It’s the best time of the year.
Even with Carolina’s early exit from the men’s ACC Tournament on Thursday and the week plus wait since the women lost in their tournament, there’s a sense of anticipation as anything still seems possible depending on the roadmap that both committees lay out for the teams. Neither squad is expected to contend for a national title, yet we all know that with the right combination of events we’ll get a magical night like we did four years ago in New Orleans.
All of that
begins tonight with TV shows that will let everyone know their fate, and unlike last year fans aren’t on pins and needles seeing if the Tar Heels will even make it. So how can you watch the reveals?
Men’s Tournament Bracket reveal
As has become tradition, CBS is the exclusive home of the NCAA Tournament bracket reveal at 6 p.m. EDT. They’ll lead up to the show with the Big Ten Tournament championship, and then it’ll be the traditional broadcast with the reveal of the four regions and the team-by team breakdown. That’ll be followed by an interview with the NCAA Tournament Committee Chair Ken Gill, who is the commissioner of the Sun Belt Conference.
So at least this year there won’t be any sort of discussion about subterfuge as to where where Carolina ends up on the bracket.
If you want further discussion of the men’s bracket, right after CBS reveals them, ESPN will also be going over them on Sportscenter and then a one-hour Bracketology special on the network where they dive into the matchups, discuss the disses, and talk about who they think will emerge.
Incidentally, CBS’s coverage is going to look a little different this year. As CBS and Turner Sports share the broadcasts we’ve gotten used to mixed teams and broadcast groups, but notably Ernie Johnson is taking a break — at his request — from covering the first two weekends. CBS’s Nate Burleson will sit in the chair to try and wrangle Charles Barkley and Kenny Smith, along with the returning Adam Zucker who has had the unenviable task of following the late Greg Gumbel — and has done well. Johnson asked off as the Inside the NBA crew gets a heavier workload late in this their first season on ESPN.
Speaking of Barkley, in case you missed it, he and Dick Vitale will be covering the second First Four game in Dayton on Wednesday. The two have talked about the need to work together, and while they have already called one game this season, this will mark the first time they’ve done it in the NCAA Tournament.
Also, on the UNC front, Brendan Heywood is no long paired with CBS’s Brad Nessler for a first and second round location. The full announcer lineup is available at that CBS sports link, but notably with Turner losing the NBA rights, there is a lot less of the NBA analyst crossover that had been present before. There’s a decent chance it’ll make for a better product.
Women’s Tournament Bracket Reveal
Following ESPN devoting an hour after the reveal for the men’s tournament, the women’s tournament takes center stage with their version of Bracketology starting at 8 p.m. EST. This is also going to look different for fans, as Elle Duncan is no longer with ESPN, having taking the bag to go to Netflix. Christine Williamson takes over as host, along with Andraya Carter, Chiney Ogwumike, and Rebecca Lobo. The format is basically the same, as they reveal each of the brackets along with where each team will play, and then a discussion with Tournament Chair Amanda Braun.
New this year, though, is that there won’t be any wait to see whether or not Carolina will be a host school. ESPN and the NCAA took a page out of the baseball tournament reveal and announced the top 16 seeded schools on Saturday between the two men’s SEC Semifinal games. There, the Tar Heels found out they will be a top four seed in a region — very likely a four, as most analysts had them as a five based on their season — and that means for the second year in a row the Tar Heels will host the first and second round games in Carmichael Arena. Who they’ll face, when, and what region they’re in will be revealed tonight.
It’s honestly a smart move, as the host sites get a head start on preparing for three other teams to come into their area, and with everything else being so last-second, knowing that you’ll either be preparing to host or preparing to travel is huge for all of these teams.
Once the tournament kicks off, ESPN networks will be the exclusive home to the women’s tournament, utilizing all their channels and even ABC depending on the game.
Once both brackets are revealed, by the time we wake up on Monday we’ll not only know the location, we’ll know the times that the Tar Heels will play their opening games so you can make all the plans you need. Until then, though, we just sit and wait for the fates to be revealed.
