March Madness NCAA Tournament Preview: Key Dates, Format and How to Watch

Written By Nick Crain | Published at March 11, 2026

Michigan forward Yaxel Lendeborg (23) celebrates a play as he walks off the court for substitution during the second half against Michigan State at Crisler Center in Ann Arbor on Sunday, March 8, 2026.

The NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Tournament, better known as March Madness, is one of the biggest events on the sports calendar each year.

A total of 68 teams compete in a single-elimination tournament to determine the national champion of college basketball. The three-week event features buzzer beaters, Cinderella runs and bracket chaos that captivate fans across the country.

The tournament begins shortly after Selection Sunday, which is just a few days away, when the full bracket is revealed. From there, the Final Four and national championship game will be in early April, which is the official conclusion of the college basketball season.

Here’s a March Madness preview with everything to know about the tournament format, key dates and how to watch the action.

Tournament Format

March Madness is a single-elimination tournament, meaning one loss ends a team’s season.

After the First Four play-in games reduce the field from 68 teams to 64, the tournament proceeds through six rounds until a national champion is crowned.

Teams are divided into four regions: East, West, South and Midwest. Each region contains 16 seeded teams, ranked by the NCAA selection committee.

The committee seeds teams 1 through 68 overall, then distributes them across the regions and does its best to fully balance the bracket. That process helps spread the strongest teams evenly throughout the tournament.

Within each region, teams receive seeds from No. 1 to No. 16. The better the team’s résumé, the higher the seed it is likely to receive.

The opening matchups in each region follow a standard bracket structure:

No. 1 vs. No. 16
No. 8 vs. No. 9
No. 5 vs. No. 12
No. 4 vs. No. 13
No. 6 vs. No. 11
No. 3 vs. No. 14
No. 7 vs. No. 10
No. 2 vs. No. 15

Winners continue advancing through their region until four regional champions remain.

Those four teams winning their region move on to the Final Four, where the national semifinals and championship game determine the NCAA tournament winner.

Key Dates

Selection Sunday

March 15

Selection Sunday is when the NCAA selection committee reveals the full 68-team bracket for the tournament. During the broadcast, teams are placed into four regions (East, West, South and Midwest) and seeded from No. 1 through No. 16 in each region.

Matchups, regional locations and the overall tournament path are announced live on CBS. This marks the official start of March Madness and is when fans begin filling out their brackets.

First Four

March 17 & 18

The tournament begins with a play-in round known as the First Four. Because the NCAA tournament includes 68 teams but only a 64-team bracket, four games are played to determine the final teams in the main field.

Two games feature the lowest-seeded automatic qualifiers, while the other two matchups involve the lowest-seeded at-large teams. The winners advance into the main bracket and move on to the Round of 64.

Round of 64

March 19 & 20

The first full round of the tournament begins Thursday and Friday following Selection Sunday. All 64 teams compete across multiple host cities around the country. Winners advance to the next round while losers are eliminated, continuing the tournament’s single-elimination format.

Round of 32

March 21 & 22

The remaining 32 teams play Saturday and Sunday to determine the Sweet 16. By the end of this round, only 16 teams remain alive in the national championship race.

Sweet 16

March 26 & 27

The regional semifinals take place the following week at four regional host sites. Teams that win in the Sweet 16 advance to the Elite Eight, which determines the four programs that will reach the Final Four.

Elite Eight

March 28 & 29

The Elite Eight features the regional championship games. Each of the four winners claims its region and earns a spot in the Final Four, putting them just two wins away from a national championship.

Final Four

April 4

The four regional champions meet at a single site for the national semifinals. Two games are played, with the winners advancing to the national championship game.

National Championship

April 6

The final two teams face off for the national title. The winner of this game is crowned the NCAA Division I men’s basketball national champion, completing the three-week March Madness tournament.