Televising the Madness

NCAA March Madness for 2011 now is spread across four cable networks. An advantage of this is that you are able to watch full games in their entirety without the network switching over to other games in progress. I thought initially that the death of premium TV to cable/satellite was even more apparent when cable networks started to televise some of the early round matches. The more I thought about it, however, this is really a good deal. Even if you were watching a game of a #15 seed getting their brains beaten out by a #2 seeded team, you can still watch your team gloriously lose while not having to worry about seeing TV coverage immediately shift to a #12-seeded team potentially upset a #5-seeded team. No more regional matches- you can watch whatever game interests you. It's a good deal to me because I can actually check out the individual matches I want to see. I guess this wouldn't be possible on regular TV, so it's a plus for cable/satellite owners to get to see the matches they want to see in their entirety. Many people think this is a great idea to have these individually-televised games. And again- I think it is a great idea myself now that I think more about it.

CBS, TBS, TNT, and TruTV will air the individual round matches. All 68 teams that play in this year's men's tournament all have a chance to play right here in Houston for the men's Final Four and a National Championship in NCAA Division 1. As of the date and time of this blog post, the 2011 NCAA Division 1 Men's Basketball tournament field has yet to be selected. Congratulations and good luck to all 68 teams who get selected to this year's Big Dance.

What do you think about this new TV package allowing you to see whatever game in the tournament you want to see in its entirety? This is one blog post in a series of three different blog posts related to television coverage of certain programs and events. This one is coverage of the NCAA Division 1 Men's Basketball Tournament (March Madness). The other two respectively pertain to NewsFix and the coverage of the ALMS on ESPN/ABC.



UPDATE
Here is a look at the 2011 Men's Tournament brackets:

--- #1 Seeds ---
* Ohio State (what a stunner...)
* Kansas
* Pittsburgh
* Duke


LEGEND:
!! = #1 overall seed
! = #1 seed

--- East Region ---
#1 Ohio State!! vs. #16 (UTSA/Alabama State)
#2 Villanova vs. #15 George Mason
#5 West Virginia vs. #12 (UAB/Clemson)
#4 Kentucky vs. #13 Princeton
#5 North Carolina vs. #12 Long Island
#7 Washington vs. #10 Georgia
#7 Syracuse vs. #10 Indiana State
#8 Xavier vs. #9 Marquette

--- West Region ---
#1 Duke! vs. #16 Hampton
#2 San Diego State vs. #15 Northern Colorado
#3 Connecticut vs. #14 Bucknell
#4 Texas vs. #13 Oakland
#5 Arizona vs. #12 Memphis
#6 Cincinnati vs. #11 Missouri
#7 Temple vs. #10 Pennsylvania State
#8 Michigan vs. #9 Tennessee

--- Southwest Region ---
#1 Kansas! vs. #16 Boston University
#2 Notre Dame vs. #15 Akron
#3 Purdue vs. #14 Saint Peter's
#4 Louisville vs. #13 Morehead State
#5 Vanderbilt vs. #12 Richmond
#6 Georgetown vs. #11 (USCal/Virginia Commonwealth)
#7 Texas A and M vs. #10 Florida State
#8 UNLV vs. #9 Illinois

--- Southeaest Region ---
#1 Pittsburgh! vs. #16 (UNC-Asheville/Arkansas-Little Rock)
#2 Florida vs. #15 California-Santa Barbara
#3 BYU vs. #14 Wofford
#4 Wisconsin vs. #13 Belmont
#5 Kansas State vs. #12 Utah State
#6 St. John's vs. #11 Gonzaga
#7 UCLA vs. #10 Michigan State
#8 Butler vs. #9 Old Dominion


Snubs: Saint Mary's, Colorado, Alabama, Virginia Tech, Missouri State, Boston College

Congratulations to all who got in; tough luck for all who were taken out.





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