CBS and TNT Sports have unveiled their announce teams and studio crews for the 2024 NCAA Tournament. And while there are many faces in familiar places there are still some notable changes that will come with this year’s edition of March Madness.
Most notably, this will be the first time since 1990 that Jim Nantz will not announce the Final Four. This year that honor belongs to fan favorite Ian Eagle, who will work alongside his longtime partner from both college basketball and the NBA, Bill Raftery, along with Grant Hill. The pairing of Hill and Raftery have worked the Final Four together since 2015 after they took over from Greg Anthony and Steve Kerr. Tracy Wolfson will be the sideline reporter as she has been since 2009.
The coveted second weekend regional assignments include the return of Brian Anderson and Jim Jackson with Allie LaForce as well as Kevin Harlan, joined by Dan Bonner and Stan Van Gundy once again in the booth with Andy Katz on the sidelines.
The biggest shakeup comes in the promotion of the team of Andrew Catalon and Steve Lappas, who have earned their first regional weekend assignment as an announcing tandem. Evan Washburn is the sideline reporter for that crew. Catalon and Lappas ranked fifth in last year’s Awful Announcing reader rankings as the top first weekend team, so it makes sense that they would earn a promotion.
However, that leaves Eagle’s former NCAA Tournament partner Jim Spanarkel as the odd man out. Eagle and Spanarkel were the top crew in our rankings last year and it’s unfortunate that he misses out on the second weekend. Spanarkel will be paired with Spero Dedes working the first weekend only. Here’s the full list of NCAA Tournament announcers via NCAA.com.
CBS and TNT continued to shuffle their first weekend broadcast booths. Former Purdue star Robbie Hummel joins the cast for the first time as he works with Steve Smith alongside Lisa Byington in a three person booth. NFL on CBS announcer Tom McCarthy becomes the new play-by-play voice to take the spot vacated by Nantz as Deb Antonelli and Avery Johnson work with him. Finally, Brad Nessler and Brendan Haywood return as a pairing. Former NFL and college basketball official Gene Steratore will work once again as the rules analyst.
Elsewhere in the studio, CBS and TNT confirmed that Greg Gumbel will not be part of this year’s coverage as it was reported he was dealing with a family health matter. Ernie Johnson will anchor coverage from New York with the usual trio of Clark Kellogg, Charles Barkley, and Kenny Smith. Adam Lefkoe will anchor from Atlanta with the second studio of Jay Wright, Seth Davis, and Candace Parker. Adam Zucker and Wally Szczerbiak will also make appearances. Finally, GMFB’s Jamie Erdahl moves from the sidelines to providing game updates, which she noted on Twitter is great for her current very pregnant status.
Very, VERY pregnant – thankful @MarchMadnessMBB found me a chair to sit in for the opening weekend of my 9th NCAA Tournament! I’m your studio update voice 🤗. https://t.co/gkrmkACbnq
— Jamie Erdahl (@JamieErdahl) March 12, 2024
Overall it’s a very strong lineup that will cover this year’s NCAA Tournament across CBS, TNT, TBS, and truTV.
