2011 NCAA Tournament: Sweet 16 Schedule and Announcer Pairings

We all got our wish.

Gus Johnson, also known as Mr. March Madness (or Gus Jeezy, if you follow us on twitter), is headed to New Orleans for the Sweet 16, where he will be joined by Len Elmore and Reggie Miller in calling the greatest spectacle in this year's tournament -- The Jimmer.

Now, this has all the making of being incredible. You have the most excitable announcer in the history of excitable announcers calling the nation's most entertaining player in his first ever Sweet 16. Its helps that The Jimmer is playing some of his best basketball of the season, as well, averaging 33.0 ppg and 6.5 apg despite "struggling" in the first two rounds.


Florida has been playing as well as any team in the tournament, but remember -- that is essentially the same Florida roster that allowed The Jimmer to score 37 points in the tournament last season, back when 37 points wasn't the norm for The Jimmer.

There is one concern, however. Could this be too much? Can the combination of Gus and The Jimmer be overkill? Can we get put on excitement overload?

You may.

I know I won't.

A couple of other thoughts on the commentators heading into the tournament's seconds weekend:

• I only had one issue with any of the announcing crews from the first weekend of the NCAA Tournament, and that was the combination of Spero Dedes and Bob Wenzel. In Akron's first round game against Notre Dame, Dedes claimed that Akron was in the MAAC, not the MAC, and that they knocked off Iona in the conference title game to reach the NCAA Tournament. As far as Wenzel is concerned, it is this humble blogger's opinion that a crime against humanity has been committed allowing Wenzel to ramble cluelessly while Jay Bilas sits idly by and tweets his way through the tournament. Give me Bilas or give me death. So to speak.
  
• I'm only going to touch briefly on the studio crews. The Charles Barkley and Kenny Smith schtick has grown old. Neither has a clue. And if they were brought in for comedic relief, well, they weren't all that funny. For the record, I say this loving Barkley and Smith. Stick with Seth Davis and Greg Anthony, who analyze like two well-educated and knowledgeable fans instead of the bar flies waxing on about a topic they clearly know little about.
• Beyond that, the schedule works out favorably for the fans. Bill Raftery will be calling Kemba. Marv Albert and Steve Kerr, two pros that really have grown on me, will be calling the region of unknown -- Kansas, Richmond, VCU, and Florida State. Jim Nantz and Clark Kellogg get the region of the bluebloods, which is what that pairing was made for.
  

Here is the full schedule:

Thursday, March 24th

• 7:15 pm, Anaheim, CBS: No. 2 San Diego State vs. No. 3 UConn (Verne Lundquist, Bill Raftery, Leslie Visser)
• 7:27 pm, New Orleans, TBS: No. 2 Florida vs. No. 3 BYU (Gus Johnson, Len Elmore, Reggie Miller, Marty Snider)
• 9:45 pm, Anaheim, CBS: No. 1 Duke vs. No. 5 Arizona (Verne Lundquist, Bill Raftery, Leslie Visser)
• 9:57 pm, New Orleans, TBS: No. 4 Wisconsin vs. No. 8 Butler (Gus Johnson, Len Elmore, Reggie Miller, Marty Snider)

Friday, March 25th

• 7:15 pm, Newark, CBS: No. 2 North Carolina vs. No. 11 Marquette (Jim Nantz, Clark Kellogg, Tracy Wolfson)
• 7:27 pm, San Antonio, TBS: No. 1 Kansas vs. No. 12 Richmond (Marv Albert, Steve Kerr, Craig Sager)
• 9:45 pm, Newark, CBS: No. 1 Ohio State vs. No. 4 Kentucky (Jim Nantz, Clark Kellogg, Tracy Wolfson)
• 9:57 pm, San Antonio, TBS: No. 10 Florida State vs. No. 11 VCU (Marv Albert, Steve Kerr, Craig Sager)