While some continue to debate who was seeded where and why for the NCAA Tournament, there was no debate about who would end up in prime-time TV slots for games Thursday and Friday.All four top seeds (Kansas, Kentucky, Duke and Syracuse) were slotted to tip at 7:15 p.m. ET or later because, even in what should be lopsided matchups, the network believes, and ratings usually confirm, that big-name, top-seeded teams matter.
Not surprisingly, the 8-9 matchup in each of the four regions also was assigned to tip at night. Logically, at least according to seeds, that game should be the best first-round game in each region, which makes it a strong candidate as good TV. It's also a good fallback when the top seeds build big leads against their overmatched opponents in those same timeslots.
Here's a look at the TV times, team seeds and announcing tandems for all of the first-round games ...
THURSDAY AFTERNOON
12:20 p.m., 10 Florida vs. 7 BYU (Kevin Harlan/Dan Bonner)12:25, p.m., 6 Notre Dame vs. 11 Old Dominion (Dick Enberg/Jay Bilas)
12:30 p.m., 2 Villanova vs. 15 Robert Moris (Verne Lundquist/Bill Raftery)
2:30 p.m., 4 Vanderbilt vs. 13 Murray State (Spero Dedes/Bob Wenzel)
After 12:20 game, 2 Kansas State vs. 15 North Texas (Harlan/Bonner)
After 12:25 game, 3 Baylor vs. 14 Sam Houston (Enberg/Bilas)
After 12:30 game, 7 Richmond vs. 10 St. Mary's (Lundquist/Raftery)
After 2:30 game, 5 Butler vs. 12 UTEP (Dedes/Wenzel)
THURSDAY EVENING
7:10 p.m., 8 UNLV vs. 9 Northern Iowa (Harlan/Bonner)7:15 p.m., 1 Kentucky vs. 16 East Tennessee State (Enberg/Bilas)
7:20 p.m., 6 Marquette vs. 11 Washington (Dedes/Wenzel)
7:25 p.m., 3 Georgetown vs. 14 Ohio (Lundquist/Raftery)
After 7:10 game, 1 Kansas vs. 16 Lehigh (Harlan/Bonner)
After 7:15 game, 8 Texas vs. 9 Wake Forest (Enberg/Bilas)
After 7:20 game, 3 New Mexico vs. 14 Montana (Dedes/Wenzel)
After 7:25 game, 6 Tennessee vs. 11 San Diego State (Lundquist/Raftery)
FRIDAY AFTERNOON
12:15 p.m., 2 West Virginia vs. 15 Morgan State (Gus Johnson/Len Elmore)12:25 p.m., 6 Xavier vs. 11 Minnesota (Ian Eagle/Jim Spanarkel)
12:30 p.m., 5 Temple vs. 12 Cornell (Jim Nantz/Clark Kellogg)
2:30 p.m., 4 Purdue vs. 13 Siena (Tim Brando/Mike Gminski)
After 12:15 game, 7 Clemson vs. 10 Missouri (Johnson/Elmore)
After 12:25 game, 3 Pitt vs. 14 Oakland (Eagle/Spanarkel)
After 12:30 game, 4 Wisconsin vs. 13 Woffard (Nantz/Kellogg)
After 2:30 game, 5 Texas A&M vs. 12 Utah State (Brando/Gminski)
FRIDAY EVENING
7:10 p.m., 8 Gonzaga vs. 9 Florida State (Johnson/Elmore)7:15 p.m., 7 Oklahoma State vs. 10 Georgia Tech (Eagle/Spanarkel)
7:20 p.m., 5 Michigan State vs. 12 New Mexico State (Brando/Gminski)
7:25 p.m., 1 Duke vs. Arkansas Pine Bluff or Winthrop (Nantz/Kellogg)
After 7:10 game, 1 Syracuse vs. 16 Vermont (Johnson/Elmore)
After 7:15 game, 2 Ohio State vs. 15 UC-Santa Barbara (Eagle/Spanarkel)
After 7:20 game, 4 Maryland vs. 13 Houston (Brando/Gminski)
After 7:25 game, 8 California vs. 9 Louisville (Nantz/Kellogg)