ESPN is the Destination for College Basketball Fans on Selection Sunday

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ESPN is the Destination for College Basketball Fans on Selection Sunday

  • More Than 11 Hours of Coverage Throughout the Day, including Four Conference Title Games
  • Women’s Tournament: ‘Debatable Eight’ to Be Announced on SportsCenter
  • Up-to-the-Minute Analysis as Bracket is Revealed

Champ Week Presented by Principal on ESPN will culminate Sunday, March 17, with daylong programming leading up to the men’s tournament bracket reveal, as part of Selection Sunday.

Four teams will punch their ticket to the men’s tournament on ESPN networks – Ivy League (noon, ESPN2), SEC (1 p.m., ESPN), Sun Belt (2 p.m., ESPN2) and American Athletic (3:15 p.m., ESPN).

Studio coverage begins at noon on ESPN with College Basketball Live presented by Lowe’s, with host Rece Davis and analysts Jay Bilas, Seth Greenberg and Jay Williams. Shows surrounding Selection Sunday continue with SportsCenter at immediately following the American Athletic Conference title game, in which the College GameDay crew will present the teams as they are announced, providing up-to-the-minute analysis of the men’s tournament bracket starting shortly after 6 p.m.

Fans will also get a glimpse at the Women’s Tournament Selection Committee’s discussions prior to Selection Monday. In the 5 p.m. hour of SportsCenter on Sunday, chair Rhonda Bennett will join Zubin Mehenti and Michael Eaves to reveal, in alphabetical order, the final eight teams which will be considered for the women’s tournament. Out of this list of eight teams, four will make the tournament and four will not when the complete women’s tournament bracket is announced Monday. Rebecca Lobo will join SportsCenter to discuss the ‘debatable eight.’

Bracketology on ESPN

Bracketology presented by Lowe’s (7 p.m., ESPN) will take a deeper dive into the teams vying for the national championship, and will feature interviews with top coaches and players playing in the tournament. Davis, Bilas, Greenberg and Williams will be joined by Dan Dakich and Dick Vitale during the show. Holly Rowe will also interview the NCAA Men’s Tournament Selection Committee chair Bernard Muir from the selection committee meeting in New York City. A second installment of Bracketology will air on ESPN2 at 9 p.m., with host Chris Cotter, LaPhonso Ellis, Dakich and Sean Farnham. Former NCAA executive Greg Shaheen, who oversaw the men’s tournament for more than a decade, will also contribute to various shows throughout the day.

SEC Network
A two-hour SEC Now: Selection Special is slated for Sunday, March 17 at 8 p.m. ET from Charlotte, N.C. This year’s special is co-hosted by Peter Burns and Alyssa Lang, who will be joined by SEC Network college basketball analysts Pat Bradley, Andy Kennedy and Antoine Walker. The show will consist of reaction from team watch parties and interviews from the SEC squads selected for postseason play.

ESPN.com

Bracketologist Joe Lunardi will have up-to-the-minute projections right up until the field is announced and John Gasaway will keep an eye on the ever-changing bubble in Bubble Watch. Once the field is announced, an entire look at every team that made the NCAA tournament will be provided – and a look at that those that didn’t. Then, Giant Killers will break down each region as you get set to fill out your Tournament Challenge brackets.

SportsCenter with SVP
Scott Van Pelt will close out Selection Sunday with his late-night SportsCenter with SVP as the popular anchor gives his insights into the brackets. He will also look ahead and preview all the madness.

Time (ET) Event/Show Network
Noon College Basketball Live presented by Lowe’s ESPN
Ivy League Men’s Basketball Championship Presented by TIAA

Title Game

ESPN2
1 p.m. SEC Men’s Tournament

Title Game

ESPN
2 p.m. Sun Belt Men’s Championship

Title Game

ESPN2
3:15 p.m. Air Force Reserve American Athletic Conference Men’s Championship

Title Game

ESPN
5:15 p.m. SportsCenter ESPN
7 p.m. Bracketology presented by Lowe’s ESPN
8:30 p.m. NIT Selection Show ESPNU
9 p.m. Bracketology Presented by Lowe’s ESPN2

 

Tournament Challenge Marathon on ESPN

ESPN’s Tournament Challenge Marathon presented by Boost Mobile is back for the third straight year, with 25 consecutive hours of men’s and women’s college basketball analysis, bracket advice and more, beginning at 6 p.m. ET on Monday, March 18, from the network’s studios in Bristol, Conn. The Tournament Challenge Marathon will present TCM-themed editions of popular ESPN shows across ESPN and ESPN2, culminating on Tuesday, March 19, at 7 p.m.

2019 Tournament Challenge Game
The 22nd edition of ESPN’s Tournament Challenge game will once again allow fans to compete with friends, family and others by predicting the winner of each tournament game from the Round of 64 through the Championship Game. As with all ESPN Fantasy games, Tournament Challenge is free to play, and fans can submit up to 25 brackets and join up to 10 groups each for the men’s and women’s tournaments at ESPN.com/bracket or the ESPN Tournament Challenge App for iOS and Android.

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Anna Negron

It was always a dream of mine to work at ESPN, and here I am! I joined the College Sports PR team in March 2016. Hailing from the great Garden State, I graduated from Seton Hall University (Go Pirates!) with a degree in sport management, where I not only sang the National Anthem at games, but was also a member of the Seton Hall Sapphires Dance Team and a student reporter for Pirate Sports Network. Before joining ESPN, I served as a Public Relations Associate for the U.S. Army All-American Bowl.
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