In a year of multiple transitions for CBS and TNT Sports, the networks’ joint NCAA Tournament broadcast teams feature some notable changes — but no major overhaul.
CBS and TNT Sports announced their joint NCAA men’s basketball tournament broadcast teams on Wednesday, with arguably the biggest change being the promotion of Robbie Hummel to the #3 broadcast team alongside returning play-by-play voice Kevin Harlan, analyst Stan Van Gundy and sideline reporter Lauren Shehadi. Hummel is entering his third year covering the NCAA Tournament for CBS and TNT Sports, but his first since joining CBS as a full-time college basketball analyst in the offseason.
Hummel replaces Dan Bonner, who along with Candace Parker will replace analysts Debbie Antonelli and Steve Smith — both of whom are off of the tournament roster entirely — alongside play-by-play voice Tom McCarthy and sideline reporter A.J. Ross.
Last season, Hummel worked tournament games alongside play-by-play voice Lisa Byington, analyst Jalen Rose and sideline reporter Andy Katz. Byington is not returning this season and Rose is shifting to the studio, with those vacancies filled by Brandon Gaudin and Chris Webber, respectively. For Webber, who rejoined TNT Sports this season after a four-year absence, it will mark his first NCAA Tournament assignment since 2019.
In addition to Antonelli, Smith and Byington, Brendan Haywood and Dana Jacobson are not returning this season. Jacobson, who worked for CBS News, was let go earlier this year. Haywood — like Smith — worked primarily for NBA TV, which TNT Sports stopped operating last summer.
Of the TNT Sports talent who worked the NCAA men’s basketball tournament last year, only Haywood and Smith are not returning this season. Far greater turnover could have been expected given most of the TNT personnel worked primarily on the network’s now-defunct NBA package.
Haywood and Jacobson worked with Brad Nessler last season and will be replaced by CBS analyst Wally Szczerbiak and TNT Sports’ Jared Greenberg, respectively.
Shifting to the studio, CBS’ Nate Burleson will replace Ernie Johnson in the New York studio this year, as previously noted. Johnson will host the Men’s Final Four in Indianapolis. Adam Zucker will also handle New York hosting duties.
The analyst team of Clark Kellogg, Kenny Smith and Charles Barkley returns intact. Szczerbiak, who in past years would fill in for Barkley or Smith for some studio coverage, will be replaced in that role by Renee Montgomery and Bruce Pearl.
Pearl will be primarily working in the Atlanta studio, which will consist of the full-time TNT Sports college basketball studio crew that includes Rose, Jamal Mashburn and host Adam Lefkoe. As he has done for years, CBS Sports’ Seth Davis will also join the Atlanta team.
This season may be the last in which CBS and TNT Sports are separate entities come March Madness. CBS parent company Paramount agreed to a deal last week to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery. Depending on the length — and outcome — of the regulatory process, it is possible that CBS and TNT will have combined by next year’s tournament.
