College basketball is Billy Packer's area of expertise, not professional basketball.

But Packer, the lead analyst for CBS' NCAA basketball telecasts for the past 21 years, has been keeping a keen eye on the Charlotte Hornets' ownership situation nonetheless.

He resides in Charlotte, pays his taxes here, and between his interest in the community and his love of the game in general, there's plenty of reasons to follow this continuing soap opera.

It is Packer's assessment that a year from now, the Hornets will still be in Charlotte - with new ownership, and with progress being made toward building a new uptown arena.

"A year from now, I say they're in Charlotte, I say there's a different ownership situation, and I say that a move is under way to build something downtown with support from the community," Packer said. "Kinda like the support the Panthers got to build their stadium with private ownership putting in the rest."

Packer made his comments last week on WFNZ Radio's "Prime Time" sports talk show, which is hosted by his son Mark. He had stopped by the station to say hello, wound up joining us on the air to talk about Michael Jordan, and somehow the conversation turned to the Hornets.