NCAA Tournament 2017: Bracket Picks and Live Stream for 1st-Round Day 1 Schedule

It is nearly Christmas in March.

The first day of Round 1 of the NCAA tournament provides an all-day marathon of college basketball, mixing in potential upsets and exciting finishes for more than 12 hours straight. Brackets may be busted and new Cinderella could capture the affection of the sports world as arguably the most anticipated weekend in basketball commences on Thursday.

With the day nearly upon us, let us take a look at the Thursday schedule. Here is also a breakdown of two of the most notable matchups on the opening slate of Round 1, all of which can be live-streamed through CBSSports.com.

East Region
Midwest Region
South Region
West Region
Matchup	Start Time (ET)	Network	Prediction
No. 5 Virginia vs. No. 12 UNC Wilmington	12:40 p.m.	truTV	Virginia Wins
No. 4 Florida vs. No. 13 East Tennessee State	3:10 p.m.	truTV	Florida Wins
No. 1 Villanova vs. No. 16 New Orleans/Mount St. Mary's	7:10 p.m.	CBS	Villanova Wins
No. 8 Wisconsin vs. No. 9 Virginia Tech	9:40 p.m.	CBS	Virginia Tech Wins
Matchup	Start Time (ET)	Network
No. 4 Purdue vs. No. 13 Vermont	7:27 p.m.	truTV	Purdue Wins
No. 5 Iowa State vs. No. 12 Nevada	9:57 p.m.	truTV	Iowa State Wins
Matchup	Start Time (ET)	Network
No. 4 Butler vs. No. 13 Winthrop	1:30 p.m.	TNT	Butler Wins
No. 5 Minnesota vs. No. 12 Middle Tennessee State	4 p.m.	TNT	Minnesota Wins
Matchup	Start Time (ET)	Network
No. 5 Notre Dame vs. No. 12 Princeton	12:15 p.m.	CBS	Notre Dame Wins
No. 1 Gonzaga vs. No. 16 South Dakota State	2 p.m.	TBS	Gonzaga Wins
No. 4 West Virginia vs. No. 13 Bucknell	2:45 p.m.	CBS	West Virginia Wins
No. 8 Northwestern vs. No. 9 Vanderbilt	4:30 p.m.	TBS	Northwestern Wins
No. 6 Maryland vs. No. 11 Xavier	6:50 p.m.	TNT	Maryland Wins
No. 7 St. Mary's vs. No. 10 VCU	7:20 p.m.	TBS	VCU Wins
No. 3 Florida State vs. No. 14 Florida Gulf Coast	9:20 p.m.	TNT	Florida State Wins
No. 2 Arizona vs. No. 15 North Dakota	9:50 p.m.	TBS	Arizona Wins

Purdue vs. Vermont

On paper, this game looks like a prime candidate to produce a major upset. Yet, a deeper look indicates that may not be the case.

Vermont enters Thursday with the longest active winning streak at 21 games to sit at 29-5. Purdue is a No. 4 seed, but the Boilermakers are fresh off of a quarterfinals loss in the Big Ten tournament as the top seed. They have lost two straight opening-round NCAA games, including as a No. 12 seed last season.

Both teams will need to be on their games to advance past the first weekend, as Purdue media relations' Chris Forman noted that the four teams in that region of the bracket have played well in the last month or so:

Purdue should be able to get past Vermont simply because it represents a poor matchup for the Catamounts. Big Ten Player of the Year Caleb Swanigan dominates the low post to the tune of 18.5 points and 12.6 boards per game. The Boilermakers also bring 7'2" behemoth Isaac Hayes off of the bench and his 12.8 points and 5.1 rebounds per night.

That does not bode well for Vermont, as this exploits the team's glaring weakness, per the Journal & Courier's Nathan Baird:

This will force Vermont to double-team Purdue in the post, which is just fine by the Boilermakers. They shoot 40.6 percent from behind the arc, which ranks seventh nationally. 

Vermont's 11th-ranked scoring defense nationally will keep the Catamounts in the game into the second half, but Purdue's superior personnel will win out here.

Northwestern vs. Vanderbilt

Northwestern is already one of the darlings of this tournament after landing a spot for the first time in program history, but can the Wildcats do more than just receive an invite to the dance?

They play a Vanderbilt team that was 12-13 after a 20-point loss to Missouri on Feb. 11. The Tigers won a whopping eight games this season. The Commodores are hot and ended the season having beaten Florida twice in a six-day span.

Vanderbilt relies on a quartet of scorers to pace its offense, which still does not rank in the top 50 nationally in any major category. Six players average over 20 minutes per game, which is not overly impressive for Vanderbilt's depth:

Player	Position	Minutes Per Game	Points Per Game	Rebounds Per Game	Assists Per Game
Matthew Fisher-Davis	G	27.8	13.6	3.2	1.0
Luke Kornet	F	31.4	13.2	6.2	1.2
Jeff Roberson	F/G	31.7	11.0	7.1	1.8
Riley LaChance	G	31.2	10.5	3.3	3.9
Nolan Cressler	G	23.6	7.9	4.1	1.8
Joe Toye	F/G	21.0	6.4	2.6	1.1
Payton Willis	G	17.6	5.2	1.8	1.9

Northwestern has a tremendous backcourt in point guard Bryant McIntosh and guards/forwards Vic Law and Scottie Lindsey. Each averages over 12 points per game, but frontcourt depth is a problem for the Wildcats. Dererk Pardon plays over 30 minutes per game and is the team's only reliable big, given how much Northwestern relies on Pardon, it could be in serious trouble if he runs into foul issues.

Vanderbilt does not have the consistent interior play to take advantage of this Northwestern flaw. The Wildcats also rank a stifling 23rd nationally by holding opponents to 40.3 percent shooting. Expect Northwestern's backcourt to lead the way and give the team its first-ever NCAA tournament win.

Statistics are courtesy of NCAA.com unless otherwise noted.