Louisville's victory over Michigan was a winner for CBS in the ratings department.  College basketball can often be plodding, slow, and torturous to watch with dictatorial coaches exerting their influence and drawn charges being classified as highlight plays.  That's why last night's game filled with great shotmaking and highlights stood out as such a great advertisement for the sport.  Although Louisville pulled away late, the rating was still very strong.  A 14.3 overnight that was up 18% versus last year and the best rating since 2010.

We'll have much more on CBS's coverage of the championship game throughout the day, but as far as the number of viewers go, it was certainly a success for CBS and Turner.  It'll be very interesting to see how these numbers are spun though if the Final Four does move to TBS next year as has been indicated.