Sometimes, Gus Johnson feels like a human jukebox, a sports broadcaster beholden to his greatest hits, to “Pure!” and “What a game!” and “Ha-HA!” and the rest. That man, the one who shouts and screams and channels his inner fan in the waning seconds of sporting events from basketball to boxing, is part Gus Johnson, but only part.

It is Johnson because he considers his style a natural outgrowth of his upbringing, his training and his “sizzle.” But while he spawned a cult following, a soundboard, Facebook fan groups, top-10 lists and YouTube compilations, his style also defined Johnson in the narrowest manner possible.

For all the ways in which Johnson, 43, profits off his pipes — for the video game Madden 11, formerly for the Knicks, for CBS — he is most suited for the N.C.A.A. tournament. This is Johnson’s time of year. Fans say he puts the madness in March.

“When people say that I’m too excited, they’re inferring that I’m lying,” Johnson said. “Manufacturing. Manipulating. And that’s not true. Do I give it an extra sizzle, as a performer? Of course I do. This is theater. It made me famous!”