Noooo!
CBS and Turner Sports revealed their commentator teams for the 2018 March Madness college basketball tournament Monday morning. The worst piece of news for hoops fans is that venerable play-by-play announcer Verne Lundquist will not be behind the microphone for the first time in 20 years.
MORE: Updated NCAA Tournament bracket projections
After stepping away from college football last year, the 77-year-old Lundquist thought it was the "right time" to give up his NCAA broadcast duties, according to Justin Terranova of the New York Post.
The popular Lundquist had back surgery in November, according to the Post. The announcer dubbed "Uncle Verne" called some of the most memorable plays in March Madness history, including Christian Laettner's turnaround jumper to beat Kentucky in 1992.
Play-by-play announcers Brad Nessler and Ian Eagle will succeed Lundquist. Nessler will team with analyst Steve Lavin and sideline reporter Evan Washburn. Eagle will join Jim Spanarkel and Allie LaForce. He'll call games through the Regional Finals for the first time.
As usual, the No. 1 team of play-by-play announcer Jim Nantz, analysts Bill Raftery and Grant Hill and sideline reporter Tracy Wolfson will call the Final Four and National Championship Game on TBS.
Here's a breakdown of CBS/Turner's commentator teams by play-by-play announcer, analysts and sideline reporters
-- Jim Nantz / Bill Raftery / Grant Hill / Tracy Wolfson*
-- Brian Anderson / Chris Webber / Lisa Byington*
-- Ian Eagle / Jim Spanarkel / Allie LaForce*
-- Kevin Harlan / Reggie Miller / Dan Bonner / Dana Jacobson*
-- Brad Nessler / Steve Lavin / Evan Washburn
-- Spero Dedes / Steve Smith / Len Elmore / Ros Gold-Onwude
-- Andrew Catalon / Steve Lappas / Jamie Erdahl
-- Carter Blackburn / Debbie Antonelli / John Schriffen
* Regional Weekend announce teams
Starting Tuesday, March 13, CBS and Turner will show all 67 games from the men's tournament across the TBS, CBS, TNT and truTV networks and online via NCAA March Madness Live. TBS will televise the national semifinals from San Antonio on Saturday, March 31, and the National Championship Game on Monday, April 2.
For the first time in 36 years, TBS will take over Sunday's night "Selection Show," revealing the bracket pairings (6 p.m. ET). The two-hour show will be televised live from Turner studios in Atlanta. CBS' Greg Gumbel and Turner's Ernie Johnson will co-host, along with analysts Charles Barkley, Clark Kellogg, Seth Davis and Kenny Smith.
CBS was rightly criticized when it first expanded the "Selection Show" to two hours from one hour in 2016. But most of the online fury over that long bloated moment came because CBS dawdled over the bracket. For a Selection Show that originally ran only 30 minutes, CBS took 20 minutes to announce the first game -- and 77 minutes to reveal the complete bracket. To make matters worse, somebody revealed the accurate bracket on Twitter, scooping CBS on its own big reveal.
CBS and Turner learned their lesson from 2016. They cut the show back to 90 minutes in 2017. It was much better TV as viewers learned early which Cinderella teams made it to the Big Dance.
TBS is taking a risk by expanding Sunday's show to two hours again. But a TBS source promised the show will be "front-loaded," with all 68 teams named in the first segment and full bracket revealed within the first half of the show. The second hour will be devoted to analysis, not bracket pairings.
TBS is expected to reveal more details about the Selection Show during a press conference in New York on Tuesday.
