The Madness is Coming... to TV5

The greatest knockout tournament in American sports is coming to free tv.

The past few years, we have witnessed it on BTV. Now, TV5 wants in, after bringing in the Super Bowl (and getting Good Morning Club to cut an hour from its normal sked), we have the NCAA Tournament. Sports5 will air 44 of the 67 games in the Tournament on either TV5, Aksyon TV or HYPER, as well as streamed live and on-demand to PLDT Home Fibr subscribers via TVolution..

Selection Sunday just took place this past Monday morning here in Manila. From here, the road to Cowboys Stadium is set.

The tournament officially begins on Tuesday (Wednesday morning in Manila) at Dayton, Ohio with the First Four, or officially known as the First Round. The latest additions to the current NCAA format, the First Four are the play-in matches spread over two days, that whittles the 68-team field into 64, setting up the bracket. It used to be one game, but now evolved into four, with two games involving the lowest-ranked teams, and the other two teams being the "last four" teams that got in the tournament. Normally, this involves the 11th or 12th seed.

Here are the First Four games on Wednesday morning:

South 16th seeds: Mount St. Mary's (16-16) against Albany (18-14) - 6:40 am tip off LIVE on HYPER, 4pm replay on Aksyon TV. Winner plays overall top seed Florida.

Midwest 12th seeds: North Carolina State (21-13) against Xavier (21-12) - 9:10 am tip off LIVE on TV5 & HYPER, 6:30pm replay on Aksyon TV. Winner plays 5th seed Saint Louis.

Here are the First Four games on Thursday morning:

Midwest 16th seeds: Cal Poly (13-19) against Texas Southern (19-14) - 6:40 am tip off LIVE on HYPER, 3pm replay on Aksyon TV. Winner plays undefeated Wichita State.

Midwest 11th seeds: Iowa (20-12) against Tennessee (21-12) - 9:10 am tip off LIVE on TV5 & HYPER, 10pm replay on Aksyon TV. Winner plays 6th seed UMass.