The NCAA tournament starts a week from today with the first four, and on Thursday, CBS and Turner announced the broadcast teams for this year’s March Madness.
In a change from previous years, we will have * ten * teams instead of eight calling for action, although only four of those teams will call games after the first two rounds, as is standard.
Once again, the trio of Jim Nantz, Grant Hill and Bill Raftery, along with reporter Tracy Wolfson, will call the Final Four and the National Championship.
Here are the ten sets of broadcasters. The asterisks indicate the four teams that will call up the games after the first weekend.
- Jim Nantz / Bill Raftery / Grant Hill // Tracy Wolfson *
- Brian Anderson / Jim Jackson // Allie LaForce *
- Ian Eagle / Jim Spanarkel // Jamie Erdahl *
- Kevin Harlan / Dan Bonner // Dana Jacobson *
- Carter Blackburn / Debbie Antonelli
- Lisa Byington / Steve Smith
- Andrew Catalon / Steve Lappas // AJ Ross
- Spero Dedes / Brendan Haywood // Lauren Shehadi
- Tom McCarthy / Avery Johnson
- Brad Nessler / Steve Lavin // Evan Washburn
Last year, Turner and CBS announced the broadcast teams shortly before COVID-19 forced the tournament to be canceled, and there are some differences this year.
- Jim Jackson replaces Chris Webber with Brian Anderson.
- Reggie Miller completely leaves the tournament and his team with Kevin Harlan and Dan Bonner.
- John Schriffen also quits the tournament, leaving Carter Blackburn and Debbie Antonelli without a reporter.
- Lisa Byington moves from the sideline to a role from game to game.
- Steve Smith moves from a team with Spero Dedes to a team with Byington.
- AJ Ross will work as a reporter with Andrew Catalon and Steve Lappas, replacing Lauren Shehadi.
- Shehadi will replace Byington as a reporter with Spero Dedes.
- Dedes’ new partner this year is Brendan Haywood, as Smith is working with Byington and Wally Szczerbiak is returning to the studio.
- Tom McCarthy and Avery Johnson team up as a new team
- Steve Lavin returns to his pairing with Brad Nessler.
Two first four games will be called up by Anderson’s team and two will be called up by Nessler, Lavin and Johnson.
Again, there will be two studios – one in Atlanta and one in New York. Ernie Johnson will anchor coverage of the Atlanta studio with analysts Charles Barkley, Kenny Smith, Candace Parker and Andy Katz, while Greg Gumbel anchors the New York coverage with analysts Clark Kellogg, Seth Davis and Szczerbiak. Jon Rothstein will act as an insider throughout the tournament, while Adam Lefkoe and Adam Zucker will provide game updates.