March Madness Schedule: NCAA Tournaments, Conference Tourneys, Selection Sunday, NIT, CBI

The postseason of college basketball coincides with decreased productivity in the US workplace, as employees spend many hours on the job organizing pools and filling out brackets for tournaments.

The frenzy begins when teams begin vying for league tournament titles and goes into overdrive when the NCAA reveals the field for March Madness.

Fans fill out 60 million to 100 million brackets yearly, per NCAA estimates. It’s unsurprising that the amount of money spent wagering on postseason games is staggering. In 2022, 17% of Americans wagered approximately $3.1 billion on men’s March Madness, according to the American Gaming Association. Keep in mind, this figure doesn’t include the women’s tournament, the secondary postseason tournaments, or the wagers placed in office pools and other informal bracket contests

Since last year’s postseason, more states have legalized sports betting, including Kansas, Maryland, Massachusetts, and Ohio. The addition of sports betting markets means that March Madness 2023 has the potential to generate a record-breaking legal betting handle for college basketball.

Making informed betting choices does not begin with the 68-team NCAA tournament field for the men’s and women’s sides. The road starts with the results of the top conference tournaments. Furthermore, the NCAA field directly impacts the brackets for the secondary and tertiary postseason tournaments that also garner intense interest from fans and are included in sportsbooks. The fields for the other tournaments are announced within 24 hours of the NCAA’s selection show.

If you need a detailed guide to the postseason tournament schedule, check out the March Madness guide below. Keep this guide handy when viewing college basketball odds and planning your betting strategy.

NCAA Division I Men’s and Women’s Basketball Tournaments

The NCAA Division I basketball tournament is the pinnacle of college basketball. The 68 teams that make the men’s and women’s field are a mix of teams that won their respective conference tournaments and those selected as at-large participants by an NCAA committee. Conference tournament winners are automatic qualifiers. The at-large selections are a mix of top-25 ranked teams and those picked by the NCAA selection committee.

Selection Sunday Shows

The men’s and women’s NCAA brackets will be announced on live TV on Sunday, March 12.

• Men: 6 p.m. ET on CBS
• Women: 8 p.m. ET on ESPN

NCAA Tournament Schedule

After the play-in round where four teams compete, the first round of the 64-team bracket begins.

Men’s Schedule

March 14-15: First Four

• UD Arena, Dayton, OH

March 16-19: First Round and Second Round

Locations:

• Legacy Arena, Birmingham, AL
• Wells Fargo Arena, Des Moines, IA
• Amway Center, Orlando, FL
• Golden 1 Center, Sacramento, CA
• MVP Arena, Albany, NY
• Nationwide Arena, Columbus, OH
• Ball Arena, Denver, CO
• Greensboro Coliseum, Greensboro, NC

March 23 and 25: Regional Sites, Sweet 16, and Elite Eight

• West: T-Mobile Arena, Las Vegas, NV
• East: Madison Square Garden, New York, NY
• Midwest: Mobile Center, Kansas City, MO
• South: KFC Yum! Center, Louisville, KY

April 1: Final Four (TV: CBS)

• NRG Stadium, Houston, TX

April 3: National Championship (TV: CBS)

• NRG Stadium, Houston, TX

Women’s Schedule

March 15-16: First Four

• Top seeds host

March 17-20: First Round and Second Round

• Top seeds host

March 23 and 25: Regional Sites, Sweet 16, and Elite Eight

• East: Bon Secours Wellness Arena, Greenville, South Carolina
• West: Climate Pledge Arena, Seattle, WA

March 31: Final Four (TV: ESPN)

• American Airlines Center, Dallas, TX

April 2: National Championship (TV: ABC)

• American Airlines Center, Dallas, TX

Men’s NIT and CBI

National Invitational Tournament (NIT)

The National Invitational Tournament is a 32-team single-elimination tournament featuring teams that didn’t earn a berth in the NCAA tournament field. The NCAA manages the NIT. For decades, the tournament’s semifinals and championship occurred at Madison Square Garden. However, for 2023, the last rounds of the NIT will be held at Orleans Arena in Las Vegas.

Automatic qualifiers for the NIT are teams with the best regular season record in their conference but didn’t with the league championship.

March 14-19: First Round and Second Round

• Campus sites

March 21-22: Quarterfinals

• Campus sites

March 28: Semifinals

• Orleans Arena, Las Vegas, NV

March 30: Championship

• Orleans Arena, Las Vegas, NV

College Basketball Invitational (CBI)

• March 18-22: Ocean Center, Daytona Beach, FL

Teams that don’t make the NCAA and NIT fields still have a chance at postseason play. The College Basketball Invitational is an independently run tournament with a 16-team field.

Organized by the Gazelle Group, the single-elimination event requires teams to pay an entry fee to participate. The event occurs at the Daytona Beach Ocean Center on March 18-22. The opening rounds will be streamed on FloHoops.com. The semifinals and title game will be aired on ESPN2.

Women’s NIT and WBI

WNIT

The Women’s National Invitation Tournament is only similar to the men’s NIT in name. Run by Triple Crown Sports, the 64-team tournament features 32 automatic berths and 32 at-large picks. The auto-qualifiers consist of teams that finish the highest in their conference tournament without making the NCAA field. A team’s record does not come into play for auto-qualifiers. The WNIT committee picks the at-large teams based on various factors, including win-loss record, strength of schedule, NET ranking, and current injuries.

Games are held at campus sites. Schools provide online streaming. CBS Sports Network airs the championship game.

• March 15-17: Round 1
• March 18-21: Round 2
• March 22-24: Round 3
• March 25-27: Quarterfinals
• March 28-29: Semifinals
• April 1: Championship (TV: CBS Sports Network)

Women’s Basketball Invitational (WBI)

• March 16-19: Clive M. Beck Center, Lexington, KY

The Women’s Basketball Invitation is an eight-team, four-day tournament that features mid-major teams that don’t make the NCAA or WNIT field. All teams are guaranteed at least three games. Factors in the selection process include NET, strength of schedule, and late-season trends. Teams don’t have to have a winning record to participate in the WBI. In 2023, the entire tournament will take place at one location. The tournament organizer, Sport Tours International, provides streaming of all games.

Conference Tournaments to Watch

Keeping abreast of the most competitive conference championships can help you predict the makeup of tournament brackets. The most prominent and financially successful conferences, the Power 5, should be on your conference watch list. Some mid-major conferences with historical March Madness success or highly-ranked teams this season are also worthy of attention.

The list and schedule of conference championships to monitor are below.

Power 5

ACC

• Men: March 7-11, Brooklyn, NY
• Women: March 1-5, Greensboro, NC

Big 12

• Men: March 8-11, Kansas City, MO
• Women: March 9-12, Kansas City, MO

Big Ten

• Men: March 8-12, Chicago, IL
• Women: March 1-5, Minneapolis, MN

Pac-12

• Men: March 8-11, Las Vegas, NV
• Women: March 1-5, Las Vegas, NV

SEC

• Men: March 8-12, Nashville, TN
• Women: March 1-5, Greenville, SC

Mid-Major

Men and Women

Big East

• Men: March 8-10, New York, NY
• Women: March 3-7, Uncasville, CT

Mountain West

• Men: March 8-11, Las Vegas, NV
• Women: March 5-8, Las Vegas, NV

West Coast

• Men’s and women’s held concurrently: March 2-7, Las Vegas, NV

Men

American Athletic

• March 9-12, Fort Worth, TX

CUSA

• March 8-11, Frisco, TX

Read more: Odds to win 2023 NCAA Tournament