March Madness 2018 Schedule: Known TV Info, Round-by-Round Dates

The field of schools participating in this year's NCAA tournament is far from being set in stone, but in just a couple of days time, we will know who is in and who is out of this year's "Big Dance."

The first- and second-round fixtures, whoever those teams may be, will take place in the following cities: Pittsburgh; Wichita, Kansas; Dallas; Boise, Idaho; Charlotte, North Carolina; Detroit; Nashville, Tennessee; and San Diego.

In the Sweet 16 and Elite Eight rounds, games will take place in Omaha, Nebraska (Midwest Regional); Los Angeles (West Regional); Atlanta (South Regional) and Boston (East Regional) before the regional finals. 

As for the Final Four, those games will take place in San Antonio.

Here's a look at the full schedule of dates ahead of Selection Sunday: 

NCAA Tournament Schedule

Sunday, March 11: Selection Sunday (6 p.m. ET on TBS and live-streamed through NCAA March Madness Live)

Tuesday, March 13: First Four in Dayton, Ohio

Wednesday, March 14: First Four in Dayton, Ohio

Thursday, March 15 and Friday, March 16: First-round games

Saturday, March 17 and Sunday, March 18: Second-round games

Thursday, March 22 and Friday, March 23: Sweet 16

Saturday, March 24 and Sunday, March 25: Elite Eight

Saturday, March 31: Final Four

Monday, April 2: Championship

TV and Live-Stream Information

CBS Sports and Turner Sports will televise the tournament on CBS, TBS, TNT and TruTV.

Every NCAA tournament game will be available to people with those channels and through the March Madness app. TBS will host the Final Four this year. 

Freshmen to Watch

Marvin Bagley III

Lance King/Getty Images

Say what you will about Marvin Bagley III's inconsistencies on the defensive end of the floor, but his ceiling as a potential franchise player in the NBA is as high as ever coming off Duke's win over Notre Dame in the ACC tournament.

Bagley, to the surprise of no one, was able to have his way on the glass for the Blue Devils, racking up 33 points and 17 rebounds—his 20th double-double of the season and fourth game with at least 30 points and 15 boards.

Oh, and he's only a freshman.

"He's a dynamic force. He can't be stopped. Nobody can guard him—mismatch nightmare, and I'm glad he's on our team," freshman guard Gary Trent Jr. said after the game, per Hank Tucker of the Duke Chronicle. "He's always calm, cool and collected, and as you get a couple buckets and start making that face, the mean mug down the court, you're in trouble."

The Fighting Irish couldn't put up much of a fight against one of the most dominant offensive players in the country yesterday as Bagley was too much to handle on the inside.

How will Duke fare in the NCAA tournament? It's clear that Duke will only go as far as Bagley can take them. And that alone might be enough to bring the Blue Devils to a spot in the Final Four. 

Michael Porter Jr.

Andy Lyons/Getty Images

It's been a roller coaster freshman season for Michael Porter Jr., but none of it has been his fault.

He couldn't have predicted his college career being this way, having to sit on the sidelines after suffering a back injury in the first game of the season that kept him out of action for nearly six months. On Thursday, Porter returned to the court after being cleared to suit up. And still, questions remained.

In Porter's defense, it's been a while since he's played a legitimate basketball game, and it was his first real taste of college basketball after only playing sparingly in the first game of the season before his injury. Porter struggled, shooting 12 points and collecting eight rebounds, and he shot just 5-of-17 from the floor.

Was Porter supposed to come back into the frame and become a game-changing player for his team right off the bat? That's not really fair for anyone to expect those type of results so soon, but that doesn't mean that Porter won't be able to bounce back and help the Tigers this month if Missouri finds itself in the Big Dance.

"The good thing is we have another game," Porter said after yesterday's 62-60 loss to Georgia, per ESPN.com's Alex Scarborough. "There's a whole other week and however much longer for all of us to get better and for me to get even more healthy. We'll be alright."

Porter isn't short on confidence, and nor should he be. If Porter can regain his form over the next week and get back to 100 percent, Missouri is a team to watch in this year's tournament.