The wait is over: The brackets are out and the Big Dance is officially upon us as the greatest three weeks on the sports calendar have arrived.
Not every game in the men’s NCAA tournament is created equal, however, especially during the opening weekend when the action is flying fast and furious from the First Four all the way through to next Sunday night. Which games are worth clearing your schedule and setting a reminder on your calendar for? Here are 10 of the best matchups during the first round.
No. 9 Creighton Bluejays vs. No. 8 Louisville Cardinals, 12:15 p.m. ET Thursday (CBS)
The first game of the round of 64 pulls no punches with an underseeded Louisville side getting to play down the road from home at the very familiar confines of Rupp Arena in Lexington, Ky. Not only that, but they’ll face a Creighton team that made it to the Big East tourney final and have an equal amount of shotmaking to make this a pretty fun, high-scoring affair to kick things off Thursday.
No. 11 VCU Rams vs. No. 6 BYU Cougars, 4:05 p.m. ET Thursday (TNT)
Just five spots separate these two teams in the KenPom rankings, so you can tell it’s a pretty even matchup coming in despite the seeding difference. The Cougars and Rams play at the same kind of pace, know how to shoot and have two hot-shot coaches in Ryan Odom and Kevin Young who much of the country is going to get more familiar with over the coming years. BYU’s Egor Demin is a potential NBA lottery pick, but it will be interesting to see how he fares against the A-10 champs who pose some matchup issues on the whole.
Watch this one just for the TV shots of various bulldogs in the arena in Wichita, Kans., like Uga himself. Both teams notched some impressive nonconference wins and are much better than their records indicate, with Gonzaga actually checking in as a top-10 team in a number of metrics. Mark Few’s side has a nearly decade-long streak of making it to at least the Sweet 16, but they’ll have a huge challenge on their hands right away trying to shut down the likes of future lottery pick Asa Newell.
No. 10 Arkansas Razorbacks vs. No. 7 Kansas Jayhawks, 7:10 p.m. ET Thursday (CBS)
John Calipari vs. Bill Self, need we say more? These two sides have been traveling in opposite directions over the course of this season and have plenty of great players who know what it takes to win in March. But still, this is one of those rare meetings of two Hall of Fame coaches that will make it worth the price of admission.
No. 11 Drake Bulldogs vs. No. 6 Missouri Tigers, 7:35 p.m. ET Thursday (TruTV)
There’s going to be a bit of a vibe in this one as a slew of players (and the head coach) who moved up from the Division II level to play at Drake get the crack at an SEC program that has been really good under Dennis Gates this season. There should be no shortage of great shotmaking involved in this one right in the heart of the Midwest.
No. 12 UC San Diego Tritons vs. No. 5 Michigan Wolverines, 10 p.m. ET Thursday (TBS)
It wasn’t long ago that the Tritons were a powerhouse in Division III, but they’ve moved all the way up to the D-I ranks and are set to play in their first Big Dance. They’ve also got a great chance at pulling a traditional No. 5-vs.12 upset as they are tremendously sound across the board and love to force turnovers, something the Big Ten tournament champs have a habit of doing in several of their losses the last two months.
Penny Hardaway assembled one of his best teams since taking over at Memphis, but the Tigers didn’t really impress this past week as they quite literally survived and advanced their way to win the AAC tourney title. Conversely, they’ll be facing the hottest team in the bracket in the Rams, who rolled through the Mountain West recently and have the chops to do more than pull an upset in this one.
No. 10 Vanderbilt Commodores vs. No. 7 St. Mary’s Gaels, 3:15 p.m. ET Friday (TruTV)
Mark Byington is no stranger to taking teams to the NCAA tournament and seems ahead of schedule in Nashville by guiding the Dores to a very intriguing meeting with the WCC’s regular-season champs. The Gaels’ defense is top notch and one of the best units in the country, so this one is going to need some high-level execution on either side if they’re going to pull out a win in a game that doesn’t seem like there’s any difference at all between the mid-major and the Power 2 side.
No. 10 New Mexico Lobos vs. No. 7 Marquette Golden Eagles, 7:25 p.m. ET Friday (TBS)
Both Shaka Smart and Richard Pitino have been names linked to bigger jobs in recent weeks, and that’s a testament to what they’ve done at their respective programs ahead of a meeting in Cleveland this week. New Mexico has a great high-low combination with Donovan Dent and Mustapha Amzil, but David Joplin and Kam Jones should have no issues switching while also causing problems on the offensive end. Both teams like to get shots up quickly so this has all the makings of a back-and-forth affair that comes right down to the buzzer.
No. 9 Oklahoma Sooners vs. No. 8 UConn Huskies, 9:25 p.m. ET Friday (TNT)
The Sooners and the Huskies both expected a lot more out of their seasons than what they wound up with over the course of the 2024–25 campaign, but the tournament offers a chance to write a fresh narrative. Each team has shown flashes of being capable of making it deep in the Big Dance and have both the horses (Liam McNeeley, Jeremiah Fears, etc.) and head coaches with Final Fours under their belt to do so. The Huskies haven’t lost in three years when the lights shine the brightest, but Porter Moser & Co. will not be an easy out by any stretch down in Raleigh.
