Nantz: Billy likes to be proven wrong because it happens so seldom. Here's the thing, the big question marks after the Selection Show: How did they get four from the Missouri Valley? How did George Mason get in the tournament? And all that stuff has proven that they were meritorious picks, and that's the way it goes. Good for them, it's great. I think it's great.

SI.com: Billy, do you agree?

Packer: No! No, I'm not buying any of it! (laughing)

Nantz: You're not?

Packer: No. It's the referees!

SI.com: You seem to be keeping quiet about all of this.

Packer: No, I think it's neat. I love it. I think it's tremendous.

SI.com: So do you now have more respect for the mid-major teams like Wichita State or George Mason?

Packer: Do you think we disrespected [them]? It's an opinion. You don't disrespect somebody. It's an opinion. I mean, you get everybody in a room, you say, well here's this team and here's this team. They had a difference of opinion. I have a difference of opinion. I have a right to that.

SI.com: Has your opinion changed now?

Packer: Well, obviously, if the teams prove what they did, you can't say, No, they're wrong.

SI.com: So, do you want to take back what you said?

Packer: No, I'm not taking back what I said, because I was making points that were accurate points. I think the last thing I said was that it makes no difference what opinions are, you gotta play the tournament. And then play the tournament and that's where you prove [things]. Was Villanova the best team in 1985? Everyone's opinion was no, but they proved they could win. That's why this is the greatest sporting event going.

Nantz: I said it on the air, I'll say it to you: Our comments obviously didn't play well in Peoria, and that's a good thing. Good for them. I hope they make it to the Final Four.

Packer: And this is not the first time for me on something like this. Back with Larry Bird's team in 1979, Al McGuire, Dick Enberg and I were doing a game at Duke, and Marquette got beat, and so Dick says, 'Al, who's Number 1 now?' And he said Indiana State. And I said, 'You gotta be crazy! Who have they played?' And so people at Indiana State got all bent out of shape. I have fun with it. I don't care. The reason I love doing this is because every year is a new chapter.