Watching the NCAA Tournaments
College basketball fans nationwide are looking forward to the NCAA tournament (68 teams, 67 games, three weeks). Every year the tournament is considered the marquee sporting event of the spring.
This year’s 2021 NCAA Tournament is coming fast and while the college hoops season has felt like a whirlwind season, due to COVID-19 related stops and starts, the season has been moving along. With Selection Sunday looming, (March 14th), some teams have some vastly different resumes than usual.
As a result of all the COVID-19 pauses, it has officially reached bracketology time and college teams across the country are using this final month of regular-season action to get in as many last-minute results for their submission resume to the Tournament selection committee.
While there are several teams that have emerged as ‘locks’ to be in the tournament due to their dominant records and other metrics, several teams still exist with uncertain postseason futures.
As was mentioned previously in this article, 68 teams will enter the Tournament and 31 will have automatic bids by winning their conference tournaments. It would normally be 32 teams, but the Ivy League conference decided not to participate this season. The remaining teams will be chosen from the remaining teams and seeded by the tournament selection committee.
Optimum offers you a look at when and where to watch the 2021 NCAA Men’s and Women’s Basketball Tournament:
Men’s 2021 NCAA Basketball Tournament
Round | Time (EST), Dates | NETWORK |
Selection Show | 6 p.m. Sunday, March 14 | CBS |
First Four | 4 p.m. start Thursday March 18 | truTV, TBS |
Primera ronda | 12 p.m. starts Friday March 19 and Saturday March 20 | TBS, CBS, TNT, truTV |
Segunda ronda | 12 p.m. starts Sunday March 21 and Monday March 22` | TBS, CBS, TNT, truTV |
Sweet 16 | 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. on Saturday, March 27 and 1 p.m. | CBS (afternoon games), TBS (primetime games) |
Elite Eight | 7 p.m. start on Monday, March 29 and 6 p.m. | CBS (Monday) and TBS (Tuesday) |
Final Four | Games start 5 p.m. Saturday, April 3 | CBS |
National Championship | 9 p.m. Monday, April 5 | CBS |
Women’s 2021 NCAA Basketball Tournament
ROUND | Time (EST), Dates | NETWORK |
Selection Show | 7 p.m., 8 p.m. Monday March 15 | ESPN, ESPNU |
Primera ronda | Coverage start 12 p.m. Sunday March 21 and Monday March 22 | ABC, ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU |
Segunda ronda | 3 p.m. Tuesday March 23 and 1 p.m. Wednesday March 24 | ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU |
Sweet 16 | Coverage starts @ 1 p.m., 3 p.m., 6 p.m., 8 p.m. Saturday March 27 and 1 p.m., 3 p.m., 6 p.m., 8 p.m. Sunday March 28 | ABC, ESPN2 |
Elite Eight | 7 p.m., 9 p.m. Monday March 29 and Tuesday March 31 | ESPN |
Women’s Final Four National Semifinals | 6 p.m., 9:30 p.m. Friday April 2 | ESPN |
Women’s Final Four National Championship | 6 p.m. Sunday April 4 | ESPN |
The tournaments are also one of the easiest sports to stream. Every game from both the Men's and Women's tournament is streamed on the NCAA's March Madness Live service. There’s an app for pretty much every streaming device out there, and the service is available on your browser as well. It’s free, and there are no blackouts, a rarity in sports streaming.
March Madness Live is streamed in partnership with CBS, so you'll need a TV provider to log in as well as a cable package that includes CBS, TNT. TBS and TruTV.
Optimum offers a plethora of TV options that include those channels.