Bill Walton had some fun with an in-game caller on the ESPN 2 broadcast during UCLA’s dramatic 65-62 victory over Notre Dame on Saturday night at Pauley Pavilion. That caller was Digger Phelps, a college basketball analyst for ESPN from 1993-2014, and the head basketball coach at Notre Dame from 1971-91. Phelps’ Notre Dame team shocked Walton and UCLA 71-70 in 1974, snapping UCLA’s incredible 88-game winning streak.
And when Phelps called into the broadcast, Walton made sure to be very, well, Walton-esque with the treatment.
Walton asked “Who is this?” several times, and told Digger, “I thought you were dead.”
A few minutes into the conversation, Walton asked Digger, “You are still alive?”
“What are you doing these days? Are you like a vampire that comes out?”
When Phelps hung up, Walton said, “Digger is the devil. I thought he was dead.”
Dave Pasch had to enjoy listening to Walton do this to somebody else on the broadcast for once.