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For the first time, all 2011 NCAA Tournament games will be aired live on CBS, TNT, TBS, and truTV (ask your local cable provider where to find truTV.) Individual game slots will be announced following selection sunday.

 

Winthrop (19-13, 12-6 Big South) vs. Arkansas-Pine Bluff (17-15, 14-4 SWAC)
Location and Time: Dayton, OH (University of Dayton Arena); 7:30 PM

One of the fun but also sometimes frustrating aspects of the NCAA Tournament is that CBS televises multiple games at once. This can lead to some exciting in-game looks at close exciting games, but it also means you might be missing the game you really want to see. CBS released their coverage maps of Thursday's opening round action, and I've linked to the maps for each time-slot below.

  

The tournament gets under way with the sweet sounds of Kevin Harlan. The lead Packer/Nantz crew is in Jacksonville so won't be heard from on Thursday.. they're covering Duke like they did last year. Newcomer Spero Dedes along with Bob Wenzel are relegated to the west coast to do the weird 2:30/5:00 time slot.. yet they have perhaps 2 of the most interesting games, where UTEP is a trendy pick over Butler and Murray St is easily the class of the #13 seeds. The Thursday night set of games seems particularly lacking in drama.

The tournament gets under way with the sweet sounds of Kevin Harlan. The lead Packer/Nantz crew is in Jacksonville so won't be heard from on Thursday.. they're covering Duke like they did last year. Newcomer Spero Dedes along with Bob Wenzel are relegated to the west coast to do the weird 2:30/5:00 time slot.. yet they have perhaps 2 of the most interesting games, where UTEP is a trendy pick over Butler and Murray St is easily the class of the #13 seeds. The Thursday night set of games seems particularly lacking in drama.

When you watch as much of the NCAA Tournament as us die-hards do.. you inevitably form close bonds with the announcers on CBS. Some are strong congenial caring bonds.. others I could do without.  Here is the CBS college basketball roster, including links to profiles on CBS.com, their role during the broadcast, and my rating of their recent work.  (Check out my announcer rating from last year)

 

Wednesday is the day where the final days before Selection Sunday begin to get ever more hectic. The Big 12 and Conference USA both begin play with four first round matchup, and while the teams set to represent the Big 12 in the NCAA Tournament appear to be set in stone the same can't be said for C-USA. On the "clock" Wednesday is none other than Tulsa, who be playing the tournament in their city even though the Bok Center is not their home floor. Rice is the opening round opponent, a team that they must be to simply retain hope of being a part of the discussion.

The 16-team brawl that is the Big East Tournament begins on Tuesday with teams nine through sixteen playing on the opening day. Similar to last season there are bubble teams playing with the hope of gaining the opportunity to bolster their resumes against stiffer competition later in the week. You've got the bubble angle for USF and Seton Hall, two teams who may be closer to working their way into the Tournament than anticipated a couple of weeks ago as the nation concentrated on Connecticut.

Speaking of the reeling Huskies, what will they bring to the table against St. John's?

For all the bubble teams not playing on Tuesday night there's really just one game they need to pay full attention to: the Horizon League final between host Butler and second-seeded Wright State. Point blank: if the Raiders find a way to knock off Gordon Hayward and company at Hinkle Fieldhouse one more bid goes off the board (if you're of the thinking that Saint Mary's wasn't a lock themselves before Monday night).

Northern Iowa became the fifth team to earn a bid to the NCAA Tournament, beating Wichita State 67-52 to win their second consecutive Missouri Valley Conference tournament title. Trailing by three at the half, Ben Jacobson's Panthers outscored the Shockers 39-21 in the second half, holding Wichita State to 23.1% shooting in the final twenty minutes. Kwadzo Ahelegbe led the way with 24 points while Jake Koch added 13 off the bench. Koch's performance highlighted a solid effort from the UNI reserves, who helped spark the decisive 23-3 run.