After some thrilling matches in the First Four games on Tuesday and Wednesday, the field of 64 is finally set and March Madness can begin. On Thursday, the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Tournament will kick off with a game between (5) Notre Dame and (12) Princeton on CBS a little after noon ET, followed by 15 other games on four different networks that will take us all the way to midnight.
There are several ways to tune in to all 32 first round match-ups on Thursday and Friday. If you have access to a television and cable, all you need to do is switch between CBS, TBS, truTV and TNT depending on what game you want to watch. We have the entire schedule below to help you decide.
You can also watch every game in your browser on the NCAA website, where all of the games will be streaming in HD. You will need a cable login to access the games via the website though.
Alternatively, you can also watch the entire tournament on the NCAA March Madness Live app [iOS | Android]. Once again, you will have to use a cable login to watch the games, but you can always sign up for a free trial of Sling TV, DirecTV Now or PlayStation Vue, all of which have TBS, TNT and truTV in at least one of their packages. Access to CBS depends on what market you’re in, so be sure to check before signing up.
Keep in mind that the tournament ends on April 3rd with the national championship game, but a one-week trial should at least get you through the second round, which wraps up on March 19th.
Below, we’ve put together a schedule for the first 32 match-ups of the tournament, including the date, time and channel of each game. Once the first round has ended, we’ll be sure to update this post with the match-ups for the Round of 32, the Sweet Sixteen and so on. So be sure to keep checking in here throughout the month.
First Round (Round of 64) Schedule
Second Round (Round of 32) Schedule
Game | Date | Time (ET) | Network |
(4) West Virginia vs. (5) Notre Dame | March 18th | 12:10 PM | CBS |
(1) Villanova vs. (8) Wisconsin | March 18th | 2:40 PM | CBS |
(1) Gonzaga vs. (8) Northwestern | March 18th | 5:15 PM | CBS |
(3) Florida State vs. (11) Xavier | March 18th | 6:10 PM | TNT |
(4) Butler vs. (12) Middle Tenn. | March 18th | 7:10 PM | TBS |
(2) Arizona vs. (7) St. Mary’s | March 18th | 7:45 PM | CBS |
(4) Florida vs. (5) Virginia | March 18th | 8:40 PM | TNT |
(4) Purdue vs. (5) Iowa State | March 18th | 9:40 PM | TBS |
(2) Louisville vs. (7) Michigan | March 19th | 12:10 PM | CBS |
(2) Kentucky vs. (10) Wichita State | March 19th | 2:30 PM | CBS |
(1) Kansas vs. (9) Michigan State | March 19th | 5:15 PM | CBS |
(1) North Carolina vs. (8) Arkansas | March 19th | 6:10 PM | TNT |
(3) Oregon vs. (11) Rhode Island | March 19th | 7:10 PM | TBS |
(3) Baylor vs. (11) USC | March 19th | 7:30 PM | truTV |
(2) Duke vs. (7) South Carolina | March 19th | 8:30 PM | TNT |
(3) UCLA vs. (6) Cincinnati | March 19th | 9:30 PM | TBS |
Sweet Sixteen Schedule
Game | Date | Time (ET) | Network |
(3) Oregon vs. (7) Michigan | March 23rd | 7:09 PM | CBS |
(1) Gonzaga vs. (4) West Virginia | March 23rd | 7:39 PM | TBS |
(1) Kansas vs. (4) Purdue | March 23rd | 9:39 PM | CBS |
(2) Arizona vs. (11) Xavier | March 23rd | 10:09 PM | TBS |
(1) North Carolina vs. (4) Butler | March 24th | 7:09 PM | CBS |
(3) Baylor vs. (7) South Carolina | March 24th | 7:29 PM | TBS |
(2) Kentucky vs. (3) UCLA | March 24th | 9:39 PM | CBS |
(4) Florida vs. (8) Wisconsin | March 24th | 10:09 PM | TBS |