When is the first March Madness game? Tuesday's First Four schedule

Grace Tucker and John Leuzzi, Cincinnati Enquirer

College basketball fans: Your Super Bowl is finally here.

March Madness kicks off this week with the First Four games hosted in Dayton. The tournament will continue through to the national championship game April 8 at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona.

The 68-team bracket was finalized on Selection Sunday. So for the next three weeks, college basketball will take center stage as fans across the country glue themselves to their sports bar of choice to see which of the 68 teams in the 2024 NCAA tournament will come out on top.

It all starts with the First Four on Tuesday, March 19. Here's everything you need to know about when and where to watch Tuesday's games.

First Four schedule for Tuesday, March 19

For the 12th year, the First Four will take place in Dayton at the University of Dayton's UD Arena.

Here's who's on the docket for Tuesday night's tournament kickoff.

  • 6:40 p.m. ET: Wagner (16-15) vs. Howard (18-16) for the No. 16 seed in the West. The winner will face No. 1 North Carolina on Thursday, March 21.

  • 9:10 p.m. ET: Colorado State (24-10) vs. Virginia (23-10) for the No. 10 seed in the Midwest. The winner will face No. 7 Texas on Thursday, March 21.

Where to watch the First Four March Madness games

All First Four games will be broadcast on TruTV.

TruTV can be found on several cable providers, and has the same channel number nationwide on some providers. Here are the channels:

  • AT&T U-Verse: 164/1164.

  • FIOS: 183/683.

  • Cox: Varies by location.

  • Dish: 242.

  • DirecTV: 246.

  • Spectrum: Varies by location.

  • Xfinity: Varies by location.

TruTV is available to stream on YouTube TV, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, Roku, Android TV and the TruTV app. Fans can also stream the game on the NCAA March Madness Live app, or through ncaa.com/march-madness-live/watch.

How does the First Four work?

When selecting the teams for March Madness, the NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Committee ranks every team from No. 1 through No. 68.

The four lowest-ranked automatic qualifying teams will play in the First Four games as 16 seeds, while the four lowest at-large teams will compete in the other First Four games, typically as No. 11 or No. 12 seeds.

The winners of their respective game will advance to the 64-team field.

NCAA March Madness printable bracket

Both the NCAA and USA TODAY offer printable March Madness brackets you can view and download now. The men's and women's brackets are both available to download on NCAA.com and brackets.usatoday.com.

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: When is first March Madness game? First Four Tuesday schedule, channel

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