ESPN reveals broadcast teams for NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament

ESPN, as it has done every year since 1996, will broadcast the NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament across its family of networks.

On Monday, the network announced its broadcast pairings for the upcoming tournament. While things stayed relatively stable at the top, with play-by-play voice Ryan Ruocco remaining teamed up with analyst Rebecca Lobo and reporter Holly Rowe on the lead team, there are quite a few changes down the roster from last year to examine.

Here are the first and second-round commentator teams:

• Ryan Ruocco, Rebecca Lobo, Holly Rowe (Storrs, Conn.)
• Courtney Lyle, Stephanie White, Molly McGrath (Columbia, S.C.)
• Beth Mowins, Debbie Antonelli, Jess Sims (Ann Arbor, Mich.)
• Tiffany Greene, Carolyn Peck, Alyssa Lang (Baton Rouge, La.)
• Dave O’Brien, Jimmy Dykes (Austin, Texas)
• Eric Frede, Christy Thomaskutty (Los Angeles, Calif. – UCLA)
• Brenda VanLengen, Anne O’Neil (Morgantown, W.Va.)
• Jenn Hildreth, Kelly Gramlich (Durham, N.C.)
• Wes Durham, Angela Taylor (Louisville, Ky.)
• Mark Neely, Angel Gray (Chapel Hill, N.C.)
• Roy Philpott, Nell Fortner (Columbus, Ohio)
• Matt Schumacker, Ros Gold-Onwude (Iowa City, Iowa)
• Sam Gore, Tamika Catchings (Norman, Okla.)
• Krista Blunk, Andrea Lloyd (Minneapolis, Minn.)
• Jay Alter, Kim Adams (Nashville, Tenn.)
• Chuckie Kempf, Brooke Weisbrod (Fort Worth, Texas)

And here are the teams for the Sweet 16 and Elite 8:

• Ryan Ruocco, Rebecca Lobo, Holly Rowe, Dee Kantner
• Tiffany Greene, Carolyn Peck, Holly Rowe, Dee Kantner
• Courtney Lyle, Stephanie White, Kris Budden, Violet Palmer
• Beth Mowins, Debbie Antonelli, Jess Sims, Violet Palmer

There are few top-line changes for the first and second round teams. For one, ESPN has decided to let its lead team call games together throughout the entirety of the tournament this year. Last season, the trio of Ruocco, Lobo, and Rowe did not begin calling games together until the Sweet 16.

Analyst Stephanie White has swapped play-by-play partners after Pam Ward’s exit from ESPN last year. White will now call games alongside Courtney Lyle throughout the tournament. Carolyn Peck, who served on Lyle’s team during the first and second rounds last year, will not call games alongside Tiffany Greene. Jimmy Dykes also switches play-by-play partners, calling games with Dave O’Brien this season after pairing with Roy Philpott last year. ESPN is now pairing Andrea Lloyd with Krista Blunk rather than Brenda VanLengen. Kim Adams swaps to Jay Alter’s team, having called games with Kevin Fitzgerald last season. And Brooke Weisbrod will call games with Chuckie Kempf instead of Matt Schumacker this year.

Seven broadcasters who appeared on ESPN’s coverage last year will not return this season. Those individuals include, the aforementioned Pam Ward, Christy Winters-Scott, Steffi Sorensen, Kevin Fitzgerald, Mary Murphy, Helen Williams, and Aja Ellison. As for new additions, ESPN has tapped Anne O’Neil, Mark Neely, Nell Fortner, Ros Gold-Onwude, and Chuckie Kempf.

For the first time, all four first and second round sites that will feature on ABC will include a sideline reporter. Rowe will be in Storrs, CT, with the lead team. Alyssa Lang will join the Greene-Peck duo in Baton Rouge, LA. Molly McGrath will be with Lyle and White in Columbia, SC. And Jess Simms will join Beth Mowins and Debbie Antonelli in Ann Arbor, MI.

ESPN’s coverage of the women’s tournament will begin on Wednesday at 7 p.m. ET with the First Four on ESPN2.