PHOENIX — March Madness has officially arrived!
In just more than three weeks, men's college basketball's national champion will be crowned at State Farm Stadium in Glendale. The 68-team NCAA Tournament has now been revealed and two teams from Arizona, Grand Canyon and Arizona, have made the field.
Here's where and when they will play their first games.
The Arizona Wildcats were given the No. 2 seed in the west region by the selection committee. They will play one of the top stories from the conference tournaments, the No. 15 seed, Long Beach State, on Thursday, March 21 at 11 a.m. in Salt Lake City.
Arizona finished the regular season 24-7 and was ranked in the top 10 in the Associated Press Top 25 nearly all season. The Wildcats won the Pac-12 regular season championship but lost in the semifinals of the Pac-12 Tournament to Oregon.
Long Beach State finished the regular season 18-14 and fifth in the Big West. On March 11, three days before playing in the Big West Tournament, the school announced it would part ways with head coach Dan Monson at the end of the season. Long Beach State hasn't lost since, as they won three straight games to win the Big West Tournament and clinch an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
Arizona and Long Beach State have played eight times before and Arizona has won every game. Here's a look at the matchups.
- Dec. 4, 1987: No. 9 Arizona beat Long Beach State, 94-62
- Dec. 1, 1990: No. 2 Arizona beat Long Beach State, 95-68
- Nov. 15, 1995: Arizona beat Long Beach State, 91-57
- Nov. 19, 2012: No. 10 Arizona beat Long Beach State, 94-72
- Nov. 11, 2013: No. 6 Arizona beat Long Beach State, 91-57
- Dec. 22, 2015: No. 8 Arizona beat Long Beach State, 85-70
- Nov. 29, 2017: Arizona beat Long Beach State, 91-56
- Nov. 24, 2019: No. 14 Arizona beat Long Beach State, 104-67
If Arizona beats Long Beach State, they will play either No. 7-seed Dayton or No. 10-seed Nevada in the second round on Saturday, March 23 in Salt Lake City.
GCU was given a No. 12 seed in the west region by the selection committed and will be headed to Spokane, Washington, to take on the fifth-seeded St. Mary's Gaels on Friday, March 22 at 7:05 p.m.
GCU finished the regular season 27-4 and won the Western Athletic Conference regular-season championship. The Lopes followed that up by winning the WAC Tournament title for the second year in a row and the third time in four years.
St. Mary's finished the regular season 24-7 and won the West Coast Conference regular season championship. The Gaels followed that up by winning the WCC Tournament.
One note, the Gaels have not played since March 12, meaning the matchup against GCU will come 10 days after their last game and just six days after the Lopes' last game.
The Lopes and Gaels have only played once before. On March 1, 2016, St. Mary's beat GCU 73-64 in a late-season non-conference matchup.
If GCU upsets St. Mary's they will play either No. 4-seed Alabama or No. 13-seed College of Charleston on Sunday, March 24 in Spokane.
Now that the full bracket has been revealed, here's a look at the schedule for the NCAA Tournament.
The First Four will be played March 19-20 at UD Arena in Dayton, Ohio.
The round of 64 will be played March 21-22 and the round of 32 will be played March 23-24. Here's where those games will take place.
- Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York
- Spectrum Center in Charlotte, North Carolina
- Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis
- CHI Health Center in Omaha, Nebraska
- PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh
- Delta Center in Salt Lake City
- Spokane Veterans Memorial Arena in Spokane, Washington
- FedEx Forum in Memphis, Tennessee
The Sweet 16 will be played on March 28-29 and the Elite Eight will be played on March 30-31. Here's where those games will take place.
- TD Garden in Boston (East Regional)
- American Airlines Center in Dallas (South Regional)
- Little Caesars Arena in Detroit (Midwest Regional)
- Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles (West Regional)
The Final Four will be played on Saturday, April 6, and the National Championship game will be played on Monday, April 8. All three of those games will be played at State Farm Stadium in Glendale.
To see the full bracket, click here.
Arizona sports
The city of Phoenix is home to five major professional sports league teams; The NFL's Arizona Cardinals, NBA's Phoenix Suns, WNBA’s Phoenix Mercury, MLB's Arizona Diamondbacks and NHL's Arizona Coyotes.
The Cardinals have made State Farm Stadium in Glendale their home turf and the Footprint Center in downtown Phoenix is home to both the Suns and the Mercury. The Indoor Football League’s Arizona Rattlers play at Desert Diamond Arena in Glendale. The Coyotes play at Mullett Arena on ASU's Tempe campus.
Phoenix also has a soccer team with the USL's Phoenix Rising FC, who play at Phoenix Rising FC Stadium in Phoenix.
The Valley hosts multiple major sporting events on a yearly basis, including college football's Fiesta Bowl and Guaranteed Rate Bowl; the PGA Tour’s highest-attended event, the WM Phoenix Open; NASCAR events each spring and fall, including Championship Weekend in November; and Cactus League Spring Training for 15 Major League Baseball franchises.
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