Jason Benetti is coming off the bench for March Madness.
Benetti, the Tigers’ TV play-by-play and one of the busiest and most-versatile broadcasters in the business, has been tapped to call the four men’s NCAA Tournament games in Buffalo, N.Y., on Thursday.
Those assignments include Michigan State’s game against North Dakota State at 4:05 p.m. on TNT and Michigan’s game against Howard at 7:10 p.m. on CBS.
A spokesperson for CBS Sports confirmed to The News on Wednesday night that Benetti would fill in for Brian Anderson, who was noticeably under the weather during Tuesday’s First Four television broadcast.
Benetti is well-versed in college basketball, doing games for Fox the past several regular seasons. But these assignments mark his NCAA Tournament TV debut, and his debut on CBS.
Benetti, 42, is on loan Thursday from NBC Sports, which recently hired Benetti to be its lead broadcaster for its new “Sunday Night Baseball” package of games in 2026.
Benetti also will call the South Florida-Louisville game at 1:30 p.m. on TNT and the Saint Louis-Georgia game at 9:45 p.m. on CBS. He will work all four games with Jim Jackson and Allie LaForce.
There will be two second-round games in Buffalo on Saturday. It wasn’t immediately clear if Benetti would call those games, as well. Benetti didn’t respond to a message for comment Wednesday night.
Benetti will turn his attention to baseball next week, when he calls the season opener between the Arizona Diamondbacks and defending World Series-champion Los Angeles Dodgers next Thursday, March 27, on NBC.
With his new national assignment, Benetti will miss the Tigers’ season opener in San Diego next Thursday, but he will be back on the Tigers’ broadcast next Friday, March 28, on Detroit SportsNet.
Benetti is entering his third season on the mic for the Tigers, and is expected to call more than 120 games.
tpaul@detroitnews.com
@tonypaul1984
This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: Tigers TV man pinch-hits for MSU, Michigan basketball games
Reporting by Tony Paul, The Detroit News / The Detroit News
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
