How to watch March Madness — stream all the college basketball conference tournaments leading up to the big dance
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March has arrived, which means the best time of the year for college basketball fans is right around the corner — the NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament, otherwise known as March Madness.
Before you start filling out your brackets, joining office pools, and scheduling your workday around noon tip-offs, the conference tournaments need to be played.
These games help determine seeding, automatic bids, and can swing the momentum for teams to make a deep run in the big dance.
You can watch select games from these conference tournaments using several major streaming services, including Hulu + Live TV, Sling, FuboTV, CBS All Access, ESPN+, and YouTube TV.
March Madness is one of those magical moments on the sports calendar where everyone, regardless of whether or not you follow college basketball, joins in to watch the event. That first slot of games is unlike any other weekend in sports. 12 hours of nonstop hoops for four straight days — honestly, does it get any better?
Throughout the single-elimination tournament, 68 teams will compete in seven rounds for a chance to play in the 2020 title game. Matches will be available to watch through several traditional networks and streaming services. However, before we reach basketball nirvana, we need to let the chips settle so the selection committee can determine the field of 68 teams.
That's where championship week comes into play. Beyond playing for conference bragging rights and an automatic NCAA tournament bid, if your team hasn't already locked in an at-large bid, the conference tournaments can play a huge role in determining which teams get to dance with the big boys, and which teams merely join the National Invitation Tournament (NIT).
This year, the field is devoid of one mega-favorite, meaning that there is even more variability expected in the tournament. Some favorites include coach Bill Self's currently top-ranked Kansas Jayhawks, the hot shooting Oregon Ducks, and a Gonzaga team that hopes to finally capture a championship after several deep runs. The Big 10 is expected to have the most teams in the NCAA tournament, with some experts predicting 11 teams from the conference making the cut.
Whether your team is fighting to continue their season, or hoping to push their seeding up a few spots, the conference tournaments mark a significant turning point in the college basketball season. Make no mistakes, this is postseason basketball in March, and the intensity of the games most certainly dials up to 11.
2020 conference tournament schedules
AP Photo/Patrick Semansky
AAC — March 12-15
ACC — March 10-14
America East — March 7, 10, and 14
Atlantic 10 — March 11-15
ASUN — March 2, 5, and 8 (Winner: Liberty)
Big East — March 11-14
Big Sky — March 11-14
Big South — March 3, 5, 6, and 8 (Winner: Winthrop)
Big Ten — March 11-15
Big 12 — March 11-14
Big West — March 12-14
Colonial — March 7-10
Conference USA — March 11-14
Horizon League — March 3, 5, 9, and 10
Ivy League — March 14-15
MAAC — March 10-14
MAC — March 9, 12-14
MEAC — March 10-14
Missouri Valley — March 5-8 (Winner: Bradley)
Mountain West — March 4-7 (Winner: Utah State)
Northeast — March 4, 7, and 10
Ohio Valley — March 4-7 (Winner: Belmont)
Pac-12 — March 11-14
Patriot — March 3, 5, 8, and 11
SEC — March 11-15
Southern — March 6-9
Southland — March 11-14
Summit — March 7-10
Sun Belt — March 7, 9, 11, and 14-15
SWAC — March 10, 13-14
WAC — March 12-14
West Coast —March 5-7 & 9-10
How to watch the games
The major five conference tournaments — Big 10, Big 12, Big East, ACC, and Pac 12 — will be aired via traditional television networks like Fox Sports, ESPN, CBS Sports, BTN, ACCN, Pac-12 Network, and more.
Many of these channels are available through live TV streaming services, like Hulu + Live TV, Sling, FuboTV, and YouTube TV. Different platforms and plans may offer different channel selections, however, so you'll need to make sure that the network you're looking for is supported before subscribing.
To get access to the most live channels airing games from the five major conference tournaments, we recommend Hulu + Live TV, since it includes Fox Sports, ESPN, CBS Sports, BTN, and ACCN. With that said, Hulu doesn't offer Pac-12 Network. FuboTV does include Pac-12, but you lose ESPN with that service. Meanwhile, Sling also includes access to most of the main channels, with the exception of CBS and BTN.
Outside of traditional channels via live TV platforms, ESPN+ is offering streaming coverage for a few of the smaller conference tournaments, including the America East, Conference USA, Western Athletic, and Sun Belt conferences.
Ultimately, to get the most coverage possible, we recommend a combination of one live TV streaming service with multiple channels, like Hulu + Live TV or Sling, plus a supplemental service like ESPN+ or CBS All Access.
You can watch these streaming services through most major mobile devices, media players, and connected TV products, including Amazon Fire, Apple, Android, Chromecast, Roku, Samsung Smart TVs, and more. For a full list of supported devices available for each service, please refer to each platform's website.
How to watch March Madness online
Following the 2020 conference tournaments, the 68 winning teams will then face off in March Madness. The tournament will officially begin on March 17 with the "First Four." The single-elimination tournament will then reach its penultimate round, the "Final Four," on April 4, followed by the 2020 NCAA championship game on April 6.
TBS, CBS, TNT, and truTV will all air select games via supported pay-TV platforms and live TV streaming services. If you have a compatible pay-TV provider, you can also use the NCAA March Madness Live app to watch live games. The app is available for Apple, Android, Amazon Fire TV, Roku, Xbox One, and Google devices.
We'll update this page with full details on the full March Madness schedule after the conference tournaments have been completed.
Will March Madness games be cancelled due to coronavirus?
March Madness is a time where people from across the country gather together to enjoy some exciting basketball, but in the current public health climate, there is potential for cancellations or delays as a precaution against the spread of coronavirus. The NCAA is prepped for these situations with a few different scenarios.
According to the NCAA Chief Medical Officer Dr. Brian Hainline, if it becomes necessary to eliminate crowds from the game, the NCAA has a plan to allow only players, referees, and other necessary personnel to be at the games. The NCAA is also monitoring potential high-risk areas like Spokane, which is currently scheduled to host first-round games, to determine whether or not games will need to be canceled. Ultimately, Dr. Hainline and the NCAA have stated that they are following directions from the department of health and other health authorities to determine the proper course.
As of now, every March Madness game is scheduled to be played as is, with some potential for fans to be restricted from attending the games. While this does not affect how to stream the games, we will continue to monitor the news and announcements from the NCAA, and update this article with any relevant information.
