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It’s March and the NCAA Tournament is upon us! A whole weekend of absolute college basketball bliss is ahead later this week with just a taste coming on Tuesday and Wednesday. The Michigan Wolverines will be the first game Thursday afternoon as they take on the Colorado State Rams. Then, madness ensues with 32 matchups in a two-day span.
The tournament this season promises to be as crazy as ever. The amount of discourse and debate over seeding lasted throughout the course of the season in a huge way. Michigan and Memphis are two teams that stick out as potential No. 1 seeds to open the season, but each took huge steps back. Both made the tournament despite slow starts, and the evolution of statistics in the game was shown with a 17-14 Wolverines’ squad not even being one of the Last Four In.
Then, there was the exact opposite shown where Murray State, a team that went 30-2, was given a No. 7 seed. San Francisco, Saint Mary’s, Wyoming, Davidson, San Diego State and Boise State were all seeded very well despite not playing in a Power 6 conference. Wisconsin was projected to finish 10th in the Big Ten and is a No. 3 seed. You just never know how the season will go for so many teams.
There are still some question marks, and there always will be debate when only 68 teams actually make the tournament. But, for the most part, this was one of the most balanced and well-constructed brackets made in the tournament’s history. A healthy mix of conference success and advanced stats made sure of that.
With that being said, here is the complete schedule and all the odds for each game coming up this week:
March Madness First Round Matchups and Spreads
| Date | Matchup | Time (ET) | TV Network | Spread |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Date | Matchup | Time (ET) | TV Network | Spread |
| Tuesday, March 15 | (16) Texas Southern vs (16) Texas A&M-Corpus Christi | 6:40:00 PM | truTV | Texas Southerm (-3) |
| (12) Indiana vs (12) Wyoming | 9:10:00 PM | truTV | Indiana (-3.5) | |
| Wednesday, March 16 | (16) Bryant vs (16) Wright St. | 6:40:00 PM | truTV | Wright State (-1.5) |
| (11) Notre Dame vs (11) Rutgers | 9:10:00 PM | truTV | (PICK) | |
| Thursday, March 17 | (11) Michigan vs (6) Colorado St. | 12:15:00 PM | CBS | Michigan (-2.5) |
| (13) South Dakota St. vs (4) Providence | 12:40:00 PM | truTV | Providence (-2.5) | |
| (9) Memphis vs (8) Boise St. | 1:45:00 PM | TNT | Memphis (-2.5) | |
| (16) Norfolk St. vs (1) Baylor | 2:00:00 PM | TBS | Baylor (-20) | |
| (14) Longwood vs (3) Tennessee | 2:45:00 PM | CBS | Tennessee (-16.5) | |
| (12) Richmond vs (5) Iowa | 3:10:00 PM | truTV | Iowa (-9.5) | |
| (16) Georgia St. vs (1) Gonzaga | 4:15:00 PM | TNT | Gonzaga (-24.5) | |
| (9) Marquette vs (8) North Carolina | 4:30:00 PM | TBS | North Carolina (-3) | |
| (12) New Mexico St. vs (5) UConn | 6:50:00 PM | TNT | UCONN (-6.5) | |
| (15) Saint Peter's vs (2) Kentucky | 7:10:00 PM | CBS | Kentucky (-17.5) | |
| (12) Wyoming/Indiana vs (5) Saint Mary's (CA) | 7:20:00 PM | TBS | NONE | |
| (9) Creighton vs (8) San Diego St. | 7:27:00 PM | truTV | SDSU (-2) | |
| (13) Vermont vs (4) Arkansas | 9:20:00 PM | TNT | Arkansas (-6) | |
| (10) San Francisco vs (7) Murray St. | 9:40:00 PM | CBS | San Francisco (-1) | |
| (13) Akron vs (4) UCLA | 9:50:00 PM | TBS | UCLA (-15) | |
| (16) Texas Southern/Texas A&M-Corpus Christi vs (1) Kansas | 9:57:00 PM | truTV | NONE | |
| Friday, March 18 | (10) Loyola Chicago vs (7) Ohio St. | 12:15:00 PM | CBS | Loyola Chicago (-1.5) |
| (15) Jacksonville St. vs (2) Auburn | 12:40:00 PM | truTV | Auburn (-16.5) | |
| (14) Montana St. vs (3) Texas Tech | 1:45:00 PM | TNT | Texas Tech (-16) | |
| (14) Yale vs (3) Purdue | 2:00:00 PM | TBS | Purdue (-16.5) | |
| (15) Delaware vs (2) Villanova | 2:45:00 PM | CBS | Villanova (-17) | |
| (10) Miami (FL) vs (7) Southern California | 3:10:00 PM | truTV | USC (-1.5) | |
| (11) Rutgers/Notre Dame vs (6) Alabama | 4:15:00 PM | TNT | NONE | |
| (11) Virginia Tech vs (6) Texas | 4:30:00 PM | TBS | Texas (-1) | |
| (13) Chattanooga vs (4) Illinois | 6:50:00 PM | TNT | Illinois (-8) | |
| (15) Cal St. Fullerton vs (2) Duke | 7:10:00 PM | CBS | Duke (-17) | |
| (11) Iowa St. vs (6) LSU | 7:20:00 PM | TBS | LSU (-5) | |
| (16) Wright St./Bryant vs (1) Arizona | 7:27:00 PM | truTV | NONE | |
| (12) UAB vs (5) Houston | 9:20:00 PM | TNT | Houston (-8.5) | |
| (10) Davidson vs (7) Michigan St. | 9:40:00 PM | CBS | Michigan State (-2) | |
| (14) Colgate vs (3) Wisconsin | 9:50:00 PM | TBS | Wisconsin (-8.5) | |
| (9) TCU vs (8) Seton Hall | 9:57:00 PM | truTV | Seton Hall (-1) |