Over the last few weeks, Awful Announcing has asked our readers to determine the best broadcast booth in sports. Throughout the 32-team tournament, there were several close matchups and many worthy contenders. But only one booth can claim the crown and it is CBS and TNT’s lead NCAA Tournament broadcast team of Ian Eagle, Bill Raftery, and Grant Hill.
The trio of college basketball announcers overcame the NFL on Fox duo of Joe Davis and Greg Olsen in the final by a vote margin of 61-39% after overcoming ESPN’s Monday Night Football tandem of Joe Buck and Troy Aikman by a 52-48% margin in the Final Four. The CBS/TNT team was the only non-NFL broadcast booth to make it that far in the tournament.
Ian Eagle has been one of the most popular announcers in sports for years, no matter what sport he is calling. He’s shown a seamless ability to mix in his unique brand of humor, excitement, and quality game calls no matter if it’s the NBA, NFL, or college basketball. And after years of being one of the top rotation pieces, he finally got the call to be a lead voice of the NCAA Tournament after Jim Nantz’s retirement last year. And he has stepped into the role flawlessly.
Part of that transition has been helped by the presence of the beloved Bill Raftery. At 81 years of age, Raftery is as sharp and witty as he ever has been. And he’s still calling an impressive schedule of college basketball throughout the season at both CBS Sports and FS1. His chemistry with Eagle is unmatched in sports and goes back to the days of calling New Jersey Nets games together. Thankfully, it sounds like he has no plans to hang up the mic anytime soon.
Like Eagle, Raftery had to patiently wait his turn to receive a lead role with CBS after years of calling regional games at the NCAA Tournament. When Billy Packer retired after the 2008 edition, CBS first turned to studio analyst Clark Kellogg. Then when the Turner Sports partnership was added, Steve Kerr joined to make it a three man booth. Then Greg Anthony stepped in for a year while Kellogg went back to the studio before being dropped for a solicitation arrest. Finally, Raftery and Hill were named the lead analysts in 2015 and have held that role ever since.
While Eagle and Raftery gain a lot of plaudits, Hill’s steadiness and presence as one of the greatest college basketball players of all-time is the perfect addition to complete the broadcast booth. He provides space for Raftery to shine with his personality and do his catchphrases and is always there to back it up with great insights. And the chemistry the pair has developed over working together the past decade definitely shows.
Ian Eagle, Bill Raftery, and Grant Hill provide everything fans could want in a broadcast booth. An engaged play by play announcer who always meets the moment whether it’s a buzzer beater or filling time amidst a blowout, a top player who can communicate what it means to be on the biggest stages of all, and an iconic figure whose love of the sport and fun at the mic transcends the broadcast. You’d have just as good of a time watching this group call a game than you would sit next to them at a bar. While there may be some recency bias in the results given Ian Eagle, Bill Raftery, and Grant Hill are front and center with the NCAA Tournament ongoing, their victory is certainly one that is well deserved.