March Madness: 4 must-watch games in first round of NCAA Tournament

March Madness is here!

Alabama, Houston, Kansas and Purdue are the No. 1 seeds, and you canfind the complete field of 68 teamshere. Here are four must-watch games to circle on yourcalendar:

No. 7Texas A&M (25-9) vs. No. 10 Penn State (22-13) - Thursday, 9:55p.m. ET (TBS)

The Aggies,who felt snubbed last season, are making their first NCAATournament appearance since 2018, and the Nittany Lions’ droughtdated to 2011. Both flirted with league tournament titles and havebeen hot. Texas A&M went 19-4 after a loss to Wofford and PennState has won eight of 10.

No. 8Arkansas (20-13) vs. No. 9 Illinois (20-12) - Thursday, 4:30 p.m.ET (TBS)

TheRazorbacks have made back-to-back trips to the Elite Eight. Topprospect and potential top NBA draft pick Nick Smith Jr. has onlyplayed in 14 games because of knee issues, but has scored 20-plusin half of the team’s last six. Illinois won the Big Ten seasontitle before being ousted by Penn State in the first round of theleague tournament. Illinois is led by transfers Terrence ShannonJr. (Texas Tech) and Matthew Mayer, who helped lead Baylor to the2021 national championship.

No. 5Miami (25-7) vs. Drake (27-7) - Friday, 7:35 p.m. ET(TBS)

The gamefeatures two conference players of the year, Miami’s Isaiah Wong inthe ACC for the regular-season co-champions, and Drake’s TuckerDeVries from the Missouri Valley Conference tournament champs.DeVries is averaging 19 points while Wong leads the team in scoring(16.2 points per game), assists and steals. Drake made the EliteEight three years running, though it has been a while(1969-71).

No. 6Kentucky (21-11) vs. No. 11 Providence (21-11) - Friday, 7:10 p.m.ET. (CBS)

Led by lastyear’s AP player of the year Oscar Tshiebwe, the Wildcats aretrying to avoid back-to-back first-round exits after that infamous defeat to Saint Peter’s. The Friars, meanwhile, wentto the Sweet 16 before losing to eventual champion Kansas. They’reled by Kentucky transfer Bryce Hopkins

HOW TO WATCH

Every game ofthe men’s NCAA Tournament will be aired somewhere, either on CBS,TBS, TNT or TruTV and their digital platforms. CBS will have theFinal Four semifinals and national title game this year.

The NCAA willagain stream games via its March Madness Liveoption andCBS games will be streamed onParamount+.

There aremultiple sites listing game times, channel and announcing team,including theNCAAandCBS.