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 can find the complete field of 68 teams here. Here are four must-watch games to circle on your calendar:

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

The Aggies, who felt snubbed last season, are making their first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2018, and the Nittany Lions’ drought dated to 2011. Both flirted with league tournament titles and have been hot. Texas A&M went 19-4 after a loss to Wofford and Penn State has won eight of 10.

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

The Razorbacks have made back-to-back trips to the Elite Eight. Top prospect and potential top NBA draft pick Nick Smith Jr. has only played in 14 games because of knee issues, but has scored 20-plus in half of the team’s last six. Illinois won the Big Ten season title before being ousted by Penn State in the first round of the league tournament. Illinois is led by transfers Terrence Shannon Jr. (Texas Tech) and Matthew Mayer, who helped lead Baylor to the 2021 national championship.

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

The game features two conference players of the year, Miami’s Isaiah Wong in the ACC for the regular-season co-champions, and Drake’s Tucker DeVries 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 Elite Eight three years running, though it has been a while (1969-71).

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

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

HOW TO WATCH

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

The NCAA will again stream games via its March Madness Live option and CBS games will be streamed on Paramount+.

There are multiple sites listing game times, channel and announcing team, including the NCAA and CBS.