If you hated last Sunday’s selection show on CBS, you were not alone. The two-hour extravaganza released the bracket at a snail’s pace, stretching out the announcement over the entire program. That, combined with a leak of the actual bracket, left the NCAA Selection Show with its lowest rating in years.
The good news for fans and media is they should not expect a repeat of the drawn-out proceedings during next year’s selection show, according to a report from The New York Times. Michigan State athletic director Mark Hollis, who will also chair the 2017 selection committee, told the Times’ Ray Glier that fixing the selection show will be a priority for his committee over the summer.
“We’ll talk about all aspects of the production with CBS and Turner in our summer meetings,” Hollis said. “The goal is to provide fans and student-athletes the best show possible.”
Hollis said he could not comment on possible alterations to the show. It is likely, however, that in the future the tournament selections will be made in the first 30 minutes and the rest of the show will be left to commentary and analysis.
It is a bit surprising CBS and Turner did not lead with this model to begin with, or even adjust to it once the official bracket leaked online (though that was a quickly developing situation), but it is clear the two-hour reveal should be a thing of the past.
Of course, this year’s show did give us Charles Barkley’s battle with the touch screen, so audiences cannot be too bitter.
