College Basketball on CBS Sports (usually referred to on-air as the Road to the Final Four, or simply the NCAA on CBS) is the branding used for broadcasts of men's NCAA Division I basketball games that are produced by CBS Sports, for CBS, CBS Sports Network, and Paramount+.
From 1982 to 2015, CBS Sports obtained broadcast television rights to the NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament, replacing NBC which had been airing the game since 1969. Beginning in the 2016 season, TBS has held the rights to broadcast the NCAA Division I Championship in Men's Basketball in even-numbered years, while CBS continues to air the game in odd-numbered years.
In addition, CBS Sports currently holds broadcasting rights to conference regular season games from the American Conference, Atlantic 10 Conference, Big 12 Conference, Big East Conference, Big Ten Conference, Conference USA, Colonial Athletic Association, Mid-American Conference, Missouri Valley Conference, Mountain West Conference, Patriot League, Atlantic Coast Conference, Southern Conference, and West Coast Conference.
History
NIT (1966–1975)
From 1966 to 1975, CBS provided national television coverage for selected games from the National Invitation Tournament. Before 1975, the NCAA only allowed one team per conference to play in the NCAA tournament. Therefore, the NIT got many top teams and was considered somewhat comparable in quality to the NCAA Tournament.
In the early part of this era (circa 1966–1968), CBS carried one game on the opening Saturday and the championship game the following Saturday. By 1969, CBS moved their first round coverage from Saturday to Sunday to avoid conflicting with the NCAA tournament coverage on NBC. In the process, the NIT title game went head-to-head with the NCAA consolation game. The same would be true on both counts for the next three years.
In 1973, CBS expanded their NIT coverage to four games. The March 17 Notre Dame vs. USC game went up against an NCAA Tournament game on NBC. Meanwhile, the March 24 Notre Dame vs. North Carolina game went up against the first NCAA Final Four game.
In 1974, CBS went from covering four to covering five games in the NIT. The March 16 doubleheader Maryland Eastern Shore vs. Manhattan and Purdue vs. North Carolina went up against the 1974 NCAA tournament on NBC. Meanwhile, the March 23 doubleheader Purdue vs. Jacksonville and Utah vs. Boston College went head-to-head against the NCAA Final Four.
In 1975, CBS did not cover any NIT games on the first weekend, but did carry the semifinals and finals. The March 22 doubleheader Providence vs. St. John's and Princeton vs. Oregon went head-to-head with the NCAA tournament.
1980s
Besides being their first year covering the NCAA tournament, 1982 also marked the first year that the NCAA selection show was broadcast on television.
For their inaugural season, CBS had to scramble to arrange a regular season schedule as NBC still held exclusive rights to certain collegiate conferences. CBS also signed Billy Packer away from NBC to be its top analyst (teaming with play-by-play announcer Gary Bender, and later Brent Musburger and Jim Nantz). Packer also played a key role in helping CBS put together its schedule. In the 1981–82 season, CBS did, however, happen to obtain contracts with the Metro and Missouri Valley Conferences. During the 1982 NCAA tournament, CBS introduced 11:30 p.m. (Eastern Time Zone) games on Thursday and Friday nights for the first two weekends.
CBS also aired an NBA game in the noon timeslot on Sunday, March 14 while only showing a doubleheader of NCAA games. During the telecast of the March 14, 1982 Idaho vs. Iowa game, Fred White started the game on play-by-play with Irv Brown as analyst, but White came down with laryngitis a few minutes into the game. Brown shifted to play-by-play (for the first time ever) and Washington State head coach George Raveling came out of the stands to serve as analyst for the remainder of the game.
Tom Brookshier, who was a play-by-play broadcaster for the NFL on CBS at the time, became the subject of controversy because of a remark he made during a Philadelphia Eagles vs. New Orleans Saints game broadcast on December 11, 1983. After a program note for an upcoming telecast of an NCAA men's basketball game involving the Louisville Cardinals, Brookshier said that the players on the Louisville team had "a collective I.Q. of about 40". This resulted in Neal Pilson, then president of CBS Sports, apologizing to Louisville school officials and later suspending Brookshier for the last weekend of the NFL regular season. Louisville's athletic director, Bill Olsen, felt that the remark was racism, since Louisville's starting five were all African Americans. Brookshier later apologized, calling his remark "stupid" and "dumb," but was angered over CBS's reaction, saying "I'm not about to be judged on one comment." He added, "I've done a lot of things for charity. Now my own network is bailing out on me and taking me off the air. After 20 years at CBS, I deserve better than this." The apology was accepted by the university, as its president, Donald Swain, invited Brookshier to be the featured speaker at the school's annual football kickoff luncheon in Clarksville, Indiana on August 2, 1984. Brookshier was reinstated in CBS's announcing lineup for the 1984 NFL season, continuing as a network commentator through the 1987 NFL season.
For the 1984 NCAA tournament, CBS expanded its coverage on the first Sunday to a triple header. In areas which received the March 23 Wake Forest vs. DePaul game (most of the nation), CBS joined the Georgetown vs. UNLV game in progress (although some stations may have aired a syndicated program at 11:30 and carried the Georgetown vs. UNLV game in its entirety at midnight) around 1:30 a.m. ESPN re-aired the CBS feed of the Georgetown-UNLV game at 2:30 am.
