The First Four games are over, and the real first round of the NCAA Tournament can finally begin. 32 teams across the country will start their 2016 tournament runs on Thursday, but only half of them will live to play again on Saturday.
NCAA Tournament 2016: Times and TV schedule for Thursday
Here’s how you can tune in to all the action on Thursday.
Three of the four No. 1 seeds will get started on Thursday. Virginia, Kansas, and North Carolina should all dispatch their opponents with little trouble, but there are intriguing games up and down the schedule. Perrenial tournament force UConn is only a No. 9 seed this year, but they’re coming off a conference tournament win and will play No. 8 Colorado in the first round. The winner of that will go on to face Kansas, barring the biggest upset in NCAA Tournament history on the part of Austin Peay.
College basketball bluebloods Kentucky, Arizona, and Indiana are all in action as well, but won’t be able to go through the motions and expect to breeze into the second round. Arizona has to take care of business against a tough Wichita State team, and Indiana has a very lively Chattanooga team on their plate that went 29-5 this year. Stony Brook won the America East and went 26-6 this year, but has a tall order ahead of them in a Kentucky team that appears to be pretty grumpy about being slotted in as a No. 4 seed.
If you can’t get to a TV, every NCAA Tournament game can be streamed via NCAA March Madness Live.
Schedule (all times Eastern)
No. 4 Duke vs. No. 13 UNC Wilmington, 12:15 p.m. (CBS)
No. 8 Texas Tech vs. No. 9 Butler, 12:40 p.m. (TruTV)
No. 8 Colorado vs. No. 9 Connecticut, 1:30 p.m. (TNT)
No. 4 Iowa State vs. No. 13 Iona, 2 p.m. (TBS)
No. 5 Baylor vs. No 12 Yale, 2:45 p.m. (CBS)
No. 1 Virginia vs. No. 16 Hampton, 3:10 p.m. (TruTV)
No. 1 Kansas vs. No. 16 Austin Peay, 4 p.m. (TNT)
No. 5 Purdue vs. No. 12 Arkansas-Little Rock, 4:30 p.m. (TBS)
No. 3 Miami vs. No. 14 Buffalo, 6:50 p.m. (TNT)
No. 5 Indiana vs. No. 12 Chattanooga, 7:10 p.m. (CBS)
No. 1 North Carolina vs. No. 16 Florida Gulf Coast, 7:20 p.m. (TBS)
No. 3 Utah vs. No. 14 Fresno State, 7:27 p.m. (TruTV)
No. 6 Arizona vs. No. 11 Wichita State, 9:20 p.m. (TNT)
No. 4 Kentucky vs. No. 13 Stony Brook, 9:40 p.m. (CBS)
No. 8 USC vs. No. 9 Providence, 9:50 p.m. (TBS)
No. 6 Seton Hall vs. No. 11 Gonzaga, 9:57 p.m. (TruTV)
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