March Madness 2021 Broadcast Teams Announced, Jim Nantz, Grant Hill, Bill Raftery And Tracy Wolfson Serve As Lead Crew
(CBS Local)- March Madness is here and the tournament tips off in just one week with the First Four held at Mackey Arena and Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall in Indiana. With the games right around the corner, CBS and Turner Sports have announced the broadcast teams for their combined coverage of the 2021 NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Championship.
The entirety of the tournament, all 67 games, will air live across four networks: TBS, CBS, TNT and truTV as well as streaming via NCAA March Madness Live. The lead broadcast crew for the tournament, working together for the sixth straight year will be Jim Nantz, Grant Hill, Bill Raftery and Tracy Wolfson. The quartet will be on the call for the Final Four and National Championship game set for April 3 and 5 respectively.
Coverage of the tournament will begin on Thursday, March 18 with the First Four on truTV. Brian Anderson, Jim Jackson and Allie LaForce will have the call two of those games with Brad Nessler, Steve Lavin, Avery Johnson and Evan Washburn handling duties for the other First Four matchups.
Outside of the top crew, nine other broadcast teams will be working the tournament across the networks. Brendan Haywood and Avery Johnson join the game broadcasts as analysts through the Round of 32 and play by play announcers Lisa Byington and Tom McCarthy see expanded roles as well calling games through the Round of 32. The full list of crews is below.
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
In addition to the crews on site for the games, Gene Steratore returns as rules analyst for the broadcast. The combined CBS and Turner sports teams will broadcast from two studios for the pre, halftime and post game shows. In New York, coverage will be hosted by Greg Gumbel with analysis from Clark Kellogg, Seth Davis and Wally Szcerbiak. Adam Zucker will provide in-game updates. In Atlanta, Ernie Johnson hosts alongside Charles Barkley, Kenny Smith, Candace Parker, and Andy Katz.