The 1985 NCAA tournament marked the first year that CBS had aired a regional semifinal tournament doubleheader, leaving ESPN with only one live game on each of these nights. Also that year, Brent Musburger took over from Gary Bender in the top CBS play-by-play role (but worked in the studio on the first weekend). Meanwhile, Pat Summerall made a return to basketball play-by-play during the tournament after having not worked any basketball games since the 1974 NBA playoffs. Summerall called second-round tournament games in Atlanta alongside Larry Conley.
In the 1986 NCAA tournament, Jim Nantz made his NCAA tournament play-by-play debut, calling second-round games in Greensboro with Bill Raftery. Back on January 18, Nantz did play-by-play on his first college basketball game for CBS, a regional telecast between Arizona and Miami. One year later, CBS started using Nantz as the studio host for the NCAA tournament.
The 1987 NCAA tournament marked the first year that CBS used the song "One Shining Moment" for its tournament epilogue. 1987 was the last year that CBS aired an NCAA tournament game on broadcast delay (Syracuse vs. Florida from East Rutherford on March 19 at 11:30 p.m. Eastern time; the actual tip-off time was 6:30 p.m.). 1987 would also prove to be the last time that CBS used its #1 announce team (in this case, Brent Musburger and Billy Packer) on two regional finals. Musburger and Packer called the Syracuse vs. North Carolina game in East Rutherford and Indiana vs. LSU game in Cincinnati.
1988 was the first year that CBS televised all regional semifinals. In these years, CBS only came on the air for basketball at 7:30 p.m. ET for basketball in the regions which got the 7:30 game. In essence, most of the country was "in the dark" until 8 p.m. This was also the first year that CBS moved the Final Four games to 5:30 p.m. ET. CBS used Sports Illustrated writer Curry Kirkpatrick as an analyst for the second round. Kirkpatrick teamed with Tim Ryan on the second-round games in Atlanta.
1990s For the 1990 NCAA tournament, CBS expanded its coverage on the first Saturday to show a quadruple header. This particular tournament also marked Brent Musburger's last assignment for CBS. Although Musburger was fired on April Fools' Day (which fell on the Sunday of Final Four weekend that year), he still did play-by-play for the championship game. As previously mentioned, Musburger had done play-by-play (although he worked in the studio for the first weekends) for CBS's coverage of the Final Four since 1985.
During the 1990–91 season, CBS's February 10, 1991 broadcast of a game between UNLV and Arkansas (which, respectively, were the No. 1 and No. 2 college basketball teams in the nation at the time) drew the highest Nielsen ratings for a regular season college basketball game since 1985.
In the 1991 NCAA tournament, CBS assumed responsibility for covering all games of the NCAA tournament, with the exception of the single Tuesday night "play-in" game (the play-in game – between teams ranked as No. 64 and No. 65 seeds – is televised by ESPN, except for the first one, which was aired on then-CBS owned cable channel TNN (now Paramount Network), and used CBS graphics and announcers). For the evening sessions in the first round, CBS only came on the air at 7:30 p.m. for basketball games in the regions which received a 7:30 game broadcast. Otherwise, most of the country was "in the dark" until 8:00 p.m. 1991 was also the first year that the Saturday regional finals started at 3:30 p.m.
The 1992 NCAA tournament also featured the return of Al McGuire to NCAA tournament commentary for the first time since 1981 (NBC's final year broadcasting the tournament). McGuire wasn't sure he could handle four games on the first round, so CBS used Greg Kelser for the afternoon session in Milwaukee alongside Dick Stockton. Meanwhile, this year, CBS again used Jim Nantz and Billy Packer in the studio for the first weekend. It was during the 1992 tournament that CBS televised the now legendary East Regional Final between Duke and Kentucky. With Verne Lundquist and Len Elmore on commentary, this game has since been seen by many as the single greatest college basketball game ever played.Mike Douchant – Greatest 63 games in NCAA Tournament history. The Sports Xchange, published in USA Today, March 25, 2002.
In 1993, CBS adopted their current theme, which has been used in variations ever since (the first update coming in 2004 and the second in 2011). This year, CBS kept Nantz in the studio for the first weekend of the 1993 NCAA tournament, but used Packer on games with a different play-by-play partner (such as James Brown, and subsequently, and Dick Stockton, Bob Rathbun, and Bob Carpenter). CBS would continue this practice until 1998.
The 1995 tournament was the first year that CBS moved the Sunday regional finals to 2:30 p.m. Additionally, evening first round and regional semifinal coverage began airing 30 minutes earlier, at 7:30 p.m. During the 1995–96 season, CBS used a "wheel" concept on selected days, using a set of games with start times that were usually staggered by one hour. For example, CBS might have a game starting at 2:00 p.m., another one at 3:00 p.m., and a third one at 4:00 p.m. Some areas of the country would see the 2:00 p.m. game, then join the middle game in progress around 4:00 p.m. (likely seeing the second half only), and then join the late game in progress around 5:00 p.m. Other areas might see the first half of the 2:00 p.m. game, then see the entire 3:00 p.m. game and then join the late game in progress. CBS would periodically use this concept the next few seasons as well. It would influence how the 2011 selection show was conducted in terms of start times, except by that time, four different networks would be airing games.
1996 was the first NCAA tournament on which Gus Johnson called play-by-play for CBS. Johnson worked with Quinn Buckner on first and second-round games in Indianapolis.