top hoopla for a game between teams ranked No. 12 and No. 15.

It’s not an exaggeration to suggest that thousands of basketball junkies around the country will hit the remote on Saturday morning to hear Jay Bilas and Seth Greenberg — but won’t be hanging around that evening to watch Gonzaga and Saint Mary’s.

Hey, there are a lot of other games going on, too.

Give ESPN credit, though, for whipping up student and fan chaos with a moveable set that rumbles off to football and basketball games each weekend.

College GameDay has become a cult event on the mornings of selected football games — highlighted by Lee Corso wearing the mascot head of the team he’s picking to win.

Naturally, that would be Corso.

One season when he was coaching a pretty poor Indiana team, the Hoosiers scored first against mighty Ohio State.

Corso called timeout and had a team picture taken with the scoreboard in the background.

The hoops version of College GameDay isn’t as zany.

Bilas and Greenberg, who will be in Spokane this weekend, DO flash some humor — but they’re not the Marx Brothers.

BESIDES the usual wrestling match between the Zags and Gaels, there will be other topics to discuss on Saturday.

Greenberg was part of the TV crew that worked the Alabama-South Carolina game on Wednesday night.

It was always going to be tense, since Alabama coach Nate Oats chose to play star Brandon Miller, who was involved (perhaps peripherally, perhaps not) in a murder near Tuscaloosa on Jan. 15.

Miller, an investigator said, provided the gun to former teammate Darius Miles, who gave it immediately to his friend Michael Davis.

Davis promptly fired into a parked Jeep, killing 23-year-old Jamea Jonae Harris.

Oats already had made a fool of himself during the week, when he excused Miller for being in “the wrong place, wrong time.”

That explanation was dismissed as ridiculous, considering that Miller had the gun in his car and drove it to Miles after the latter’s text request.

The coach had barely apologized for that gaffe when he decided to let Miller play in a game at South Carolina.

Predictably, the crowd chanted “Lock him up! — and ultimately a brawl broke out behind a basket where Miller was shooting a free throw.

To this point, Miller has not been charged with a crime, since Alabama law specifies that he would have had to know the gun would be used to shoot someone — which he insists he did not.

THE POINT here is that Greenberg was on the air when the ruckus broke out at South Carolina, and tried to call for some respect — not just for the teams, but for the young woman who was murdered.

Almost certainly, the entire issue of Miller’s involvement in the event, and that he has continued to play, will come up during question sessions with Greenberg and Bilas.

A small bit of irony: Gonzaga has already played Alabama and won 100-90 in Birmingham despite Miller going off for 36 points.

Despite something of a serious tone with the ‘Bama issue, Bilas and Greenberg no doubt will manage to entertain the audience as a warm-up to the Gonzaga-Saint Mary’s game.

There is quite a bit at stake for the Zags — not just the possibility of grabbing a share of their 11th straight WCC title, but the chance to impress the NCAA selection committee and perhaps jump up to a 3-seed in the tournament.

Both Bilas and Greenberg have said at various times that the Zags are a much improved team from earlier in the season.

Now, after their warmup gig in The Kennel on Saturday morning, they can watch in person to see if their analysis is playing out.

Zags fans will be hoping they’re right.

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Steve Cameron’s “Cheap Seats” columns appear in The Press four times each week, normally Tuesday through Friday unless, you know, stuff happens.

Steve suggests you take his opinions in the spirit of a Jimmy Buffett song: “Breathe In, Breathe Out, Move On.”