NCAA announces slightly altered schedule for the Division I men’s basketball tournament
All 67 games of the 2021 tournament will be played in the state of Indiana, with 55 contests set for venues in Indianapolis. The Final Four is set for April 3 at Lucas Oil Stadium.
The NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Championship will be on a slightly adjusted schedule for 2021 when all 67 games will be held in the state of Indiana, 55 of them in Indianapolis.
The First Four will stage all four games on one day, Thursday, March 18, with two each at Purdue’s Mackey Arena in West Lafayette and Indiana’s Assembly Hall in Bloomington. Two of the games will match the four lowest-seeded teams, and the other two will pair the four lowest-ranked at-large teams.
The 32-game first round will be played March 19-20 at Purdue, Indiana and four sites in Indianapolis – Lucas Oil Stadium, Bankers Life Fieldhouse, Hinkle Fieldhouse and Indiana Farmers Coliseum. The four Indianapolis venues will be the scene of second-round action Sunday and Monday, March 21-22.
The tournament resumes with Sweet 16 action at Bankers Life Fieldhouse and Hinkle Fieldhouse on Saturday and Sunday, March 27-28. The Elite Eight will be staged at Lucas Oil Stadium on Monday and Tuesday, March 29-30, with all four games in prime-time.
The winners advance to the Final Four at Lucas Oil Stadium on Saturday, April 3, with the national championship game set for Monday, April 5.
Games will be televised by CBS, TBS, TNT and truTV. The NCAA said that beginning with the Sweet 16, each game will be played at a separate time in its own television window.