Selection show back to revealing bracket

FILE – In this April 2, 2018 file photo, Villanova players celebrate after the championship game of the Final Four NCAA college basketball tournament against Michigan, in San Antonio. Villanova won 79-62. The game was seen by 16 million viewers on TBS, TNT and Tru TV last week, the Nielsen company said. (AP Photo/Morry Gash, […]

by: Staff

Posted: Mar 14, 2019 / 01:49 PM CDT

Updated: Mar 14, 2019 / 05:02 PM CDT

NEW YORK (AP) The NCAA Tournament selection show is returning to CBS and its traditional bracket-first format for revealing the field for March Madness.

The plan for Sunday is to drop the alphabetical reveal and get right to the bracket. The show will be one hour, hosted as usual by Greg Gumbel.

“We’re going back to basics,” Sean McManus, chairman of CBS Sports, said Tuesday. “We’re going to release the brackets as fast as we can.”

Last year, the Selection Sunday show aired on TBS for the first time since CBS and Turner became broadcast partners for the men’s basketball tournament in 2011. The presentation of the 68-team field was tweaked, first showing the teams that had earned automatic bids in alphabetical order, and then revealing the 36 at-large selections in alphabetical order. After the teams were announced, the matchups were revealed region-by-region and the bracket was filled in.

CBS Sports and Turners Sports held their annual media breakfast in midtown Manhattan, with McManus and Jeff Zucker, president of Warner Media News and Sports.

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