NCAA Tournament live updates: Let the bracket busting begin as men’s March Madness tips off
The first full day of the men’s NCAA Tournament begins Thursday with 16 games in the Round of 64 slate. The First Four games on Tuesday and Wednesday technically started the tournament, with No. 11 Pittsburgh, No. 16 Texas AM-Corpus Christi, No. 16 Fairleigh Dickinson and No. 11 Arizona State advancing to the first round.
The first game Thursday starts at 12:15 p.m. ET between No. 9 West Virginia and No. 8 Maryland (CBS), and the action won’t stop until around midnight with No. 15 UNC Asheville and No. 2 UCLA tipping off at 10:05 p.m. ET (truTV).
Think you have what it takes to beat your friends? Test your college basketball skills (or luck) here with USA TODAY’s Survivor Pool. Bookmark our brackets page, too!
Here are five candidates to consider strongly to pull off a first-round upset.
Survive and win: March Madness Survivor Pools from USA TODAY
— Eddie Timanus
The South Region is loaded. It begins at the top with the overall highest seed, but if Alabama is to make its first Final Four in program history, it will have to navigate a bracket filled with lots of accomplished programs, including four programs with national championship banners hanging in their home arenas.
Two of the three most recent NCAA champs are here, Baylor and Virginia. Arizona, a powerhouse of the ‘90’s, is back in the title hunt. Then there’s Maryland, which cut down the nets early this century and is hoping to make noise as one of the Big Ten’s numerous representatives in the field.
— Eddie Timanus
He was discharged Sunday from the hospital, where he checked in last week with chest tightness and balance problems. According to doctors, Self had two stents placed in order to treat blocked arteries in his heart.
The No. 2 seed, UCLA, enters the tournament with injury issues. If UCLA hadn’t lost defensive whiz Jaylen Clark to injury in the regular-season finale, there’s a good chance the Bruins would have had a No. 1 seed and a path to the Final Four.
— Josh Peter
The East Region doesn’t lack for star power: Purdue is joined by No. 2 Marquette, No. 3 Kansas State and No. 4 Tennessee, followed by No. 5 Duke and No. 6 Kentucky.
— Paul Myerberg
The best first-round matchup in the Midwest?
The Texas AM-Penn State game pairs teams that had great runs last weekend and have tremendous guard play; but both played Sunday and have to come back and play Thursday. (It also matches the sartorial splendiferousness of Aggies coach Buzz Williams and his suit vests against the quarter-zip-casual Micah Shrewsberry.)
— Steve Berkowitz