It’s here, sports fans. March Madness is back in all of it’s chaotic glory. The NCAA Tournament, which is arguably the best month of sports all year, makes it’s triumphant return tonight with it’s round of First Four games.
The eight-team, four-game event expanded the NCAA Tournament to 68 teams in 2011. The first year the Field of 68 was introduced, VCU famously went from First Four to Final Four. No one has quite replicated that success, but at least one First Four team has won a Round of 64 game every year since. The participants in this year’s First Four are: Florida Gulf Coast, Fairleigh Dickinson, Vanderbilt, Wichita State, Holy Cross, Southern University, University of Michigan, and Tulsa. Among the 48 teams over six years of the First Four, there have been only eight teams from the Power Five conferences. The SEC has the most participants with three, including Tennessee in 2014 Ole Miss in 2015 and Vanderbilt this year.
The 2016 NCAA Men’s Division I Basketball Tournament will involve 68 teams playing in a single-elimination tournament to determine the national champion of men’s NCAA Division I college basketball. The 78th edition of the tournament, which begins on March 15, will conclude with the championship game on April 4 at NRG Stadium in Houston, Texas. CBS Sports and Turner Sports’ exclusive coverage of the 2016 NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Championship will tip off with the NCAA First Four on Tuesday, March 15, and Wednesday, March 16 (6 p.m. ET, both days). First round game coverage will begin Thursday, March 17, and Friday, March 18 (Noon-Midnight, both days) with all games available live in their entirety across four national television networks – TBS, CBS, TNT and truTV – and via NCAA March Madness Live. This year’s NCAA Final Four National Semifinals on Saturday, April 2, along with the National Championship on Monday, April 4, will be televised by TBS.
NCAA Tournament 2016 First Four Dates & Start Times
Tuesday, March 15
No. 16 Florida Gulf Coast vs. No. 16 Farleigh Dickinson, 6:40 p.m. EST, TruTV
No. 11 Vanderbilt vs. No. 11 Wichita State, 9:10 p.m. EST, TruTV
Wednesday, March 16
No. 16 Holy Cross vs. No. 16 Southern, 6:40 p.m., EST, TruTV
No. 11 Michigan vs. No. 11 Tulsa, 9:10 p.m., EST, TruTV
2016 NCAA First Four TV Channels
All 2016 NCAA Tournament First Four games will be broadcast on TruTV. Check your cable provider if they have TruTv, and your local listings to see what channel it is on.
– Comcast
– Optimum
– Direct TV
– Time Warner
– Verizon Fios
