March Madness Bracket 2018: TV Coverage, Live-Stream Schedule, Tournament Odds

The NCAA Tournament has become one of the biggest events on the sports calendar, and it dominates sports television as well. 

CBS owns the broadcast rights to the tournament, and once again college basketball fans will be able to see every game on one of four channels in the Tiffany Network's family.

Action gets underway Tuesday with a First Four doubleheader starting at 6:40 p.m. ET that will be broadcast on truTV. No. 16 seeds LIU Brooklyn and Radford will meet for the right to play top-seeded Villanova in the East region.

UCLA and St. Bonaventure are both No. 11 seeds, and those teams will meet in the second game of the doubleheader that will also be seen on truTV. The winner of that game will play Florida, in the East region.

That network will broadcast another doubleheader on Wednesday when 16th-seeds North Carolina Central and Texas Southern will play at 6:40 p.m. for the right to play Xavier in the West region. Arizona State and Syracuse will meet in the second game, and the winner of that game will face Texas Christian in the Midwest region.

After those two doubleheaders, the first round will get underway Thursday, and CBS, TBS, TNT and truTV will broadcast 16 games. The first game is between seventh-seeded Rhode Island and 10th-seeded Oklahoma at 12:15 p.m. in the Midwest region, and that game will be broadcast on CBS. 

Tennessee, the No. 3 seed will meet Wright State, the No. 14 seed on turTV at 12:40 p.m. TNT's first game of the tournament is a matchup between West region No. 4 seed Gonzaga and 13th-seeded UNC Greensboro. Top-seeded Kansas and 16th-seeded Penn will tip off at 2 p.m., and that game will be broadcast on TBS.

The Friday broadcast day starts with seventh-seeded Texas A&M meeting 10th-seeded Providence at 12:15 p.m on CBS. No. 2 seed Purdue and 15th-seed Cal State-Fullerton will meet at 12:40 p.m. on truTV.

TNT will broadcast the 1:30 p.m. game between fourth-seeded Wichita State and 13th-seeded Marshall, while the 2 p.m. game between No. 2 Cincinnati and No. 15 Georgia State will air on TBS.

Here's a link to the full TV schedule for the first weekend of the NCAA Tournament. All games will live stream at NCAA.com.

While Virginia comes into the tournament with a 31-2 record, the ACC regular-season title, the ACC Tournament championship and an eight-game winning streak, the Cavaliers are not the betting favorite to win the tournament.

Villanova comes into the NCAA tournament with odds of plus-450 to come away with the title, according to OddsShark. A bettor who wagers $100 on Jay Wright's Wildcats would earn a $450 profit if Villanova cuts down the nets at the Final Four in April

The Cavaliers are the second choice at plus-500, the Duke Blue Devils are next at plus-650, and Michigan State is the fourth betting choice at plus-750.

Top-seeded teams have won the NCAA tournament six times, while second seeds have cut down the nets seven times.

Here's a look at the top 15 betting choices (ties included).

Villanova +450
Virginia +500
Duke +650
Michigan State +750
Michigan +1000
Arizona +1200
Kansas +1200
Purdue +1500
North Carolina +1800
Cincinnati +2200
Xavier +2200
Gonzaga +2500
Kentucky +2800
West Virginia +4000
Texas Tech +4500
Wichita State +4500