CBS and Turner announced their NCAA Tournament broadcast teams on Monday, with Verne Lundquist out and Brad Nessler in. In other news, ESPN is pursuing former Heat star Chris Bosh, and Fox Sports wants Troy Aikman to work its Thursday Night Football pregame.
Lundquist Out, Nessler in, on NCAA Tournament
CBS play-by-play voice
Verne Lundquist will not call this year’s NCAA Tournament, the first time he has skipped the event since rejoining CBS in 1998.
Ian Eagle will move up the depth chart to replace Lundquist, working alongside
Jim Spanarkel through the regional finals.
Brad Nessler will replace Eagle alongside Steve Lavin on the first and second rounds. It will be the first time Nessler has worked NCAA Tournament games since 1992.
There were a handful of other changes to this year’s NCAA Tournament broadcast teams. Analyst Mike Gminski, who last year worked with Carter Blackburn and Debbie Antonelli, has been dropped. Sideline reporter Lisa Byington, who last year worked on that same broadcast team, has been promoted to #2 alongside Brian Anderson and Chris Webber. She replaces Lewis Johnson. CBS Sports’ John Schiffren replaces Byington on the Blackburn-Antonelli team.
Finally, WNBA Sparks F Candace Parker will join the Atlanta-based studio team through the Sweet 16. Jim Nantz, Bill Raftery, Grant Hill and Tracy Wolfson remain the primary broadcast team for the fourth straight year. [CBS/Turner]
Hill Denies Lawsuit Claim
ESPN
The Undefeated writer
Jemele Hill has denied a claim in a recent lawsuit that
Chris Berman left her a “racially disparaging” voicemail message two years ago. Hill said on
Twitter Monday that the lawsuit — filed by former ESPN employee
Adrienne Lawrence — was “dangerously inaccurate” in the way it characterized the incident, and that while she and Berman did have a “personal conflict,” he left no such message. [USA Today
3.5]
ESPN Pursuing Bosh
The former Miami Heat F
Chris Bosh, who has been sidelined from basketball the last three years due to blood clots, is being pursued by ESPN for an on-air job,
Sports Illustrated reported Sunday. Bosh, who has not officially retired from the NBA, was a guest analyst on ESPN’s NBA pregame late last month. Last season, he served as a studio analyst for TNT’s
Players Only NBA broadcasts. [SI.com
3.5]
Fox Wants Aikman For Thursday Pregame
Fox Sports wants to use
Troy Aikman on its
Thursday Night Football pregame show, the
New York Post reported Monday. Aikman would continue in his role as the outlet’s primary Sunday game analyst. Some may recall that Aikman’s partner
Joe Buck pulled double-duty for one year in 2006, hosting
Fox NFL Sunday and then calling the network’s primary game the same day.
Fox is pursuing Peyton Manning for the game analyst role on Thursday nights. [NYP 3.5]
