CBS To Air 'March Madness Begins' Episode On Final Four Sunday
(CBS Minnesota/CBS Local)- CBS Sports announced today that they will be airing a new episode of the 'Four Sides of the Story' franchise on Sunday, April 7th, the weekend of the Final Four.
The episode, titled March Madness Begins, will give fans an inside look at the first round of this year's NCAA Tournament. The episode is told from four different perspectives, giving audiences a look at what it's like to be part of the NCAA Tournament.
The perspectives will include interviews with NCAA Senior Vice President of Basketball Dan Gavitt and Managing Director of Men's Basketball Championships, JoAnn Scott, who break down the logistics behind getting all 68 teams to their first-round sites in the days following the bracket reveal on Selection Sunday.
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In addition to the NCAA angle, the episode looks inside the fan experience by following some of the students from 16-seed Gardner-Webb as they made the trip down to Columbia, South Carolina to watch their Bulldogs take on Virginia.
While the trip to the games for both fans and players is important, the preparation for the broadcast and the games themselves takes a lot of work as well. The episode shows veteran play-by-play man Ian Eagle getting ready for his first day of four games. Veteran director Bob Mantina reveals what is happening behind the scenes in the studio during the pregame, halftime and post-game shows.
Finally, the episode checks in with the graduate assistants of 7-seed Nevada prior to their first-round matchup with 10-seed Florida. They take viewers through all that it takes for them to get ready for a tournament game, including watching and logging game film, packing, and doing laundry and many other tasks necessary to get a college basketball team out on the road.
March Madness Begins airs April 7th, the Sunday following the Final Four games in Minneapolis, at 3 p.m. Eastern Time on CBS. The network will also be re-airing two previous episodes of the series related to the tournament this upcoming weekend. Holy Loyola, a look inside Loyola-Chicago's run to the Final Four, will air on Saturday, March 30th at 2:30 p.m. Eastern. Four Sides: UMBC vs. UVA Bracket Busted is set to air on Sunday, March 31st at 12:30 p.m. Eastern.