With Turner Sports airing the Final Four® for the third straight year, we get the “Team Stream” concept a.k.a. the “Homer calls.”
It means that TBS will have the main call with Jim Nantz, Grant Hill, Bill Raftery and Tracy Wolfson while TNT and truTV will have the homer calls for the four teams in the Final Four®.
Turner Sports will announce the four announcing teams who will call the Oklahoma, Villanova, North Carolina and Syracuse feeds later this week.
With so many Syracuse alums available to call the Orange Team Stream, I suggest Turner use one grad to call one play each. For instance, Ian Eagle calls one play, then hands off to Sean McDonough, who gives way to Mike Tirico, who tags to Andrew Catalon, who hands the baton to Beth Mowins who then hands the mic to Dave Pasch who slides over for Andrew Siciliano who makes way for Adam Zucker who carves a path for Adam Schein, who then gives his seat to Jason Benetti and you get the idea. There are so many options, but I like this the best. But watch Turner surprise everybody by giving the Syracuse call to Bob Costas and Marv Albert.
The games will be Oklahoma-Villanova followed by North Carolina-Syracuse.
Anyway, here’s the official announcement from Turner Sports:
2016 NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Championship Final Four Tips Off Saturday, April 2, on TBSTurner Sports and CBS Sports’ exclusive coverage of the 2016 NCAA® Division I Men’s Basketball Final Four® on Saturday, April 2 (6 p.m. ET), will tip off with Oklahoma against Villanova (6:09 p.m.) on TBS. North Carolina against Syracuse will follow 40 minutes after the conclusion of the first game. Jim Nantz, Grant Hill and Bill Raftery will call the games with reporter Tracy Wolfson.
Ernie Johnson will host studio coverage from the Final Four National Semifinals on Saturday, April 2, and the National Championship on Monday, April 4, from NRG Stadium in Houston with analysts Charles Barkley, Clark Kellogg and Kenny Smith. They will be joined by Greg Gumbel along with analysts Reggie Miller and Steve Smith and insider Seth Davis.
Additionally, TNT and truTV will present “Team Stream by Bleacher Report,” independently produced, team-specific coverage for both games. For the first game, the Oklahoma Team Stream will be featured on TNT and the Villanova Team Stream will air on truTV. The second game will feature the North Carolina Team Stream on TNT, with the Syracuse Team Stream on truTV.
And that will do it.
