When is March Madness 2022? Dates, TV schedule, locations, odds & more for the NCAA Tournament | Sporting News (2024)

March Madness is on the verge of another huge step on the road to returning to normalcy in sports.

The 2022 NCAA Tournament will be held without many of the restrictions and policies that defined the 2021 competition, which itself was the first dose of March Madness that sports fans enjoyed since 2019. The COVID-19 pandemic forced the cancellation of the event outright in 2020.

This year, for example, the tournament will return to several pre-pandemic operating procedures, such as hosting First Four games over the course of two days instead of one; featuring multiple host cities for the first and second rounds and regional semis/finals (as opposed to keeping the entire tournament in a singular area); and having seemingly no capacity restrictions. Fans in attendance will still need to adhere to local and state health regulations, however.

Regardless, that return to normalcy is great news for basketball fans who have missed the experience of March Madness as much as the on-court product. While the 2021 iteration was more than welcome after missing the tournament entirely in 2020, March Madness in 2022 could represent the closest to a "normal" tournament that fans have enjoyed in several years.

And that's not even considering the most important aspect of the tournament: the teams and players, of course. Already there are a few teams that stand out above the rest — most notably Gonzaga, which is aiming for redemption after getting blown out of the national championship game in 2021 to defending national champion Baylor.

Of course, this will also be the final NCAA Tournament with Duke's Mike Krzyzewski prowling the court, a fact that itself makes this tournament must-watch television. What other storylines and Cinderellas will reveal themselves as the tournament progresses?

The Sporting News has you covered on how to watch all of it unfold in 2022, including start and end dates, TV schedule, streaming options, venues, updated betting odds and more.

MORE: Watch March Madness games live with Sling TV (free trial)

March Madness bracket 2022

MORE: Download your printable March Madness bracket

NCAA Tournament schedule 2022

• Start date: Thursday, March 15-16 (First Four)
• End date: Monday, April 4 (national championship game)

The 2022 NCAA Tournament comprises the First Four; Rounds 1 and 2; Sweet 16; Elite Eight; Final Four and national championship game. The First Four begins the Tuesday following Selection Sunday, on March 15. The national championship game will take place on April 4.

Here is the full schedule for March Madness 2022:

When is the First Four?

The 2022 First Four games will take place over the course of two days: on Tuesday, March 15 and Wednesday, March 16. They return to their two-day format after the 2021 tournament, which saw the entirety of the round played out over the course of a day. Eight teams — the four lowest-seeded automatic and at-large bids, respectively — will play. A win in the First Four grants teams access to the tournament proper, making them part of the final 64-team field.

• Date: March 15-16
• Time: 6:30 p.m. start
• TV channel: TruTV
• Live stream: NCAA March Madness Live, Sling TV (free trial)

When is the Final Four?

The 2022 NCAA Tournament ends with the Final Four and national championship on April 2 and 4, respectively. All games will take place in Caesars Superdome in New Orleans. The 2022 tournament returns to its regular operating procedure in that the regional finals will be hosted in four separate venues across the country, as opposed to the same venue (which in 2021 happened to be Lucas Oil Stadium, host of the Final Four).

• Dates: April 2, 4
• Time: 6 p.m. start
• TV channel: TBS
• Live stream: NCAA March Madness Live, Paramount+, Sling TV (free trial)

First Four

Tuesday, March 15

Wednesday, March 16

Round 1

Thursday, March 17

Friday, March 18

Round 2

Round 2 times will be released following the completion of Round 1 on Friday.

Saturday, March 19

Sunday, March 20

Sweet 16

Thursday, March 24

Friday, March 25

Elite Eight

Saturday, March 26

Sunday, March 27

Final Four

Saturday, April 2

National championship

Monday, April 4

How to watch March Madness games in 2022

CBS and Turner Sports stations (TBS, TNT and truTV) will continue to split broadcast duties in the 2022 NCAA Tournament, a deal that will run through 2032. CBS will broadcast 18 of the 63 NCAA Tournament games (67 if you count the First Four)

TBS will broadcast the the Final Four and national championship game this year for the first time since 2018; the 2020 tournament was canceled because of the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic and, when the tournament resumed under COVID protocols in 2021, CBS resumed control as exclusive broadcaster (despite that TBS missed out the previous year).

CBS and Turner Sports on March 8 announced their announcer pairings. The biggest assignments of the tournament — the Final Four and national championship game — will once again feature Jim Nantz, Grant Hill and Bill Raftery calling the game with Tracy Wolfson reporting from the court.

