When does the March Madness Tournament Start?
2026 March Madness
The 2026 Men's NCAA March Madness Tournament Bracket matchups will be announced on Sunday, March 15th between 6:00 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. EST. Our Printable March Madness Bracket will be available soon thereafter. The Play-in games will begin on Tuesday, March 17th and the first full round of the tournament will begin on Thursday, March 19th at around 12:20 EST. The Championship game will be held on Monday, April 6th. Listed below is the complete dated schedule.
Office Pools
If you're looking for another office pool to run during the tournament we highly recommend trying our College Basketball Block Pool, it's like the Super Bowl Squares, but you use the final score in every game of the tournament! Also check out our College Basketall Tourney Props Pool, where the participants of your pool try to correctly answer 20 unique outcomes/questions, such as "Will any seed lower than a 4 make it to the Final Four?"
Dates of the Tournament
* Selection Sunday
March 15, 2026
* First Four Games
March 17,18 2026
* First Round
March 19, 20, 2026
* Second Round
March 21, 22, 2026
* Sweet 16
March 26, 27, 2026
* Elite 8
March 28, 29, 2026
* Final Four
April 4, 2026
* Championship Game
April 6, 2026