The NFL’s marquee event in March might be free agency, but the biggest event on the American sports calendar is March Madness college basketball. Believe it or not, there’s going to be a Seattle Seahawks element to this year’s men’s tournament. Sort of. You still clicked on the article anyway.
CBS Sports and TNT Sports announced their broadcast teams for the NCAA Division I men’s tourney, which runs from March 17 through April 6. Among the new additions are not one, but two ex-Seahawks wide receivers turned broadcasters.
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Nate Burleson, once a highly prized Seahawks free agent signing from the Minnesota Vikings after the Vikings took Steve Hutchinson away, has been named a studio host for CBS Sports. Nate may not have played basketball in college, but did you know his brother Kevin Burleson had a brief NBA stint with Charlotte in the mid-2000s? Anyway, Nate is a part of NFL Today and is co-anchor for CBS Mornings, so he’s a seasoned television veteran.
Meanwhile, a new play-by-play voice for March Madness is Jordan Kent, whose father Ernie Kent was a longtime coach of the Oregon Ducks basketball team before switching over to Washington State in his remaining seasons. Jordan was drafted by the Seahawks in 2007 and played nine games with the Seahawks in 2008. Kent has been with CBS Sports Network for most of the 2020s, having previously served as a studio host and play-by-play voice for the NBA’s Portland Trail Blazers. It wasn’t too long ago that Kent and former Seahawks running back Robert Turbin were the commentary team for UNLV vs. Nevada football.
Kent will do three of the four Tuesday and Wednesday play-in games in Dayton, Ohio, with Jim Spanarkel as his analyst.
If you watch any CBS Sports studio coverage and/or the play-in games on Tuesday and Wednesday, you’ll get some ex-‘Hawks taking you through how your bracket got busted.
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I suppose the fitting way to wrap this up is to announce that I’ll be working the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament at Moda Center in Portland, which means covering six games in two days between March 19 and the 21 for SBNation.com. If I’m lucky, I might be covering a future basketball-to-NFL tight end convert. You never know if the bracket breaks my way and I’m witness to the next Antonio Gates or Jimmy Graham.
