March Madness 2025: TV viewer's guide, channels, games to stream or skip on Thursday

March Madness is officially here.

The First Four games on Tuesday and Wednesday were just the appetizer for the two best sports days of the year. The men's tournament begins in earnest with 16 games on Thursday before the first round continues on Friday and the women's tournament first round kicks off.

Here's the complete schedule for Thursday's men's first round. (All times are Eastern.)

[Yahoo Fantasy Bracket Mayhem is back: Enter for a shot to win up to $50K]

Thursday afternoon channel guide

12:15 p.m. — No. 8 Louisville vs. No. 9 Creighton (CBS)

12:40 p.m. — No. 4 Purdue vs. No. 13 High Point (TruTV)

1:30 p.m. — No. 3 Wisconsin vs. No. 14 Montana (TNT)

2 p.m. — No. 1 Houston vs. No. 16 SIU Edwardsville (TBS)

2:50 p.m. — No. 1 Auburn vs. No. 16 Alabama State (CBS)

3:15 p.m. — No. 5 Clemson vs. No. 12 McNeese (TruTV)

4:05 p.m. — No. 6 BYU vs. No. 11 VCU (TNT)

4:35 p.m. — No. 8 Gonzaga vs. No. 9 Georgia (TBS)

Must-see: Both of the No. 8 vs. No. 9 games could be extremely close and we’ll go with Louisville and Creighton over Gonzaga and Georgia. The Cardinals are 2.5-point favorites against Creighton and should have a lot of support from the home fan base since the game is in Lexington, Kentucky. A win for Louisville would mean the team could have a significant home-court advantage on Saturday in a likely second-round game against Auburn.

Must-skip: Speaking of the Tigers, you’d be better served watching Clemson and McNeese. The Tigers are 32.5-point favorites over an Alabama State team that got a phenomenal Hail Mary play to beat St. Francis on Tuesday night. You can probably also not worry about Houston and SIU Edwardsville. The Cougars are 29.5-point favorites.

Most likely potential upset: Another reason why you should watch Clemson and McNeese is because we think the Cowboys could pull the upset. McNeese is coached by infamous former LSU coach Will Wade and is back in the tournament for the second straight season. A VCU win over BYU would also be classified as an upset, but the Rams are just 2.5-point underdogs and only +125 to win straight up at BetMGM.

Player to watch: What a season it’s been for Wisconsin’s John Tonje. After an injury limited him to just eight games at Missouri, Tonje used his sixth season of college basketball to transfer to the Badgers and is having a career year. He’s averaging 19.2 points per game while shooting 46% from the field. He struggled in the Big Ten tournament title game against Michigan and was just 1-of-14, but we like his chances of bouncing back against Montana.

Thursday evening

6:50 p.m. — No. 2 Tennessee vs. No. 15 Wofford (TNT)

7:10 p.m. — No. 7 Kansas vs. No. 10 Arkansas (CBS)

7:25 p.m. — No. 4 Texas A&M vs. No. 13 Yale (TBS)

7:35 p.m. — No. 6 Missouri vs. No. 11 Drake (TruTV)

9:25 p.m. — No. 7 UCLA vs. No. 10 Utah State (TNT)

9:45 p.m. — No. 2 St. John’s vs. No. 15 Omaha (CBS)

10 p.m. — No. 5 Michigan vs. No. 12 UC San Diego (TBS)

10:10 p.m. — No. 3 Texas Tech vs. No. 14 UNC Wilmington (TruTV)

Must-see: You can make a case for any of the games outside Tennessee and Wofford in the opening evening window. Kansas and Arkansas is matchup of Hall of Fame coaches in Bill Self and John Calipari. Self and Kansas got the best of Calipari and Memphis in the 2008 national title game. The winner will likely play Rick Pitino’s St. John’s in the second round and you can bet that game will be in a prime TV window on Saturday.

Must-skip: With the quality of games on the other channels to start the night, you can check in on the Volunteers for 20 minutes and probably pick another game before halftime is over. You may also not need to stay up super late for Texas Tech and UNC Wilmington. The Red Raiders are 15.5-point favorites.

Most likely potential upset: We’re torn here, as there could be two upsets to start the evening. Yale beat Auburn last season as a No. 13 seed and is back as the same seed again against another SEC opponent. The Aggies are 7.5-point favorites.

Drake is a 6.5-point underdog against Missouri in a game that could be decided by whoever controls the pace. Drake is one of the best defensive teams in the country and will want to slow the game down. Missouri will feel much more comfortable moving quickly in transition and making the game a race to 80 points.

Player to watch: Vlad Goldin followed his former Florida Atlantic coach Dusty May to Michigan and is leading the Wolverines in scoring despite playing just 27 minutes a game. Goldin is averaging 16.7 points and 6.8 rebounds per game as the Wolverines have had a lot of success with both him and fellow big man Danny Wolf on the court at the same time. Wolf leads the team with nearly 10 boards a game and averages 13.1 points a contest.