2025 NCAA March Madness: Selection Sunday, Where To Watch, Schedules & Dates

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Whether it’s rooting for your alma mater or the random team you declared a fandom for as a kid, March Madness gets you hyped.

The festivities don’t officially kick off until March 18 for the men’s teams and March 19 for the women’s side. But before we get into bracket busting, let’s break down everything we know about the pending madness that hits college basketball annually.

Firstly, remember that selection Sunday is on March 16, when the NCAA will unveil the men’s and women’s brackets of 68 teams from conferences throughout America, such as the SEC, ACC, Big 12, Big Ten, and Big East on CBS at 6 p.m.

That’s when fans will start filling out their brackets in hopes of having impossibly perfect selections or at least seeing their favorite team not get beat by a lowly ranked Cinderella team. As the tournament begins, you can track dwindling perfect brackets here.

Once the games begin, there will be seven rounds. As teams quickly get booted out, it dwindles down to the round of 16, commonly known as the Sweet 16, round of eight, or the Elite Eight, and ultimately the Final Four before the NCAA championship matchup.

While it’s still unknown who will make it to the finals, we already know that the men’s big game will take place on April 7, with a tip-off of 8:50 p.m., and the ladies’ finals will take place the day before at 3 p.m.

Thanks to the NCAA, below is a breakdown of all the key dates you need to know to tune in to the competition.

Men’s March Madness Schedule

• Selection Sunday: Sunday, March 16
• First Four: March 18-19
• First round: March 20-21
• Second round: March 22-23
• Sweet 16: March 27-28
• Elite Eight: March 29-30
• Final Four: Saturday, April 5
• Championship: Monday, April 7

The games are set to be hosted in cities like Dayton, Ohio, Lexington, Kentucky, Denver, Colorado, San Francisco, and Indianpolis, Indiana before heading to the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas, for the final four and championship game.

Women’s March Madness Schedule

• Selection Sunday: Sunday, March 16
• First Four: March 19-20
• First round: March 21-22
• Second round: March 23-24
• Sweet 16: March 28-29
• Elite Eight: March 30-31
• Final Four: Friday, April 4
• Championship: Sunday, April 6

The ladies’ games will be hosted at Birmingham, Alabama’s, Legacy Arena and Spokane and Washington’s Spokane Arena before wrapping things up by hosting the Final Four and championship game in Tampa, Florida.

2025 NCAA March Madness: Selection Sunday, Where To Watch, Schedules & Dates  was originally published on ionecassius.staging.go.ione.nyc