The men’s NCAA Tournament tips off Tuesday with an appetizer for the madness to come.

The First Four has been around since 2011 and features the last four automatic qualifiers and last four at-large bids playing to whittle the field from 68 to 64. This year will see two 16-seed vs. 16-seed matchups and two 11-seed vs. 11-seed matchups, but don’t write these games off because they involve double-digit seeds.

The First Four holds intriguing value because of both its importance to the first round and its placement before brackets close. At least one at-large First Four team has won a game in the 64-team field in 12 of the 13 tournaments in which the preliminary round has existed. Two of them have made the Final Four – 2011 VCU, in the first year of the First Four, and 2021 UCLA, which was one Jalen Suggs buzzer-beater away from going all the way to the title game.

We have even seen one automatic qualifier win its first-round game: 2023 Fairleigh Dickinson, which pulled off one of the two 16-over-1 upsets ever when it knocked off Zach Edey and Purdue.

Before you lock in your bracket, watch these games and consider who could make some noise. Read on to learn more about how to watch the First Four as well as the full men’s NCAA Tournament schedule.

What Men’s March Madness games are on today?

All times listed are Eastern Time.

Tuesday, March 18 (First Four)

(16) Saint Francis vs. (16) Alabama State – 6:40 p.m., truTV

(11) North Carolina vs. (11) San Diego State – 9:10 p.m., truTV

Wednesday, March 19 (First Four)

(16) Mount St. Mary’s vs. (16) American – 6:40 p.m., truTV

(11) Xavier vs. (11) Texas – 9:10 p.m., truTV

Men’s March Madness 2025 schedule

First Four: March 18-19First Round: March 20-21Second Round: March 22-23Sweet 16: March 27-28Elite Eight: March 29-30Final Four: April 5

Championship Game: April 7

Could UF have a ‘UConn-type run’ in NCAA Tourney?

Seth Greenberg joins Dan Patrick shares what bothers him most about UNC’s entry into the NCAA Tournament, Florida’s dominance in the SEC, Cooper Flagg’s availability, and more ahead of the madness.