Are you ready for the beginning of the NCAA Tournament bracket which kicks off with Selection Sunday next week on March 17, 2019? That’s when the at-large bids, automatic bids and conference champions become tournament seeds and are paired with their first round opponents into the blank basketball brackets.
2019 Men’s Basketball NCAA Tournament Bracket
Once Championship Week (otherwise know as the Conference Tournaments) has completed, all the winners become automatic bids that will fill some of the brackets in the NCAA Tournament. The NCAA will be releasing the tournament schedule a little different this year with all 68 teams being announced first, and then the schedule.
The release of the bracket seedings will be broadcast on CBS at 6PM Eastern Time / 3PM Pacific Time for those interested in checking out the step by step process of populating the brackets.
From there, the First Four will be held two days later on Tuesday March 19th and 20th. The first round of play will be held on March 21st and 22nd. We got the full schedule of when and where the teams will play over the tournament schedule. If you’re visiting this post during March then you can also go to our main page for more bracket choices. You’ll see that we’ve posted several bracket designs and templates.
2019 NCAA Tournament Schedule
Men’s Basketball NCAA Tournament Schedule
The 2019 NCAA March Madness tournament is what college teams have been working though the season toward; the postseason college basketball tournament starts with 68 teams on the docket and ends with one team left standing the morning of April 9th.
The first week of the tournament is a whirlwind of 52 games being played all over the country and broadcast on TNT, TruTV and CBS.
Almost right after Selection Sunday, the “First Four” will be held that following Tuesday on March 19, 2019 in Dayton Ohio where it’s been since 2011. The other four teams will play on Wednesday with the winners playing that Friday.
2019 NCAA Tournament Bracket First Four and 1st Round Schedule
Selection Sunday kicks off the tournament craziness when it will be held on Sunday, March 17th, 2019, and after that the seedings for the tournament are set.
2019 March Madness ‘First Four’ and 1st Round Schedule
The First Four kicks things off and that tournament round will quickly be followed by the first and second rounds of the tournament which start the day after that stage completes.
| Dates | Round | City | State |
|---|---|---|---|
| March 19 & 20 | NCAA First Four | Dayton | Ohio |
| March 21 & 23 | NCAA Tournament Bracket First & Second Rounds | Hartford | Connecticut |
| March 21 & 23 | NCAA Tournament Bracket First & Second Rounds | Salt Lake City | Utah |
| March 21 & 23 | NCAA Tournament Bracket First & Second Rounds | Des Moines | Iowa |
| March 21 & 23 | NCAA Tournament Bracket First & Second Rounds | Jacksonville | Florida |
Since 2011, when the First Four was introduced, the First Four play in games have always been located at the University of Dayton in Ohio. The Round of 64 is one of the most-followed sporting events – definitely the biggest two day event in college sports.
NCAA Tournament First and Second Round Schedule
After the First Four stage is complete, the winners jump into the larger bracket. The first round (64 teams) will play on Thursday and Friday where half the teams will move on to weekend play. The first round will begin Thursday, March 21st, 2019.
| Dates | Round | City | State |
|---|---|---|---|
| March 21 & 23 | NCAA First & Second Rounds | Hartford | Connecticut |
| March 21 & 23 | NCAA First & Second Rounds | Salt Lake City | Utah |
| March 21 & 23 | NCAA First & Second Rounds | Des Moines | Iowa |
| March 21 & 23 | NCAA First & Second Rounds | Jacksonville | Florida |
| March 22 & 24 | NCAA First & Second Rounds | Tulsa | Oklahoma |
| March 22 & 24 | NCAA First & Second Rounds | Columbus | Ohio |
| March 22 & 24 | NCAA First & Second Rounds | Columbia | South Carolina |
| March 22 & 24 | NCAA First & Second Rounds | San Jose | California |
That second round has the remaining undefeated 32 teams vying for for the NCAA Tournament championship. Before that, they’re playing over to move onto the next round: The Sweet Sixteen.
NCAA Sweet 16 and Elite 8 Schedule
From there, the remaining 16 March Madness college teams travel to the Sweet Sixteen and Elite Eight of the 2019 NCAA tournament.
| Dates | Round | Region | City | State |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| March 28 & 30 | Sweet 16 & Elite 8 | West Regional | Anaheim | California |
| March 28 & 30 | Sweet 16 & Elite 8 | South Regional | Louisville | Kentucky |
| March 29 & 31 | Sweet 16 & Elite 8 | Midwest Regional | Kansas City | Missouri |
| March 29 & 31 | Sweet 16 & Elite 8 | East Regional | Washington | D.C. |
March Madness Final Four, Championship Bracket
The championship and Final Four will descend on Minneapolis, Minnesota and will be broadcast on CBS.
| Dates | Round | City | State |
|---|---|---|---|
| April 6 | Final Four | Minneapolis | Minnesota |
| April 8 | Championship Game | Minneapolis | Minnesota |
Get Your Blank 2019 NCAA Tournament Bracket
Fans will then scramble to get their printable NCAA Tournament bracket here to follow and enjoy when the postseason starts. Whether you want to follow the action and fill out the bracket while watching the show, or wait until we update our brackets after the seeds are released, we have all of that for you here at Interbasket.
We have published a blank, printable 2019 NCAA Tournament bracket in several PDF formats for you here and a fillable bracket in Word. We also included a JPG image version of the bracket.
The 2019 NCAA tournament brackets are out. We have the empty NCAA Tournament bracket available for you to print out in both PDF and Excel format so that you can better follow the game action. If you would still like to enjoy a blank printable bracket in PDF format, we have one for you here.
NCAA Shining Moments
The NCAA Tournament isn’t all about a new champion, but offers the opportunity for players to make their “one shining moment” many of which will be remembered for decades to come. Deep tournament runs have made a name of good college players into great ones and the leaders of the teams that advance far into the NCAA tournament often improve their chances to make the next level.
Though March Madness is one part of the NCAA basketball season, those 3-4 weeks make the great college players into legends, and potentially one of the top 100 college players in history.
We also provide blank brackets for single elimination tournaments:
- 4-team bracket
- 5-team bracket
- 6-team bracket
- 7-team bracket
- 8-team bracket
- 9-team bracket
- 10-team bracket
- 11-team bracket
- 12-team bracket
- 14-team bracket
- 16-team bracket
- 18-team bracket
- 20-team bracket
- 32-team bracket
- 64-team bracket
