NCAA Bracket announcement today: How to watch, time, selection show details and more

The college basketball season is winding down and the stage is being set for what should be considered the most exciting sporting event of the year. March Madness is set to begin this week with the First Four opening games kicking off on Tuesday, March 14th. The full first round will kick off on Thursday as the non-stop basketball that makes it so special occurs.

Before this can all take place, the brackets must be set in stone. There is arguably as much pressure and buzz surrounding these decisions as there is to the on-court play. Selection Sunday is officially in the books with teams around the country eagerly waiting to see their matchup with plenty of teams finding out the unfortunate reality that their season has come to an end.

Selection Sunday Details

The selection Sunday special took place at 6 PM EST and was shown on CBS. The NCAA Committee announced its decision for the full field of 68 with Committee Chair Chris Reynolds being interviewed live regarding the choices. With so many opinions and qualifications for each team, it is impossible to please everyone and this was shown once again this year.

Alabama was handed the overall number one seed and drew a favorable path to the Final Four. Led by freshman phenom Brandon Miller, they have a terrific chance to make it to the Final Four for the first time in program history. Purdue, Houston, and Kansas round out the three other top seeds in the tournament.

The West region looks the most difficult as it is headlined by Kansas, UConn, UCLA, and Gonzaga who each rank in the top 10 based on KenPom rankings. There is plenty of upset potential in each of the other brackets as well, but Kansas looks to have gotten the short end of the stick to have a number-one seed.

Rutgers, Clemson, Vanderbilt, Oklahoma State, Michigan, and UNC headline the teams that narrowly missed the draw. Most of these teams will be suiting up for the NIT Tournament, although UNC and Michigan elected to opt-out.

With the seedings now set in stone, the focus can now shift for each of these teams towards their opponents. The rapid pace of the first few rounds is sure to kick things into gear with the number of games set to tip off a surefire recipe for some terrific games.