2016 NCAA Tournament First Four and 1st Round Tip Times and Announcing Assignments

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Well, here we go. The 68-team field for the 2016 NCAA Tournament has been set, the networks are set to go and the announcers have been assigned for the First Four and the 1st/2nd Round sites. And yes, we return to the 1st and 2nd rounds for the Thursday/Friday and Saturday/Sunday games.

As you should know by now, CBS, TBS, TNT and truTV will air all of the games. For the first time since 1981, the NCAA Tournament Championship Game will not air on CBS. TBS which has aired the Final Four the last two years will be back to air it once again AND the National Championship Game. From now on, CBS and TBS will alternate airing Final Four/National Championship Game through the end of this current contract.

The announcers for the tournament on the NCAA Tournament Broadcast Consortium are as follows:

Jim Nantz / Bill Raftery / Grant Hill // Tracy Wolfson*
Brian Anderson / Steve Smith // Dana Jacobson*
Verne Lundquist / Jim Spanarkel // Allie LaForce*
Kevin Harlan / Reggie Miller / Dan Bonner // Lewis Johnson*
Ian Eagle / Chris Webber / Len Elmore // Evan Washburn
Spero Dedes / Doug Gottlieb // Ros Gold-Onwude
Andrew Catalon / Steve Lappas // Jamie Erdahl
Carter Blackburn / Mike Gminski // Jaime Maggio
*Denotes the announcing team will also call the Sweet Sixteen and Regional Final

Nantz, Raftery, Hill and Wolfson will call the Final Four and National Championship Game as well. With Marv Albert no longer calling the NCAA Tournament, Ian Eagle will take his place on the Chris Webber/Len Elmore team, but Brian Anderson/Steve Smith will get the nod for the Regional Finals.

On the assignments for the 1st and 2nd Rounds, interesting to see Jim Nantz not on a Friday/Sunday schedule and not calling Duke as well. Ian Eagle will be in my home state to call the Providence subregional with Duke.

So without further delay, here are the tip times, announcing assignments and networks for the First Four games on Tuesday and Wednesday, March 15 and March 16:

Now let’s do the First Round games for Thursday:

To the First Round games on Friday.

And there you have it.

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