Here are the regional weekend announcer teams, per the NCAA:

• Jim Nantz, Bill Raftery, Grant Hill, Tracy Wolfson
• Brian Anderson, Jim Jackson, Allie LaForce
• Ian Eagle, Jim Spanarkel, Jamie Erdahl
• Kevin Harlan, Dan Bonner, Reggie Miller, Dana Jacobson

The rest of the announcer teams, in alphabetical order:

• Lisa Byington, Steve Smith, Avery Johnson, Lauren Shehadi
• Andrew Catalon, Steve Lappas, Andy Katz
• Spero Dedes, Deb Antonelli, AJ Ross
• Brad Nessler, Brendan Haywood, Evan Washburn

Other notes regarding NCAA Tournament broadcasting: Gene Steratore will return as a rules analyst; Tom McCarthy, Steve Lavin, Avery Johnson and reporter Jon Rothstein will call the First Four; Ernie Johnson and Greg Gumbel will host studio coverage from the CBS Broadcast Center in the first week of the tournament; Nabil Karim, Candace Parker, Seth Davis, Rex Chapman and college coaches — to be announced — will have the same roles for Turner Sports.

2022 NCAA Tournament streaming options

Every game in the 2022 NCAA Tournament can be streamed via NCAA March Madness Live; other streaming options include CBS' streaming service, Paramount+, and Sling TV.

Sling TV offers the best value to stream all March Madness games broadcast on TBS, TNT and TruTV (49 of 67 total games). New subscribers who sign up for a three-day free trial to Sling TV's blue bundle would pay $35 per month thereafter.

To watch the additional 18 games broadcast on CBS, you can add a Paramount+ premium subscription for $9.99. Combined with Sling TV, that is the cheapest way to watch every NCAA Tournament game compared to YouTube TV, fuboTV, Hulu and DirecTV.

Where is March Madness 2022?

The 2022 NCAA Tournament will once again be held across several host sites and cities as opposed to being held entirely in the state of Indiana as it was in 2021. It marks the greatest return to normalcy in the tournament since the first outbreak of COVID-19 in 2020.

The First Four will be held at UD Arena on the campus of the University of Dayton in Ohio; the first and second rounds will take place across eight cities; the Sweet 16 Elite Eight will be held across four host cities; and the Final Four and national championship game will be held in New Orleans' Caesars Superdome.

Below is a full rundown of the sites and locations of the NCAA Tournament:

MORE MARCH MADNESS:
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Odds to win March Madness 2022

Sports books have already singled out a handful of teams that have the highest odds to win the 2022 NCAA Tournament. Those begin with Gonzaga, which has never dropped below No. 5 overall in the AP Top 25 poll this season and which has six weeks atop the poll.

Below are the teams most like to win the 2022 NCAA Tournament (as of Monday, Feb. 28):

• Gonzaga (+400)
• Arizona (+750)
• Kentucky (+750)
• Purdue (+800)
• Auburn (+1000)
• Kansas (+1500)
• Duke (+1500)
• Baylor (+1800)
• Villanova (+2000)
• UCLA (+2500)
• Texas Tech (+3000)
• Illinois (+4000)
• Houston (+4000)
• Tennessee (+5000)
• Texas (+5000)
• Ohio State (+6000)
• Alabama (+6000)
• LSU (+8000)
• Providence (+8000)
• Arkansas (+8000)

MARCH MADNESS MEMORIES:
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Future March Madness locations, host sites

March Madness has enjoyed a seeming return to normalcy, which means future host sites for the Final Four in ensuing seasons. Below are the those locations:

NCAA Tournament 2022 tickets

The NCAA has yet to release COVID-19 policies for fans watching the 2022 tournament. That said, it has released guidelines for all teams traveling for the NCAA Tournament. The NCAA encourages indoor masking by all individuals associated with the team, but allows for each team to follow local health authorities and CDC guidelines.

More from the NCAA:

The guidance does not require on-site testing for asymptomatic individuals in Tier 1.

All individuals in the official travel party will be considered Tier 1. Before traveling to championship sites, they must be tested for COVID-19 or meet the requirements for exemption from testing.

All nonexempt individuals in a travel party must produce a negative COVID-19 test result before travel to a tournament site. This can be an antigen test within one day of arrival or a PCR test within two days of arrival.

To be exempt from testing, a Tier 1 participant must be fully vaccinated or have documentation of a COVID-19 infection within the previous 90 days.

Tickets through the NCAA are available from the First Four through the Final Four (as of Monday, Feb. 28).

More March Madness news by The Sporting News

Here are more March Madness features, courtesy of The Sporting News, until the 2022 NCAA Tournament begins:

• Inside the Madness: 80 years of Final Four memories
• Upset City: Reliving the Wildest Opening Venue in Tournament History
• An Oral History of Steph Curry's Breakout Party
• '40 Minutes of Hell' to Hog Heaven: Memories from Arkansas' 1994 NCAA Tournament run
• Mario Chalmers' shot vs. Memphis still resonates

NCAA Tournament winners

UCLA leads all men's college basketball programs with 11 national championships, followed by blue bloods Kentucky, North Carolina and Duke.

Baylor is the last team to win the NCAA Tournament, securing its first title in program history in 2021 by beating Gonzaga, which aimed to become the first team since Bob Knight's 1975-76 Indiana team to go undefeated.

No team claims the 2020 national championship, as it was canceled because of COVID-19.

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