While the Final Four and the NCAA Tournament men’s basketball championship game broadcasts are airing on TBS, TNT and truTV Saturday and Monday, Turner’s tournament partners at CBS are airing plenty of college basketball content this weekend as well. In particular, they’re showing two documentaries both Saturday and Sunday, and then the inaugural HBCU All-Star Game Sunday. Here’s more from a CBS release on this:
CBS Sports will feature four college basketball documentaries this weekend. It all begins with a one-hour version of The Loyola Project (Saturday, April 2 at 1:00 PM, ET) which tells the story of the Loyola University Chicago Ramblers’ historic 1963 basketball team that broke racial barriers and changed college basketball forever. The full documentary will also be available to stream on-demand on Paramount+. Then, CBS Sports and Turner Sports premiere the original documentary, MARCH MADNESS RETURNS! (2:00 PM, ET), chronicling the story of the 2021 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament following the cancellation of the 2020 Tournament.
On Sunday, CBS Sports will air Big House, The Pearl & The Triumph of Winston-Salem State (2:00 PM, ET), a documentary that looks back at Earl “The Pearl” Monroe and Winston-Salem State’s run to becoming the first HBCU to win an NCAA championship in any sport. HBCUs: 2nd Acts follows with its premiere at 3:00 PM, ET, telling the story of the resurgence of Historically Black Colleges and Universities across the country, featuring former NBA All Star Kenny Anderson and two-time NBA champion JR Smith.
HBCUs: 2nd Acts will lead into the HBCU All-Star Pregame Show and the inaugural HBCU All-Star Game.
As per that actual HBCU All-Star Game pre-game show and game broadcast, the pre-game show will begin at 3:30 p.m. Eastern Sunday. It will include a recap of HBCU All-Star Game events this week, a discussion about the current HBCU coaching climate, and an interview with Travis L. Williams, founder of HBCU All-Stars LLC and the HBCU All-Star Game. The game broadcast will begin at 4 p.m. Eastern Sunday, and will be called by play-by-play voice Brian Custer, analysts Clark Kellogg and Avery Johnson, and reporter AJ Ross. Custer (Hampton University), Johnson (Southern University) and Ross (Howard University) all attended HBCUs.
It’s interesting to see CBS airing this documentary content and also this HBCU All-Star Game around the Final Four. And there’s definitely some potential to these documentaries. Both The Loyola Project (seen in the top graphic) and Big House, The Pearl & The Triumph of Winston-Salem State premiered on CBS Sports Network last month, but it’s notable to see them getting CBS broadcast slots. Meanwhile, the other two documentaries are totally new. Here are some preview clips from Big House and The Loyola Project: clips from HBCUs: 2nd Acts and March Madness Returns can be found here and here respectively.
Voiced by Winston-Salem native @CP3, CBS Sports tells the story of Earl "The Pearl" Monroe and Winston-Salem State, as part of its original programming and vignettes featuring Black athletes celebrating Black History Month:
Full Release: https://t.co/I0jy5Bviao pic.twitter.com/ljXkfj0z3M
— CBS Sports PR (@CBSSportsGang) January 28, 2021
CBS Sports to Televise “The Loyola Project” in Celebration of Black History Month
The Documentary Highlighting Historic 1963 Loyola Ramblers to Premiere on CBS Sports Network on Monday, Feb. 7 at 9:00 PM, ET
Release: https://t.co/ltKJ6mckXJ pic.twitter.com/aSeWVPcbmc
— CBS Sports PR (@CBSSportsGang) January 26, 2022
[ViacomCBS Press Express]; graphic from the Loyola Ramblers on YouTube]
