NCAA Tournament Announcers: Graded

Shawn Siegel — Sun, 04 Mar 2012 23:00:06 -0800

Unless you watch the games on mute or in an extremely loud bar, NCAA Tournament announcers will have a large impact on how you enjoy the games. In fact, by the end of the Tournament (and after watching a whole season of basketball), you'll probably have strong feeling of love or hate towards certain announcing teams.

There's been a lot of change on the announcing front in recent years. In 2009, Clark Kellogg replaced Billy Packer as lead color-man alongside Jim Nantz. And with Turner joining the fray last year, a host of new characters entered the mix. (especially those long associated with the NBA)

Here is the CBS/Turner college basketball announcing roster, including my personal (completely subjective) rating of their recent work.

C is considered your run of the mill broadcaster, neither exceptional nor annoying. On the most part, CBS & Turner does a good job with their coverage, hence mostly respectable grades (as opposed to a similar report card I could do for ESPN.. I don't know if F sums up my feelings toward Bob Knight.)

Grades:

A Ian Eagle (Announcer) - Not everyone's favorite, but I love his wit.

A- Greg Anthony (Studio) - Has been rock solid since joining CBS team.

A- Bill Raftery (Color) - Still funny as heck.

B+ Jim Nantz (Announcer - Final Four) - Smooth operator

B Greg Gumbel (Studio) - Just does his job, and does it well

B Kevin Harlan (Announcer) - Growing on me as the year's go by

B Ernie Johnson (Studio) - Gets an A for his NBA efforts, B here

B Marv Albert (Announcer) - Still Marvelous

B Steve Kerr (Color) - Knows his basketball

B- Charles Barkley (Studio) - A+ for NBA, not as suited for college

B- Len Elmore (Color) - Run of the mill, but I tend to agree with his points

B- Reggie Miller (Color) - Can be great, can be annoying

B- Kenny Smith (Studio) - Better suited for NBA

C+ Spero Dedes (Announcer) - Has potential, still can improve

C+ Verne Lundquist (Announcer) - Fading as time goes by

C+ Jim Spanarkel (Color) - At least tries to have fun with it

C Brian Anderson (Announcer) - Nothing special

C Dan Bonner (Color) - Solid professional

C Tim Brando (Anouncer) - Like Bonner, a true pro

C Bob Wenzel (Color) - Nothing much to note her

C Matt Winer (Studio) - No harm, no foul

C- Seth Davis (Studio) - Have never warmed up to Davis

C- Mike Gminski (Color) - Tend to disagree with his points

C- Steve Smith (Studio) - Real nice guy, real mediocre TV personality

D+ Clark Kellogg (Color - Final Four) - Have never understood how he gets top billing

Sideline Reporters

B+ Craig Sager (Sideline)

B- Lesley Visser (Sideline)

C+ Lewis Johnson (Sideline)

C Marty Snider (Sideline)

C Tracy Wolfson (Sideline)

Inc. Jamie Maggio (Sideline) - Can't say I remember who this is

Teams:

Nantz/Kellogg**

Albert/Kerr**

Lundquist/Raftery**

Harlan/Elmore/Miller**

Eagle/Spanarkel

Anderson/Bonner

Brando/Gminski

Dedes/Wenzel

** Doing regional games

No Longer Part of Team*

B Jay Bilas

B Gus Johnson

B- Sam Ryan

C+ Stephen Bardo

C+ Dick Enberg

C Carter Blackburn

C Craig Bolerjack

D Billy Packer

* Grade at final year of rating

These are my opinions of course, so how would you rate the CBS NCAA Tournament team? Follow Shawn @collegehoopsnet