With four number one seeds playing in the Final Four for the first time ever, the potential for huge TV ratings looked promising heading in to the weekend. But with two blowouts (Memphis over UCLA and Kansas over North Carolina), CBS' TV ratings for the Final Four were down considerably from 2007 according to the Hollywood Reporter.

The Memphis-UCLA game earned a 7.2 overnight rating, down 14% from an 8.4 for Ohio State-Georgetown game in the same window last year.  In the late game, Kansas-North Carolina averaged an 8.8 overnight, down 1% from an 8.9 for Florida-UCLA last year.

I would imagine the TV ratings for tonight's Memphis-Kansas game will be down sharply from last year's Ohio State - Florida finals. Ohio State had Greg Oden and Michael Conley Jr. and Florida was full of familiar names from their championship run the previous season. While Memphis has won more games this season (38) than any other team in NCAA history, besides Derrick Rose, they don't have many household names. And Kansas' team is even less familiar to the casual fan.

A UCLA - North Carolina matchup would have featured the two most storied college basketball programs in NCAA history and would have delivered lots of eyeballs from the nation's #2 media market - Los Angeles. Tonight's matchup likely won't deliver nearly the same audiece.

And don't forget that CBS is in the midst of an 11-year, $6B contract with the NCAA for the exclusive rights to carry the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament.