March Madness is now here. But before we can fill out the brackets, the field of 68 has to be revealed. Twelve teams have already booked their tickets to the Big Dance by winning their conference tournaments, and another 20 teams will do so by Sunday.
March Madness can be considered as the second-biggest sporting event in the country behind the Super Bowl. The exciting matchups on the tournament will take place weeks from now at the Final Four and the national championship game. Also, fans hope their school will play at the much-anticipated NCAA basketball tournament.
Now, let's check out what sports analysts have say about the upcoming college basketball tournament and schedules.
After Oregon State defeated Arizona State on Wednesday night, ESPN's Joe Lunardi included the Beavers in his field of 68, acquiring one of the last four byes on his bracket. Lunardi also listed the Beavers 10th seed in the East region, playing in St. Louis. The last four in of Lunardi are St. Bonaventure, Pittsburgh, Saint Mary's and Monmouth, while his first four out are Tulsa, Syracuse, Connecticut and Valparaiso.
On other hand, Jerry Palm from CBS Sports said Oregon State Beavers is No. 8 seed in the West region, also playing in St. Louis. Furthermore, his latest bracketology has Connecticut, Vanderbilt, Cincinnati and Tulsa as the last four in. His last four out are George Washington, Michigan, Monmouth, and Wichita State.
For Chris Dobbertean of SBNation.com, his first four are Wichita State, St. Bonaventure, Monmouth and VCU, and the first four out are Tulsa, Saint Mary's, Syracuse and Valparaiso
Bleacher Report predicted that top seeds are highly likely to include Villanova in the East, Michigan State in the West, Virginia in the South and Kansas in the Midwest.
Sports columnist Steve Silverman said all of those teams have a huge chance to win games and advance to the Sweet 16. However just like previous years, there could be major shocker if underdog teams beat the top-seeded teams.
The top-ranked Villanova (27-4) may be one of the most interesting teams to watch. The team has a 33-3 standing last year when it was defeated in the round of 32 by North Carolina State.
Check out the NCAA Tournament TV Coverage schedule below:
March 15-16
truTV will broadcast the First Round games
March 17-20
TNT, TruTV, TBS, CBS will broadcast the First-Second Round games
March 24-25
TBS, CBS will broadcast the Sweet 16 games
March 26-27
TBS, CBS will broadcast the Elite 8 games
April 2
TBS will broadcast the Final Four games
April 4
TBS will broadcast the Championship Game
