In the fall of 1981, CBS Sports became the home of Men's College Basketball telecasts, and the exclusive broadcast partner for the NCAA Tournament.

Previously the tournament had aired on NBC. The popularity of college basketball would explode in the 1980s, primarily because of ESPN's saturation of game coverage during the week, and the CBS weekend coverage. ESPN used to cover the afternoon sessions of the first round tournament games on Thursday and Friday of the first week, but CBS took those over in 1991, and now covers the entire tournament except the play-in game. Another growing part of their coverage is Selection Sunday, when the teams are officially announced for the tournament. Studio coverage is hosted by Greg Gumbel, with analysis in studio provided by former player Clark Kellogg] and Sports Illustrated college basketball writer Seth Davis. The lead play-by-play announcer is Jim Nantz, and the lead game analyst is Billy Packer, who has called every Final Four since 1975. Other announcers used on telecasts include: Gus Johnson, Dick Enberg, Verne Lundquist, Tim Brando, Ian Eagle, Kevin Harlan, Len Elmore, Bill Raftery, Jay Bilas and Jim Spanarkel.