He’s a talented fella.

In 2009, Gansey retired from basketball and became a sports reporter for WFOR CBS 4 in Miami, Florida. Impressed with Gansey’s work in his short time at WFOR, CBS has decided to make him a sideline reporter for the 1st and 2nd round NCAA basketball tournament games in Miami on March 20 and 22. These games include the 1st round game between #13-seeded Cleveland State and #4-seed Wake Forest.

It was a great story because Gansey and Cleveland State are linked. First, he’s from Cleveland. His brother, Steve, played a little for the Vikings and, of course, CSU played host to the first two games of the 2005 Elite Eight run. Why, even current CSU Coach Gary Waters remembers that.   

“West Virginia was in our conference,” said Waters, who was then coaching Rutgers in the Big East. “Then I thought ‘Cleveland State has a good arena.’ Then Mike Gansey [of West Virginia] is hitting jump shots. That all stuck in my mind.”

When Waters left Rutgers, he said those memories were factors in coming back to the Midwest.

So, yes, it was a great little story line for the tournament … only it never happened. Mike reports he’s still playing in Germany for Bremerhaven.