After an absolutely wild regular season in which few teams looked totally dominant, the 2018 NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Tournament has arrived. This year’s tournament kicks off in Pittsburgh this Thursday as Oklahoma, led by dynamic point guard Trae Young, take on the Atlantic 10 regular season champion Rhode Island Rams — a team that came up just one point short of winning the A10 tournament — at 9:15 AM PT / 12:15 PM ET on CBS.
The first round will continue throughout the day on Thursday, March 15th and Friday, March 16th as the games rotate between CBS, TBS, TNT and truTV from noon to midnight. If you’re a fan of college basketball (and want to check in regularly to see how badly your brackets are being busted), don’t expect to get much work done.
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]. You will still have to use a cable login to watch the games with the official app, but you can always sign up for a free trial of Sling TV, DirecTV Now, PlayStation Vue or YouTube TV, 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 2nd with the national championship game in San Antonio, but a one-week trial should at least get you through the second round, which wraps up this year on March 18th.
Below, we’ve put together a schedule for the first round, including the date, time and channel of each game:
First Round Schedule (Round of 64)
| Game | Date | Time (ET) | Network |
| (10) Oklahoma vs. (7) Rhode Island | Thursday, March 15th | 12:15 PM | CBS |
| (14) Wright State vs. (3) Tennessee | Thursday, March 15th | 12:40 PM | truTV |
| (13) UNCG vs. (4) Gonzaga | Thursday, March 15th | 1:30 PM | TNT |
| (16) Penn vs. (1) Kansas | Thursday, March 15th | 2:00 PM | TBS |
| (15) Iona vs. (2) Duke | Thursday, March 15th | 2:45 PM | CBS |
| (11) Loyola-Chicago vs. (6) Miami (Fla.) | Thursday, March 15th | 3:10 PM | truTV |
| (12) South Dakota State vs. (5) Ohio State | Thursday, March 15th | 4:00 PM | TNT |
| (9) NC State vs. (8) Seton Hall | Thursday, March 15th | 4:30 PM | TBS |
| (16) Radford vs. (1) Villanova | Thursday, March 15th | 6:45 PM | TNT |
| (12) Davidson vs. (5) Kentucky | Thursday, March 15th | 7:10 PM | CBS |
| (11) San Diego State vs. (6) Houston | Thursday, March 15th | 7:20 PM | TBS |
| (14) Stephen F. Austin vs. (3) Texas Tech | Thursday, March 15th | 7:27 PM | truTV |
| (9) Alabama vs. (8) Virginia Tech | Thursday, March 15th | 9:20 PM | TNT |
| (13) Buffalo vs. (4) Arizona | Thursday, March 15th | 9:40 PM | CBS |
| (14) Montana vs. (3) Michigan | Thursday, March 15th | 9:50 PM | TBS |
| (11) St. Bonaventure vs. (6) Florida | Thursday, March 15th | 9:55 PM | truTV |
| (10) Providence vs. (7) Texas A&M | Friday, March 16th | 12:15 PM | CBS |
| (15) CSU Fullerton vs. (2) Purdue | Friday, March 16th | 12:40 PM | truTV |
| (13) Marshall vs. (4) Wichita State | Friday, March 16th | 1:30 PM | TNT |
| (15) Georgia State vs. (2) Cincinnati | Friday, March 16th | 2:00 PM | TBS |
| (15) Lipscomb vs. (2) UNC | Friday, March 16th | 2:45 PM | CBS |
| (10) Butler vs. (7) Arkansas | Friday, March 16th | 3:10 PM | truTV |
| (12) Murray State vs. (5) West Virginia | Friday, March 16th | 4:00 PM | TNT |
| (10) Texas vs. (7) Nevada | Friday, March 16th | 4:30 PM | TBS |
| (9) Kansas State vs. (8) Creighton | Friday, March 16th | 6:50 PM | TNT |
| (14) Bucknell vs. (3) Michigan State | Friday, March 16th | 7:10 PM | CBS |
| (16) Texas Southern vs. (1) Xavier | Friday, March 16th | 7:20 PM | TBS |
| (13) Charleston vs. (4) Auburn | Friday, March 16th | 7:27 PM | truTV |
| (16) UMBC vs. (1) Virginia | Friday, March 16th | 9:20 PM | TNT |
| (11) Syracuse vs. (6) TCU | Friday, March 16th | 9:40 PM | CBS |
| (9) Florida State vs. (8) Missouri | Friday, March 16th | 9:50 PM | TBS |
| (12) New Mexico State vs. (5) Clemson | Friday, March 16th | 9:57 PM | truTV |
