At last — March Madness is here. Please consider your sanity carefully before making any rash decisions, and check out the full bracket of games here.
NCAA Tournament 2017: Schedule for Thursday’s mid-afternoon March Madness games
Villanova and Gonzaga, two No. 1 seeds, begin their NCAA tournament journeys on Thursday.
Adam Hunger-USA TODAY Sports
Two No. 1 seeds begin their tournament runs on Thursday, starting with the Gonzaga Bulldogs at 2 p.m. ET and moving to overall top seed Villanova Wildcats at 7:10 p.m. Villanova may have the toughest path of any No. 1, as the East region is labeled the so-called “region of death” in part thanks to No. 2 Duke’s recent surge. Clearly Villanova should still be just as feared.
The Northwestern Wildcats play in the latest afternoon slot, facing off against Vanderbilt at 4:30 p.m. for their first ever tournament game. This is an amazing accomplishment for a school that had the longest streak of not making the tournament while simultaneously playing Division-I basketball.
Another 8-9 matchup is the Wisconsin Badgers vs. Virginia Tech Hokies, with the Badgers not fairing quite as well this season as they did in their run to the National Championship game. You might still recognize a few of the names: Bronson Koenig leads the team in scoring, Ethan Happ is second, and Nigel Hayes has emerged as a steady senior contributor for the team.
Here are all the times and channels for Thursday’s slate of games. To stream the NCAA tournament, visit March Madness Live or visit CBS All-Access for the games CBS is airing.
Thursday, March 16 (First Round)
(All times Eastern)
Game 1: Notre Dame def. Princeton, 60-58
Game 2: Virginia vs. UNC-Wilmington, 12:40 p.m., TruTV
Game 3: Butler vs. Winthrop, 1:30 p.m., TNT
Game 4: Gonzaga vs. South Dakota State, 2 p.m., TBS
Game 5: West Virginia vs. Bucknell, 2:45 p.m., CBS
Game 6: Florida vs. East Tennessee State University, 3:10 p.m., TruTV
Game 7: Minnesota vs. Middle Tennessee State, 4 p.m., TNT
Game 8: Northwestern vs. Vanderbilt, 4:30 p.m., TBS
Game 9: Maryland vs. Xavier, 6:50 p.m., TNT
Game 10: Villanova vs. Mt. Saint Mary’s/New Orleans, 7:10 p.m., CBS
Game 11: St. Mary’s vs. VCU, 7:20 p.m., TBS
Game 12: Purdue vs. Vermont, 7:27 p.m., TruTV
Game 13: Florida State vs. Florida Gulf Coast, 9:20 p.m., TNT
Game 14: Wisconsin vs. Virginia Tech, 9:40 p.m., CBS
Game 15: Arizona vs. North Dakota, 9:50 p.m., TBS
Game 16: Iowa State vs. Nevada, 9:57 p.m., TruTV
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