When does March Madness start? Tipoff date for men’s & women’s tournaments, NIT

March Madness is closer than you’d think for the 2022-23 season. When are the official dates for you to start getting tickets?

The path to the postseason is in full swing, as teams have just a few weeks left to help their perspective NCAA Tournament resumes. For those programs good enough to continue playing after respective conference tournaments, there’s the Big Dance and the NIT available. Here are the dates to keep in mind in March.

Men’s NCAA Tournament Notes

After Selection Sunday (March 12th), the First Four is once again in Dayton on Tuesday and Wednesday (March 14th and 15th) featuring two pairs of 16 seeds and the last four teams to make the NCAA Tournament. Then you have the first weekend, which includes the first and second rounds, taking place from March 16-19th. The various host cities include Birmingham, Des Moines, Orlando, Columbus, Denver, Sacramento, Albany, and Greensboro.

The second weekend is from March 23rd to the 26th, with the Final Four from each region facing off. Las Vegas represents the West Region, along with New York City (East), Kansas City (Midwest), and Louisville (South). To wrap it all up is the Final Four, located in Houston, Texas. The semifinals are on April 1st, while the national championship will be decided in the evening on April 3rd.

Women’s NCAA Tournament Notes

Unlike in the past, the Selection Show for the women won’t be held on the following day but rather on Sunday. The time will be 8:00 pm ET on ESPN (March 12th), an hour after the brackets are released on the men’s side. And for the second year in a row, the number of participants is up to 68 to equal the men’s side.

For those not aware, the hosting sites for the first two rounds are at the highest seeds of each pod. So for example, in the 1 vs 16 and 8 vs 9 section of the bracket, those four programs will be playing at the 1 seed’s home building. That includes members of the “First Four”, who would play in the top seed’s place in their respective pod. An example here is that the winner of the 11 vs 11 play-in game will play the 6 seed in that bracket, with the winning taking on the 3 vs 14 in the 3 seed’s home building. This takes place from March 15-20th.

In the second weekend, it’s broken down into two regionals of eight teams each, with one group playing at Greenville, South Carolina and the other in Seattle, Washington from March 24-27th. The Final 4 is located in Dallas Texas, with the semifinals taking place on March 31st and the national title game on April 2nd.

Men’s NIT Notes

The Selection Show for the NIT is expected to happen around 9:00 pm ET on March 12th but it could be moved to 9:30 with the NCAA Women’s brackets being moved to the same date. Once the list of 32 programs that made the other postseason tournament is announced, the first round of games starts on March 14-15th, with the second round on March 18-19th and the third/quarterfinals on March 21-22nd. All of these games will be at the home location of the higher seeds.

This is the first year in a while that the Final Four of the NIT won’t be held at Madison Square Garden but instead will be in the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas. The semifinals are set to begin on March 28th on ESPN while the title game is on ESPN2 on the date of March 30th.