Selection Sunday 2023: Time, date & how to watch men’s and men’s and women’s special
Now that we’re into February, it’s time to acknowledge that it’s March Madness time, and the thing that really kicks it all off is Selection Sunday 2023.
Of course, before there can be a selection Sunday, the various basketball conferences have to figure out who is going to be their conference tournament champs. The teams that don’t actually win those tournaments end up being the squads that are sitting on their seats waiting to see if they make it to the Big Dance.
When is Selection Sunday for the Men’s NCAA Tournament?
Selection Sunday 2023 takes place on March 12 and both the men’s and the women’s shows will commence on Sunday night after all of the conference tournaments have finished up. The exact time of when the men’s selection show will start is not yet known as it depends entirely on when the championship games are done.
Some of the power conferences, including the Big Ten won’t have their final automatic bid picked out until Sunday evening. As a general rule, the Selection Sunday show has aired at 6pm central or just a little bit after.
When is Selection Sunday for the Women’s NCAA Tournament?
Things are a little bit different when it comes to Selection Sunday for the women’s tournament because all of the conference tournaments are usually over well before Sunday night. That allows the selection committee for the women’s tournament to have a better idea of who is going to be in the Big Dance and where they will be seeded.
For this reason, the Selection Sunday show for the women’s NCAA tournament will take place on 8 p.m. ET, on ESPN.
How Many Schools are in the NCAA Tournament in 2023?
There have been quite a few changes to how the Big Dance works over the last few years but while the tournament used to be reliably 64 times, the number of schools that can make the tourney these days is 68.
That’s the number that will make it into both the men’s and women’s tournaments. Once the teams are announced on March 12, the tournament officially starts two days later with the first round of “play-in games.”