After being panned for their roles last year, Turner Sports analysts Kenny Smith and Charles Barkley will not be a part of CBS Sports’ NCAA Tournament Selection Show coverage this Sunday.
Sunday’s NCAA Tournament Selection Show on CBS will feature the network’s usual studio trio of Greg Gumbel, Greg Anthony and Seth Davis, with Jim Nantz, Clark Kellogg and TNT NBA analyst Steve Kerr contributing from the site of the Big Ten Championship Game.
Smith and Barkley will join Gumbel, Anthony and Davis on the new ‘NCAA Hardcore Brackets’ special on TruTV airing immediately after the Selection Show. The new show will include “the public release of the Selection Committee?s 1 to 68 team rankings for the first time in NCAA Championship history” (Turner Sports, 3/6).
Last year, Smith and Barkley were not well-received on CBS’ Selection Show coverage, with even Turner Sports president David Levy suggesting the format of the Selection Show was not “free flowing enough for both Charles and Kenny” (SI.com, 3/17/11).
(Tuesday’s news from Turner Sports press release)
