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The Indiana Daily Student

sports men's basketball

NCAA announces preliminary NCAA Tournament dates

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The NCAA announced preliminary dates for the men’s NCAA Tournament which will be held entirely in Indiana in a press release Tuesday. 

The tournament will begin March 18 with the First Four games, with two games being played in Purdue’s Mackey Arena in West Lafayette, Indiana, and the other two games being played in Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall. 

Related: [Read more about men’s basketball here]

The first round will be played March 19 and 20 in Mackey Arena, Assembly Hall, and in Indianapolis at Bankers Life Fieldhouse, Hinkle Fieldhouse, Indiana Farmers Coliseum and Lucas Oil Stadium. 

Following the first round, the remainder of the tournament will solely use the Indianapolis venues.

The second round games will take place March 21 and 22. The first and second round games will be broadcasted on TBS, CBS, TNT and truTV.

Bankers Life Fieldhouse and Hinkle Fieldhouse will be the site of the Sweet 16 on March 27 and 28, with each of the games getting its own television window instead of the typical overlapping seen in previous years. 

Elite Eight games will be played March 29 and 30 during prime time, according to the release. The Final Four will be played April 3 with the National Championship game April 5. All Elite Eight and Final Four games will be played in Lucas Oil Stadium. 

“The 2021 March Madness schedule is primarily a function of the health and safety protocols for all participants, respecting conference tournaments, balancing time away from campus for college student-athletes, competitive considerations for a national championship and fan engagement during a relatively traditional tournament timetable,” said Dan Gavitt, the NCAA’s senior vice president of basketball. “We are most appreciative of CBS Sports and Turner Sports for their collaboration and support of the tournament.”

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