2023 NCAA MEN’S BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT RESOURCES

Kevin Rogers Sports Betting Expert

2 minute read

2023 NCAA Tournament Picks
Odds | Matchups | Futures
Sweet 16 | Elite 8 | Final 4 | Championship 

Bettors will have a total of 67 games to wager on from Thursday, March 16 through Monday, April 3. The championship game will take place at NRG Stadium in Houston, Texas. The field will be announced on Sunday, March 12 and VegasInsider has all your betting resources covered for the event.

SELECTION SUNDAY

The field of 68 will be announced on Sunday, March 12. The top four seeds will be handled the same as past years and so will the "First Four" games, which consist of eight schools, and will take place in Dayton, Ohio. 

The rest of the bracket will be determined on rankings and not geographic locations or situations where conference tie-ins would avoid matchups in upcoming rounds. The field of 68 will be made up of 36 at-large selections and 32 automatic bids.

FIRST FOUR

The 2023 NCAA Tournament will tip off with the "First Four" on Tuesday, Mar. 14, 2023 from University of Dayton Arena.  Eight schools will attempt to earn a bid into the Field of 64 for March Madness.

FIRST ROUND

The first round of the NCAA Tournament is arguably the most exciting action in all of sports and similar to past years, 32 games will take place over two days and the action will start on Thursday Mar. 16 and Friday Mar. 17. The action is expected to start just after 12:00 p.m. ET for the first round games on those days.

March Madness Venues

Game locations for the opening and second rounds include eight different venues.

There will be 16 games played on Thursday Mar. 16 and eight games played on Saturday Mar. 18, 2023 from the below locations.

• Amway Center, Orlando, Florida
• Legacy Arena, Birmingham, Alabama
• Wells Fargo Arena, Des Moines, Iowa
• Golden 1 Center, Sacramento, California

There will be 16 games played on Friday Mar. 17 and eight games played on Sunday Mar. 19, 2023 from the below locations.

• MVP Arena, Albany, New York
• Greensboro Coliseum, Greensboro, NC
• Nationwide Arena, Columbus, Ohio
• Ball Arena, Denver, Colorado

SECOND ROUNDS

The NCAA Tournament sees 64 teams from all the regions and conferences in the NCAA face off in a single-elimination bracket. That means 64 teams become 32 after the first round, held on two different days. The second round sees the field cut from 32 to 16 teams and you can watch and wager on those games on Saturday Mar. 19 and Sunday Mar. 20.

SWEET 16

The Sweet 16 phase of the NCAA Tournament has a predetermined bracket structure. To reach this round, teams will need to win their first and second-round games, possibly a "First Four" matchup as well.

There will be games played on Thursday Mar. 23 and Friday Mar. 24 from the below four venues.

• Madison Square Garden, New York, New York
• T-Mobile Arena, Las Vegas, Nevada
• KFC Yum! Center, Louisville, Kentucky
• T-Mobile Center, Kansas City, Missouri

ELITE EIGHT

The Elite Eight is the final round before the Final Four and will pit eight schools that have started the tournament with perfect 3-0 or possibly 4-0 records. Those games will be played on Saturday Mar. 25 and Sunday Mar. 26.

FINAL FOUR

The 2023 Final Four will be played on Saturday, April 1 from NRG Stadium in Houston, Texas as four teams look to advance to the National Championship game on Monday, April 3. The Final Four will be made up of the winners of the South, East, West, and Midwest regions of the NCAA Tournament.

• Date: Saturday, April 1
• Location: Houston, Texas

The Final Four is also known as the National Semifinals and the first of the two matchups is expected to start at 5:00 p.m. ET. 

CHAMPIONSHIP GAME

• Date: Monday, April 3, 2023
• Location: Houston, Texas

The championship game will feature the winners of the national semifinals and tipoff is scheduled for 9:00 p.m. ET.

Kevin Rogers

Kevin has been handicapping professionally since 2007 at VegasInsider before shifting to ScoresAndOdds. He focuses on MLB, NFL, college football, NBA, college basketball, and NHL and mainly uses trends, systems, and situations as his top handicapping angles. More from Kevin Rogers